The recipients of this year’s Bolyai János Research Scholarship, including researchers affiliated with Rényi Institute, received their certificates at a ceremony held at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
The Bolyai János Research Scholarship is a prestigious, performance-based national scholarship established by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) in 1997. Its aim is to encourage and recognise outstanding research and development performance among young researchers and to support them in preparing for MTA's Doctor of the Academy title.
“The Bolyai János Research Scholarship is an ideal opportunity because it provides both support and time for researchers to become independent,” the President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences emphasised at the ceremony. Mihály Pósfai stressed that writing the application itself is not merely an administrative task, but rather a series of decisions and arguments, representing the first concise professional self-portrait of an independent researcher. “The Bolyai Scholarship can also strengthen researchers’ ability to build a research group, lead larger grant projects, supervise students, and become responsible members of the scientific community later in their careers,” the President added.
On 16 September 2026, at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences’ traditional Bolyai Day, the researchers who were awarded the scholarship in 2026 were welcomed, while former scholarship recipients whose final research reports were judged to be of outstanding quality were recognised with commemorative certificates and Bolyai plaques.
A total of 157 researchers were awarded the Bolyai János Research Scholarship this year. Among the eight mathematicians who received the 2026 Bolyai János Research Scholarship, the researchers affiliated with the Rényi Institute are:
Richárd Balka, senior research fellow at Rényi Institute’s Analysis Research Department.
Dániel Virosztek, also a senior research fellow at Rényi's Analysis Research Department and head of MTA–RI Momentum Optimal Transport and Quantum Information Geometry Research Group.
István Lucián Suteu-Szöllősi, a mathematician born in Cluj-Napoca who graduated from the Faculty of Science of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in 2020. He selected Rényi Institute as his Hungarian host research institution and has previously spent varying periods of time conducting research at the Institute.
Dániel Garamvölgyi, research fellow at the Research Department of Combinatorics and Applications, who will carry out his Bolyai-supported research at ELTE.
Márton Kristóf Erdélyi, researcher at Rényi Institute’s Number Theory Research Department and member of the Analytic Number Theory and Representation Theory Research Group. This year, he was also awarded the Pál Turán Prize, established by the Mathematics Section of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences to recognise outstanding mathematical achievement.
Kitti Varga, who previously held a young researcher position at Rényi Institute and is currently a researcher at the Institute of Mathematics of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME). In 2019, she was recognised as an outstanding young lecturer at the BME Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics.
Eszter Sikolya, associate professor at ELTE and a lecturer at both the Institute of Mathematics and the Department of Applied Analysis and Computational Mathematics. She will join Rényi Institute as a visiting researcher this autumn.
Máté László Telek, assistant professor in the Geometry Group of the Department of Algebra and Geometry at BME, who recently gave a lecture at Rényi Institute.
The full list of researchers awarded the Bolyai János Research Scholarship in 2026 is available HERE. The list of members of the Bolyai János Research Scholarship Board of Trustees for the 2025–2027 period can be found HERE.
As an academic support programme, the Bolyai Scholarship serves as a bridge between the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Doctors of the Academy and the younger generation of researchers. Among other things, it aims to provide young researchers with greater predictability and opportunities for planning their careers after obtaining their PhD.
"Bolyai scholars are selected members of Hungary’s research community, given the opportunity to pursue the topics that genuinely interest them with the support of leading scholars in their fields, Undersecretary General Ilona Kovács pointed out. She encouraged Bolyai scholars to become active participants in the scientific community and key contributors to the renewed public body of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, which has around 20,000 members. In doing so, they can also contribute to ensuring that the 200-year-old Hungarian Academy of Sciences remains a modern national institution capable of responding to the challenges of the future.
A recording of the Bolyai Day held at the headquarters of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences can be viewed HERE.