The 20th Janelly Agricultural Research Awards were presented on October 9 at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. This year, two colleagues from the Department of Physiology and Biochemistry at the University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest, Dr Fanni Sára Huber and Dr Máté Mackei, received this prestigious recognition.

The event took place in the conference hall of the Academy’s Library and Information Centre, hosted by Prof. Dr Ervin Balázs, full member of the Academy and President of its Section of Agricultural Sciences.
István Jakab, Vice President of the Hungarian National Assembly, greeted the attendees, and his presence and speech underscored the significance of both the award and the achievements of the honorees.

Prof. János Lelley, external member of the Academy, President of the Janelly Academy (the award’s founder and sponsor), also shared his thoughts with the audience. The ceremony was led by Prof. Dr Attila Hegedüs, Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Head of Department at the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Chairman of the Janelly Foundation.

This year, applications for the agricultural research award were open to all fields related to animal production science. Reflecting the importance of this discipline, 9 PhD and 7 MSc submissions were received. The awardees were introduced and commended by Prof. Dr Hegedüs, after which they presented their research to the audience.

In the MSc category, Dr Fanni Sára Huber won first place with her research titled “Investigation of the protective effects of curcumin against acetamiprid in honey bees.” Her supervisors were Dr Máté Mackei, university veterinarian, and Dr Gábor Mátis, associate professor.
According to the evaluation committee, “the thesis, built on solid scientific foundations, presents valuable results that are also applicable in practice.”

In the PhD category, Dr Máté Mackei received first place for his research titled “Investigation of immunomodulatory factors in chicken-derived hepatic cell models.” His supervisors were Dr Zsuzsanna Neogrády and Dr Gábor Mátis.

The ceremony also featured talks by former awardees – Dr Marietta Petróczy Horváthné (MSc category, 2006) and Dr Zsuzsanna Bugyi Kormosné (PhD category, 2013).
The jubilee event concluded with an engaging roundtable discussion, made even more memorable by the participation of previous award winners, including Dr Márta Lőrincz, Assistant Professor at the Department of Epidemiology and Microbiology, and Dr Lilla Dénes, Research Fellow at the Department of Pathology of our university.

They discussed how Hungarian agriculture can adapt to changing conditions and how the research career in agricultural sciences can be made more appealing to young people.