{"id":22309,"date":"2020-08-28T23:01:19","date_gmt":"2020-08-28T21:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/?p=22309"},"modified":"2026-03-26T15:08:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T14:08:56","slug":"30-years-of-the-students-scientific-association","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/2020\/08\/30-years-of-the-students-scientific-association\/","title":{"rendered":"30 years of the Students\u2019 Scientific Association"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over 65 years ago, in the academic year 1952\/53 the programme of the students\u2019 scientific association was launched at Semmelweis University. This article recounts the events of the past 30 years with the help of three previous presidents of the Association\u2019s Committee; Dr. Andr\u00e1s Sp\u00e4t, Dr. P\u00e9ter Csermely and Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely who all held this position for 10 years. The round table discussion was also attended by the Committee\u2019s current president, Dr. Attila Szij\u00e1rt\u00f3. Work at the Students\u2019 Scientific Association is a source of great pleasure, it provides opportunities for academic development and is easy to fall in love with. These are only some of the many things that the presidents agree on. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cA value based Students\u2019 Scientific Association has to be set up!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely, Rector and former president of the Association between 2009 and 2019 was faced with this philosophy of Dr. Andr\u00e1s Sp\u00e4t, the first president following the political transition of 1989. He recalled his own experience as one of the 12-15 students from the Association participating in the National Students\u2019 Scientific Conference in Szeged led by professor Sp\u00e4t. In contrast to the small group of students back then, last year\u2019s national conference held in Debrecen was attended by ten times more students from Semmelweis University. This gives a clear idea of the transformation of the Association over the past three decades.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

According to a university booklet published in 1976 and stored in the Central Archives, the students\u2019 scientific movement started at the university in the academic year 1952\/53. There is little information on the first few decades, however, it is known that Dr. Andr\u00e1s Sp\u00e4t, the first president after the political transition of 1989 took over from Dr. Arisztid Kov\u00e1ch.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cThe scientific student body set up in the 1950s based on the Soviet model used to be a politically monitored institution, as the approval of the Hungarian Young Communist League (KISZ) was needed to participate in the academic work of the Association. This area had to be put on a different footing, thus new regulations were introduced.\u201d, said Dr. Andr\u00e1s Sp\u00e4t, president of the Association\u2019s Committee between 1990 and 2000.<\/p>\n

The professor emeritus highlighted the issue of the evaluation system, which was also changed to ensure that the narrow field presented by the student is represented at least by one member of the jury. He believes that the most difficult task of the Committee is evaluation and he even thought of abolishing the prizes when he took over the presidency.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end it did not happen, but special attention has to be paid to recognize everyone, who has worked hard. The jury has to be able to see how much work has been put into a specific research. It is important for the students to feel and understand that it is not the prize itself, but the gained knowledge that is the real reward. At the same time, it is also useful for students to experience not only success but failure as well.\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely believes that today it is very unlikely that a well prepared and sophisticated scientific work remains unnoticed, as half of the students can return with various prizes from the conference. At the same time he considers proper recognition of utmost importance too.<\/p>\n

\u201cTalented people can be motivated only if their hard work is recognized and is rewarded. If frustration gets in the way and counterselection occurs, the initial momentum can be drastically reduced.\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The number of prizes and alternative awards were extended by introducing the recognition of scientific publications during the presidency of Dr. P\u00e9ter Csermely.<\/p>\n

\u201cI received ammunition for a lifetime during the conversation, when professor Sp\u00e4t unexpectedly called me into his room and asked me to be his successor. The reason for the change was that he had been President of the Committee for ten years, which, according to him, is exactly the time when one has to stop. This idea stuck with me and I, myself change direction every ten years, even my filed of research.\u201d, recalled Dr. P\u00e9ter Csermely, who was President of the Committee between 2000 and 2009.<\/p>\n

He took over a well-functioning system that he \u2018only\u2019 had operate. Later on, his assistants in the Association\u2019s management became Dr. L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Buday, Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely and Katalin Mih\u00e1ly in the field of administration. The most important development of his presidency was that students of the Association become co-authors and even first authors of scientific papers more and more often, which is why a special award was introduced. This has become a tradition and more than 10 such awards are given to students each year. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cRegarding possible failures, I believe that the way to success in the long run is paved with perseverance and tolerance of failure, which students have to learn to handle. Even so, the largest problem of this period was that there were a lot of great lectures, but the number of participants allowed to attend the National Conference was limited.\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Dr. P\u00e9ter Csermely and his successor, Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely remembered an occasion, when the names of the participants to be sent to the conference were pulled out of the hat, as there were 60 worthy lectures but only 18 slots, thus they could not make a fair decision.<\/p>\n

Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely considers a development related to his presidency really important, which strengthened the relatively small medical and health sciences section of the National Students\u2019 Scientific Conference by the introduction of a new regulation that allows the proportional delegation of students to the national conference based on the turnout of the in-house congress. The section at the National Conference in Debrecen in 2019 had 700 participants, with a delegation of 170 from Semmelweis, who received nearly 100 prizes. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that the Students\u2019 Scientific Association is the basis for the development of Semmewleis University\u2019s human resources. Students of the Association will later become PhD students, faculty, specialists and professors. Basically, the entire V\u00e1rosmajor Heart and Vascular Centre was built upon former students of the Association.\u201d, said the Rector, who was proposed to be president by Dr. P\u00e9ter Csermely.<\/p>\n

The first student he mentored at the Association was Dr. L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Gell\u00e9r, who is now a professor and an interventional cardiologist and electrophysiologist recognized all over Europe. Today, his students are mentoring new students, so it is the third generation of talent support. The Rector mentioned Dr. Hajnalka V\u00e1g\u00f3 and Dr. Endre Zima, associate professors as outstanding former students of the Association.<\/p>\n

The Students\u2019 Scientific Association is open for international applicants as well. Currently, it has 900 Hungarian and 100 international members.
\nInternational students are also welcome to submit their applications to the International Students Scientific Conference; at the Conference of 2019 four out of the 14 international students received a prize.
\nTo learn more about the activities of the Students\u2019 Scientific. Association, follow the link: https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/tdk\/en\/<\/a><\/div>\n

\u201cValues, performance and the students are the focal points of presidents of the Students\u2019 Scientific Committee and only those can become good councillors who are mentors themselves.\u201d, Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely said.<\/p>\n

Keeping in line with the tradition, he suggested who his successor should be. He noticed Dr. Attila Szij\u00e1rt\u00f3 over ten years ago at the university conference in 2009 that was organized by him. The Committee did not allow one of the students of Dr. Attila Szij\u00e1rt\u00f3 to attend the conference, which caused some controversy, as the young mentor did not agree with the decision. During his presidency, professor Merkely was constantly monitoring the Association\u2019s workshops and a few years later he asked Dr. Attila Szij\u00e1rt\u00f3 to be the member of the committee, who has been president of the Students\u2019 Scientific Association since 2019.<\/p>\n

Why choose the Students\u2019 Scientific Association? \u2013 Message from the presidents to students<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr. Andr\u00e1s Sp\u00e4t<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal of the Students\u2019 Scientific Association is not to make students become outstanding experts of a narrow field, but to learn the basics of research methodology, how to follow and critically read literature and what methodology to use while reviewing one\u2019s proper work. These skills will be needed even for those who will later work as clinicians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. P\u00e9ter Csermely<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is great joy when one realizes or discovers something, so I think it is essential to make this source of joy available to our students and encourage them to take part in the Students\u2019 Scientific Association. I also consider it important when a close relationship develops between mentor and student, just like between colleagues. The strong connection is well-represented by my excitement, when I sit in to listen to my student\u2019s presentation. Usually, I am more excited and anxious than the student himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMedicine is an extremely rapidly growing field and its nature can only be experienced by undergoing its difficulties and pleasures ourselves. I chose a specialisation that has developed in an extraordinarily fast way in the past 30 years. I could meet mentors who really led the way and I would have never got to the point where I am now in the field of cardiology without the fundamentals that the Students\u2019 Scientific Association gave me. The Students\u2019 Scientific Association promotes various competences, perseverance, teaches how to tolerate failure and success because the latter is not always easy to handle either. Anyone, feeling to have some spare energy besides their studies, should try it, get hands-on experience and see how science changes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interview with Dr. Andr\u00e1s Sp\u00e4t, Dr. P\u00e9ter Csermely and Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely, former presidents of the Committee <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":362,"featured_media":22313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,2],"tags":[28,36],"class_list":["post-22309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-news","tag-education","tag-tdk"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/362"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22309"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22323,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22309\/revisions\/22323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}