The Beginning of a Research Career

Balázs Laki is a student of the Informatics for Computer Programming BSc program at the Faculty of Informatics of the Eötvös Loránd University. He has won a number of student competitions and high prestige awards since his secondary school years. We have asked the young researcher, who has been granted the Bolyai Junior Award and the Pro Scientia Junior Award among other prizes, about the relationship between mass and elite education, the researcher's mission and his current research topics.

Tell us something about the beginnings! When did your interest in research arise?

As early as during my secondary school years, I thought that this would be a field that is fit for me. I had a physics teacher who was involved in research himself, and he recommended that I join their next theme: the state of ground water was examined in a village 10 years ago. We took new samples again, and used mathematical methods to assess the extent to which canalization has changed the composition of ground water. I participated in several contests, and one such occasion has given me the opportunity to participate in the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony, which was not only a formal event, but I could also talk to the awardee and some former awardees about what had directed their lives on this track.

What is your opinion about the fact that talented students are not given opportunities in mass education, and it has a result, many of them are lost for research?

According to István Fodor, there are two types of talented students: those who achieve in any kind of environment, and those who need to be incited a little. Members of the latter group are „lost" during the three years of the BSc program, because they lose their motivation.

How can those who lose their motivation be supported?

A possible way to do this would be by talent care programs, for example by involving mentors. Seminars could be offered with a slightly increased amount of material. Here at the Eötvös Loránd University, certain seminars are available at three different levels. However, these do not solve the basic problem, and it would be worth finding the balance between elite education and mass education somehow.

What factors are necessary for starting a researcher career?

Motivation is the most important. In addition to this, one has to be at the right place at the right time. The research career is not just a profession, it is more of a mission. I once received a questionnaire about how successful I felt I was in my work, private life, etc. However, I think that success is not an internal thing, I am successful if people in my environment consider me successful.

How much do technological innovations of the 21st century help or inhibit the lives of researchers?

Someone I know once told me that when he had applied to a foreign scholarship as a doctoral student years ago, the main point was to go to a place with an Internet connection. Of course it is very useful, because a lot of information is easily accessible and this definitely increases the efficiency of research, but at the same time, one should consider how authentic the information found is. The fact that one can access a number of articles as a teacher or student makes this something of a mass phenomenon. Unfortunately, researchers are often only assessed by their publication index.

You deal with several topics at the same time. Don't you feel that your attention is too divided?

I do. However, I would be sad if it was not divided. I have been told me that it would be better to deal with only one thing at a very high level. I think that this is much more exciting. I live in the Eötvös Collegium, where students of a variety of disciplines are present. This has a double advantage, as they try to understand what I tell them about, and I myself learn a lot of information that I can use elsewhere.

What is the topic that most concerns you now?

I have dealt with several themes lately, what links these together is that they all involve a little mathematics: some approach it from the field of economics, and some are fully theoretical. I like mathematics because no matter if the problem I am dealing with is ecological, hydrological or economic, mathematics can show that eventually, all these problems are the same. The current theme is the economic modelling of Hungary, as there are macro models that describe the economy of a country, and micro models that describe, for example, a household. These two have been separated in the methodology of economics.