Zoltán Hegedűs has been working at the Biological Research Centre in Szeged, under the MTA, ELKH, and now HUN-REN, since 1988. Early in his career, he spent over a decade conducting experimental biological research in the field of immunological signal transduction. In 1999, he earned his PhD based on the results of his work in this area.

Later, he obtained advanced qualifications as a programmer and system administrator and became a member—and eventually the head—of the BRCSZ Bioinformatics Research Group. As a bioinformatician, his scientific work focuses on processing and analyzing the massive volumes of data generated by high-throughput biological experimental approaches such as genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics.

Through this work, he regularly encountered the challenges of scientific data recording and research data management, which strongly motivated his transition into the role of data steward at HUN-REN SZBK in 2024.

As a data steward, his primary responsibility is to support the institute's researchers and research groups in the FAIR storage and publication of today’s increasingly vast and complex research datasets.