7th UNESCO MOST Winter School

Izabella Agárdi (iASK, Hungary) 

Dr. Agárdi is a historian and holds a Ph.D. from Utrecht University. Her research interests are oral history, gender studies, rural women’s history, contemporary historiography and literary theory. She focuses on the intersections of personal and public narratives, practices of periodization and tropes of narrating 20th-century history in Central Europe. She is the author of the book On the Verge of History: Women’s History Telling in Central Europe after the 20th Century, Ibidem, 2022.

Kehinde Balogun (Catholic University of Portugal, Portugal) 

Kehinde Balogun is currently enrolled as a PhD candidate in Psychology of Emotions and Wellbeing at the Catolica University of Portugal. Motivated by her role and responsibilities in co-designing the Wellbeing, Indigenous Knowledge, Sustainability and Equity (WISE) Transformation Initiative at the at the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), Kehinde’s research focus will explore the Ubuntu wisdom from South Africa and it’s interlinkages with the emerging science on the impact of emotions on human behaviour and decision-making processes. Prior to WISE, she worked at the intersection of Climate Risk Insurance and Disaster Risk Management at UNU-EHS.

Damir Banović (University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina) 

Damir Banović (LL.M), a senior teaching assistant at the Law Faculty (University of Sarajevo) at the Department of Theory of State and Law. He is a member of the European Commission on Sexual Orientation Law (ECSOL), scientific network Verfassungspolitik in Mitel- und Osteueropas (Humboldt Universität in Berlin) and enrolled in a two-years scientific project Human Dignity in Europe (Universität in Luzern). Also, he is an associate member of the Serbian Association of Legal and Social Philosophy (IVR Serbia).

Stefano Bianchini (Retired Professor of the University of Bologna and former coordinator of the International MA Program MIREES, Italy)

Stefano Bianchini is an independent scholar. He was Professor of East European Politics and History at the University of Bologna until October 2023 when he retired. From 2015 to 2021 he served as Rector’s delegate for relations with Eastern Europe. Previously, he coordinated the two-years Interdisciplinary MA in East European Studies (MIREES), a joint diploma of the Universities of Bologna, St. Petersburg, Vytautas Magnus at Kaunas, and Corvinus of Budapest. He is visiting professor of the State University of St. Petersburg and holds a H.D. in Humanities of the Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas. From 2001 to 2018 he was also the co-director of the European Regional Master in Democracy and Human Rights for SEE (ERMA) awarding a double diploma of the Universities of Sarajevo and Bologna. He is a member of the Advisory Boad and former Vice president of the Association for Studies of Nationalities (ASN) based at the Harriman Institute, Columbia University, New York and Executive Editor of the blind peer-review journal “Southeastern Europe”, (Brill, Leiden) and other academic journals.

Dezső Boda (University of Pannonia, Hungary) 

Dezső Boda (Hungary) is a professor at the Doctoral School of Chemistry and Environmental Sciences at the University of Pannonia. He is the director of the Center for Natural Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, at the University of Pannonia (UP), Veszprém, where he also leads the research group “Modeling and Simulation of Complex Molecular Systems”. He graduated as a physicist from the University of Szeged (1992), received his PhD in Chemistry from the UP (1996), and DSc from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2013). He introduced and organizes the Science in the Pub series at the UP. He spent four years at the Institute of Advanced Studies Kőszeg (iASK) as a grant holder (2015,2019) and as a Research Fellow (2016-2018).

János J. Bogárdi (iASK, Ludovika University of Public Service, Hungary, University of Bonn, Germany) 

János Bogárdi is a senior fellow at the Centre for Development Research at the University of Bonn, Germany since 2012, senior scientific advisor Institute of Advanced Studies Kőszeg, Hungary since 2017, and research professor at the National University of the Public Service, since 2023. He held positions in research and consulting in Europe and Africa (1969-1985). He is a former associate professor for water resources management at the Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok (1985-1988) and full professor Wageningen Agricultural University, the Netherlands (1989-1995), the Section Chief at UNESCO International Hydrology Programme in Paris (1995-2003), and the founding director of the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security and Vice Rector in Europe (2003-2009). 

Emil Brix (Director of the Diplomatic Academy Vienna, Austria) 

Emil Brix is an Austrian diplomat and historian. Starting in 1982, he worked for the Foreign Service of the Republic of Austria. He was a Secretary in the Austrian Parliament for the parliamentary group of the “People’s Party” (ÖVP) and later Head of the Cabinet of the Austrian Minister of Science. After 1989 Brix was the first Austrian Counsel General in Cracow/Poland. From 2010 onwards he was the Austrian ambassador in London and later in Moscow. He became the director of the Diplomatische Akademie Wien – Vienna School of International Studies in 2017. 

Daniel Brooks (iASK, Hungary, University of Toronto, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and at the Linnaean Society of London, Canada) 

Daniel R. Brooks is Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto, and Senior Research Fellow, H.W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology, University of Nebraska State Museum. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (Academy of Science) and Fellow of the Linnaean Society of London. He has been awarded honorary doctorates from Stockholm University and the University of Nebraska, has been a Visiting Fellow of the Collegium Budapest, the Ciencias sem Fronteras program of Brazil, the Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Study, the Institute of Advances Studies Koszeg, and the Hungarian National Centre for Ecology. Dan is an evolutionary biologist who integrates fundamental evolutionary principles into effective action plans for coping with the challenges of global climate change. 

Ilan Chabay (Arizona State University, USA) 

Ilan Chabay is an adjunct professor in the School for Sustainability of Arizona State University and Head of Strategic Science Initiatives and Programs at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam, Germany. At IASS, he is also the Scientific Project Leader of the Global Sustainability Strategy Forum conducted in collaboration with ASU and head of the KLASICA international research alliance. He was a research scientist in laser physics and chemistry at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology and at the Stanford University. He became associate director of the Exploratorium Science Museum in San Francisco, then founder of and 18 years the president of an innovative company in Silicon Valley, designing and producing interactive exhibitions for 230 museums around the world, including Disney, Smithsonian

Sean Cleary (Strategic Concepts Pty, South Africa)

Sean Cleary is Chairman of Strategic Concepts (Pty) Ltd., Managing Director of the Centre for Advanced Governance, Founder and Executive Vice Chair of the FutureWorld Foundation and Chairman of Atlantic Holdings (Pty) Ltd. He studied social sciences and law at the University of South Africa, the University of Cape Town and Pahlavi University in Iran and holds an MBA from Henley Management College at Brunel University in the United Kingdom. He served in the South African Navy on the staff of the Commander Maritime Defence before beginning a diplomatic career in the Middle East, the United States and Namibia. As Chief Director in Namibia in the mid-1980s, he initiated negotiations between all political parties, the release of political prisoners and the adoption of a Bill of Rights paving the way for independence. He lectures on global corporate strategy at the Graduate School of Business at the University of the Witwatersrand, the Henley Management College, the Gordon Institute of Business Science at the University of Pretoria, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and Stellenbosch University.

He also lectures on conflict resolution, the challenges of globalization and development economics at several U.S. and European universities and institutes. He is the co-author, with Thierry Malleret, of two books on risk: “Resilience to Risk” (Human and Rousseau, 2006), and “Global Risks” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)

David Daou (UNU-EHS, Germany)

Dr. Daou has been a researcher for the past 18 years, during which he worked with the top European institutions, including the Joint Research Centre in Ispra (Province of Varese, Italy) as well as the European Space Agency, the Dutch Meteorological Institute, the Canadian Space Agency, European Lidar Network, Environment and Climate Change Canada, the AEROCAN Network as well as working as an expert to evaluate projects for the European Commission. Dr. Daou is also working in the field of ethical AI, data science and analytics, software programming and is currently a research manager for climate risks modelling at UNU-EHS in Bonn. He is also teaching AI and remote sensing courses for the Joint Masters program between UNU-EHS and the University of Bonn.

Péter Dombi (HUN-REN Wigner Research Centre for Physics, Hungary) 

Péter Dombi is a research professor and head of the Ultrafast Nanooptics Research Group at the HUN-REN Wigner Research Centre for Physics. He obtained his MSc in Physics from the University of Szeged in 2001 and earned his PhD from the Vienna University of Technology in 2005. His research focuses on ultrafast science, nano-optics, laser physics, and surface plasmons. He has authored 87 peer-reviewed journal articles, accumulating over 3,500 citations with an h-index of 30. He has delivered 51 invited conference talks and supervised 12 PhD students. His awards include the International Dennis Gabor Award (2009) and the Physics Prize from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2019).

Jekatyerina Dunaeva (Budapest Corvinus University, Hungary) Jekatyerina Dunajeva is an Assistant Professor at Pázmány Péter Catholic University and Budapest Corvinus University, as well as a Research Fellow at the HUN-REN Centre for Social Sciences, with expertise in civil society, inclusive education, and minority integration. Her work also explores environmental justice, the politics of religion, and collective memory and identity formation. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Oregon and combines academic research with applied work, actively collaborating with international organizations, NGOs, and EU institutions. Dr. Dunajeva’s research focuses on promoting social justice in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the former Soviet region

Ahmet Evin (Sabanci University, Turkey)  

Ahmet Evin is a Senior Scholar in Istanbul Policy Center and Professor at Sabancı University, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and Jean Monnet chair at Sabanci. At Columbia University, he was named William Mitchell Fellow where he received his PhD in Middle East Studies and Cultural History. He is director of education of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, and coordinated the Aga Khan Program at Harvard University and MIT. He initiated, with European Commission support, a policy dialogue on EU’s eastward expansion, its Mediterranean policy, and the customs union agreement with Turkey. He established, with the EUI Schuman Center, the EU-Turkish Observatory, also programs and policy research with academic institutions and NGOs, e.g., the Kokkalis Program at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He is the founding member of Turkish Economy and Social Studies Foundation and the Middle East Studies Association of North America.

Áron Fábián (Bibó István College for Advanced Studies, ELTE, Hungary)

Dr. Fábián is the Deputy Director of Bibó István College for Advanced Studies, and a junior lecturer at the Centre for the Faculty of Law, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest. He is an external fellow at iASK. His primary research focus is the normativity of law and analytic legal philosophy. He is interested in the fields of law and language, political philosophy, and socio-legal studies.

Tamás Fejérdy (iASK, ICOMOS Hungarian National Committee, Hungary) 

Tamás Fejérdy is a Hungarian architect. He is a lecturer at several universities in Hungary, where he teaches, among other things, about World Heritage and the legal and institutional protection of cultural heritage. A member of ICOMOS since 1983, he was vice-president between 2005 and 2008. He was also head of the International Committee of Historic Towns and Villages (CIVVIH) from 1992 to 2002. He has also been a member of working groups of the Council of Europe; participant of Nara International Conferences (1994, 2004); Chairperson of the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee (2002/2003); member of the Council of Europa Nostra; developed considerable professional expertise in connection with World Heritage nominations and reactive monitoring missions.

Stephanie Fenkart (Director of the International Institute for Peace, Austria) 

Mag. Stephanie Fenkart MA is Director of the International Institute for Peace (IIP) since 2016. She has an MA in Development Studies from the University of Vienna and an MA in Human Rights from the Danube University, Krems. She is furthermore a member of the Advisory Committee for Strategy and Security Policy of the Scientific Commission at the Austrian Armed Forces (BMLV) and the chair of the Board of The Balkan Forum, Pristina. She focuses on peaceful conflict resolution, European Security, EU-enlargement, geopolitics and disarmament. Her regional focus lies in South-Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus. Together with Marylia Hushcha she moderates the Podcast “Peace Matters”. 

András Gelencsér (University of Pannonia, Hungary) 

András Gelencsér is an atmospheric scientist and professor at the University Pannonia Veszprém, where he served as rector between 2015 and 2023. He gratuated as a chemical engineer in 1990, received his PhD in environmental sciences in 1995, and became member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) in 2019. He is the head of the HUN-REN Air Chemistry Research Group. His research field is air pollution and climate change, with special emphasis on atmospheric carbonaceous aerosol, e.g. from biomass-burning. He has received multiple honors, including the Hungarian Order of Merit (2014), the Prima Primissima Award (2016), and the MTA Award (2017). . He became personally involved in global sustainability in 2014, and since he has given numerous lectures on global sustainability for the public, as well as media interviews and a podcast having over 1 million reads/views each. He has recently published a book titled “Enchanted by illusions–limits to sustainability”.

Franz Graf (Institute of Ethnology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic)

Franz Graf is a postdoctoral researcher in the ERC project, “Memory and Populism from Below” (PI Johana Wyss), where he contributes environmental anthropological approaches to the overall goals of the project. Ethnographic fieldwork has been central to his approach, including long-term teaching and field school experiences through the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna. His current research integrates ecological scholarship with theoretical approaches from memory studies. Franz is particularly interested in the politics of memory in relation to ecological and social transformations and how such remembrances shape and are shaped by populist discourses deployed by local actors.

Csaba Győry (ELTE, Hungary) 

Senior lecturer at Faculty of Law at ELTE University, specializing in contemporary regulatory issues, with special emphasis on criminal law and criminology. He is a long-time specialist of various international civil organizations, he did research many times in Africa, eg. Uganda and Rwanda.

Inna Hakkinen (University of Helsinki, Finland) 

As a member of the Helsinki Environmental Humanities Hub, Inna Hakkinen coordinates and (co-) teaches ‘Chernobyl Studies’, ‘Nuclear Narratives in East/Central Europe’ courses at the University of Helsinki (Aleksanteri Institute). After defending her PhD in Literary Studies (Dnipro, Ukraine), she has been a research fellow of Erasmus Mundus mobility programs (Bologna, 2008; Turku, 2011-2012), Cambridge Colleges Hospitality Scheme (2013), SUSI (Ohio, 2016), Open Society Foundation/Artes Liberales Foundation (Warsaw, 2016-2017), JYU Visiting Fellowship Programme (Jyvaskyla, 2021), PIASt Fellowship Program (Warsaw, 2022). She is a member of the Association for Literary Urban Studies (Finland), HELSUS (Finland) and Nordic Association for American Studies (NAAS). 

Cornelius Holtorf (Linnaeus University, Sweden) 

Cornelius Holtorf is a Professor of Archaeology and holds a UNESCO Chair on Heritage Futures at Linnaeus University in Kalmar, Sweden. He is interested in bringing together culture, heritage and foresight, including in relation to global sustainable development and climate change. His inspiration comes among other sources from working with the question of long-term memory of repositories of nuclear waste. He is the co-editor (with A. Högberg) of Cultural Heritage and the Future (Routledge, 2021). His presentation in Kőszeg is based on a paper published in World Archaeology, 55(3), 2023, 268–281.

Boglárka Jakabfi-Kovács (MOME, Hungary) 

In 2012, she obtained a Master’s degree in Architectural Design from Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME), where she is currently a doctoral candidate in the Architectural Design DLA program. Her research focuses on systemic approaches to sustainable design strategy-building, the architectural implications of the degrowth paradigm, and the integration of these concepts into design education. For the past four years, she has been a guest lecturer, teaching courses on climate adaptation, adaptive reuse, gamification, and systems thinking in design at both the MOME Institute of Architecture and Budapest Metropolitan University. In collaboration with Marp Studio, she designed a residential house, which was awarded the House of the Year Grand Prize and the BigSEE Award in 2020. 

Jody Jensen (iASK, Hungary) 

Dr. Jensen is the Director of Transdisciplinary Research and Collaboration at iASK. She is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Political Sciences at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. She was the Director of the International Studies MA Program at the University of Pannonia Koszeg Campus and awarded a Jean Monet Chair in European Solidarity and Social Cohesion (ESSCO). She is the Director of International Relations at the Institute of Social and European Studies (a Jean Monet Centre of Excellence) which she helped to found. She served as the national and regional director of Ashoka: Innovations for the Public that supports social entrepreneurs. She teaches frequently abroad and also works for the European Commission. Her areas of research are prefigurative and subterranean politics, new social and political movements, particularly in East and Central Europe and the Balkans; looking at the conjunction of the social and natural sciences in the study of complexity as it translates to social phenomena and change.

László Karvalics (iASK, Hungary) 

László Karvalics (DSc, PhD, Hab). MA in History, Literature and Linguistics from ELTE, Budapest. He is a founding director, BME-UNESCO Information Society and Trend Research Institute, associate professor, former Head, Department of Cultural Heritage and Human Information Science, Faculty of Arts, University of Szeged. He was a Fulbright Research Scholar, George Washington University, Center of International Science and Technology Policy (2006), Georgetown University, Department of History (2007). Teaching and research on information society, social impacts of information technology, comparative analysis of national information strategies, information history, press history, education in the information age and knowledge management theory and practice, smart cities, cultural microheritage. 

Miklós Király (ELTE, Hungary)

Miklós Király is Professor of Law and was Dean of the Faculty of Law at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest between 2008 and 2016. He is the Head of the Department of Private International Law and European Economic Law and the Director of the ELTE European Research and Documentation Centre. He received his Ph.D in law from Eötvös Loránd University in 1998. His research focuses on EU economic law and private international law (PIL), as well as on the cultural aspects of EU law. He is the author of several books and articles on European law, civil law and PIL. He was legal advisor to Metalimpex Foreign Trade Company (1985-1986), senior advisor to the Prime Minister’s Office (1990-1992), member of the Board of the State Property Agency (1992-1994) and advisor on EU law to the Ministry of Social and Family Affairs (1998-2001). Advisor to the President of the Republic of Hungary (2002-2005).

Norbert Kroó (iASK, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Institute for Solid State Physics and Optics, Hungary) 

Norbert Kroó was the Vice-President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He is the member of the Advisory Board of iASK, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and full-time research professor at the Wigner Research Centre, Institute for Solid State Physics in Hungary. His fields of interest are material sciences, optics, neutron physics and science policy. He has published over 250 scientific papers, 7 books, 40 patents and numerous technical reports while serving on the editorial boards of four scientific journals. He was formerly President of the European Physics Society (1993-95) and President of the Hungarian Physical Society (1985-90). He has been the Chairman of the ESF Committee on Large Facilities since 1996 and Vice President of the Hungarian National Science Foundation since 1996. He has served as a member of the Executive Committee of EPS (1983-88), Freedom of Science Committee of ICSU (since 1997), Physics Action Council of UNESCO (since 1994) and other important roles.

Robert Lovas (Deputy Director, Institute for Computer Science and Control, Hungarian Research Network HUN-REN SZTAKI)

Dr. Lovas earned his MSc in Electrical Engineering and PhD in Informatics from Budapest University of Technology and Economics. As a habilitated associate professor at Óbuda University, he led the Institute for Cyber-Physical Systems at the John von Neumann Faculty of Informatics. He is a member of the Committee on Information Science at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and a recipient of the Bolyai János Research Fellowship. With 25 years of experience in research, development, and innovation in parallel and distributed systems, he has collaborated globally on projects in computational chemistry, numerical meteorology, bioinformatics, precision agriculture, autonomous cars, and Industry 4.0. He has coordinated four EU projects (FP7, H2020, Horizon Europe) and is responsible for managing national and pan-European research infrastructures as the project director of HUN-REN Cloud and an Executive Board member of the EGI Foundation, which provides key assets to the European Open Science Cloud. His recent work and achievements contribute to the AI4Science program of HUN-REN, as well as to the Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems National Laboratories.

Elira Luli (iASK, Luarasi University, Albania) 

Dr. Elira Luli is a Lecturer and Researcher at “Luarasi” University and a Visiting Lecturer at Tirana (State) University, possessing diverse expertise in academia, civil society, and public administration. She received her International Relations and Political Science doctorate from the European University of Tirana in 2017 and was awarded a George C. Marshall Center Alumni Scholar in 2022, after completing a Group research Project on the topic Democratic Backsliding and Security Governance. In July 2024, she finished her post-doc Research Fellowship at the Institute of Advanced Studies Kőszeg, Hungary, under the general project topic “EU and Western Balkans”. 

Anikó Magasházi (iASK, Hungary) 

Dr. Magasházi received a PhD in Economics, at the International Relations Multidisciplinary Doctoral School at the Corvinus University of Budapest. She became involved in academic research following 20 years of experience in regional development and the financial sector in Hungary and Austria. She joined the permanent staff at iASK to foster the development of international relations. Her research interests include globalization and regional development, in particular the impact of global production networks of transnational corporations on national and regional economic and social development in Central European and Southeast-Asian countries.

David Maggs (Metcalf Foundation)

David Maggs carries on an active career as an interdisciplinary artist and researcher focused on arts, climate change, and sustainability. He is the founder and pianist for Dark by Five, has written works for the stage, and created augmented reality and virtual reality projects which have been included in the UK’s Future of Live Performance Spotlight Gallery. David is the artistic director of the rural Canadian interarts organization Camber Arts. He initiated and co-produced the CBC doc channel film The Country, exploring the Canadian government’s handling of Indigenous identity in Newfoundland. As a fellow at the University of Toronto’s Munk School for Global Affairs, David co-authored Sustainability in an Imaginary World (Routledge Press, 2020) with mentor and longtime collaborator John Robinson, exploring the relationship between art and sustainability. He is former senior fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Sustainability in Potsdam, Germany, where he led work on culture and climate change.

Szabolcs Márka (Columbia University, USA) 

zabolcs Márka is leader of the Columbia Experimental Gravity Group (a member of LIGO) in addition to being a professor at Columbia. He received an NSF CAREER Award and a GRAND Challenges Explorations Award from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. His research is focused on the effort to directly detect gravitational waves of cosmic origin, which will allow to study cosmic processes and objects unreachable through conventional methods based on electromagnetic observations. His major interest is astrophysical trigger based data analysis and essential development/diagnostic projects aimed towards enhancing the astrophysical reach and reliability of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory.

Zsuzsanna Márka (Columbia University, USA) 

Zsuzsanna Márka is an Associate Research Scientist at Columbia University’s Astrophysics Laboratory and a Lecturer in Physics. She has played a pivotal role in the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) project, leading the development of the timing distribution systems essential for instrument control and data acquisition. Her research focuses on multimessenger astrophysics, particularly the intersection of high-energy neutrino and gravitational wave observations. Additionally, she contributes to the Columbia BioOptics Group, developing optical and acoustic technologies to combat disease-transmitting vectors. Committed to science education, Márka actively engages in outreach to inspire young minds.

Igor Marković (Aktiv, Kosovo)

Igor Marković is an independent researcher. At the Faculty of Political Sciences in Belgrade, he acquired the title of political scientist for international affairs and received his master’s degree at the Regional Master’s Study of Peace at the same faculty. He has twelve years of experience in the non-governmental sector in Serbia and Kosovo, and two years in diplomatic and international missions to Kosovo. He is the co-author and author of a series of studies on reconciliation, interethnic and regional relations in the Western Balkans, with a particular focus on Kosovo. Since 2018, he has mostly been focused on security issues and rights of members of non-majority communities in Kosovo. He won the “Dr Predrag Simić” award twice.

Nenad Markovikj (Cyril and Methodius University, North Macedonia)

Nenad Markovikj, PhD is a tenured professor at the political science department of the Law Faculty “Iustinianus Primus” in Skopje. He is one of the founders of one of the biggest think-tanks in North Macedonia – the Institute for Democracy “Societas Civilis” – Skopje (IDSCS). He is a member of the editorial board of the biannual political journal “Political Thought” published by IDSCS and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Skopje. Prof. Markovikj is a former president of the Macedonian political science association (MPSA) and one of the founders of the Balkan political science association (BPSA). Between 2019 and 2024, he was a member of the Security Council of the Republic of North Macedonia, an advisory body to President Stevo Pendarovski.

Mónika Mátay (iASK, Hungary) 

Dr. Mátay is an Associate Professor at the Institute of History at Eötvös Loránd University and a permanent fellow at iASK. She has been visiting scholar at the State University of Rutgers, New Jersey, Humboldt University, Berlin, Central European University, Budapest, University of Trieste. She has taught international students in the Erasmus Program, the Education Abroad Program of the University of California and at ISES in Kőszeg. She has published on modern social and cultural history, human inheritance (talkinghouseseurope.com), the history of crime (arsenic poisoning epidemic in interwar Hungary), marginalized social groups, gender and the media, and the Talking Houses Project with KRAFT Program at iASK.

Márton Matyasovszky-Németh (Bibó István College for Advanced Studies, ELTE, Hungary) 

Dr. Matyasovszky-Németh is a senior lecturer at Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Law, Center for Law and Society and a research fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies, Kőszeg (iASK). Matyasovszky-Németh’s research focuses mainly on contemporary perspectives of East Central European human rights culture and the history of Hungarian socio-legal studies. He is also interested in higher education studies and has published numerous articles on the future of higher education. A graduate of the Faculty of Law of Eötvös Loránd University, he teaches courses on legal sociology, jurisprudence, social theory and political sociology at his alma mater. He has been the director of the István Bibó College for Advanced Studies since 2021. 

Gustavo Merino (Director for Social Policies, UNESCO)

Dr. Gustavo Merino has been serving as UNESCO’s Director of Social Policies since January 2024. Prior to this role, he held significant positions within the Mexican government, including Vice Minister of Social and Human Development and Vice Minister for Prospective, Planning, and Evaluation at the Ministry of Social Development. He also led Financiera Rural, Mexico’s national development bank for agriculture and rural areas, as its CEO. Dr. Merino was the Director of the Investment Centre Division at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and has an extensive academic background, having served as Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Government at Tecnológico de Monterrey. He holds a PhD in Public Policy from Harvard University and a BA in Economics from ITAM.

Ferenc Miszlivetz (iASK, Hungary) 

Dr. Miszlivetz is the Founder and Director of the Institute of Advanced Studies Kőszeg (iASK), a Jean Monnet Professor and Full Professor at the University of Pannonia. He has taught and conducted research at various universities in Europe and the United States, including the University of Bologna, and Columbia University in New York. He is the Founder and Director of the board of the Institute for Social and European Studies Foundation (a Jean Monnet European Centre of Excellence). He has served as the President of the Social Sciences unit of the Hungarian UNESCO Committee and holds a UNESCO Chair in Cultural Heritage and Sustainability in Kőszeg. He has received numerous awards, including the Knight’s Cross of the Hungarian Republic.

Zoltán Mizsei (iASK, Hungary)

Zoltán Mizsei graduated from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music as a professor of choral conducting and Church music. He received his DLA in 2004, the title of the dissertation is Costanzo Porta-Vespers music. Currently, he is associate professor at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, at the department of Church music. He teaches Renaissance church music, menzural notation, choral conducting and voice teaching practices. Since 2014 he has been the conductor of Schola Academica and the founding member of the vocal ensemble Voces Aequales. He sings and plays instruments in several early music and world music ensembles. He is also a solo singer and composes music for contemporary dance performances and films. He teaches improvisation for music therapists at ELTE University.

András Nagy (University of Pannonia, Hungary) 

Andras Nagy is Associate Professor of the Kőszeg Campus besides he teaches at the University of Pannonia, Faculty of Modern Philology and Social Sciences, Department of Theater Studies, he is also a member of the ELTE University Doctoral School of the Science of Literature and serves as a consultant for the MOME (Moholy Nagy University of Arts and Design) Ph.D. program, while he taught at several universities both in Hungary and abroad. He was elected for president of the Hungarian Center of the International Theater Institute then he became the director of the Museum and Institute of the History of Hungarian Theater. He has published several books and studies both in Hungarian and in other languages, focusing on issues including philosophy, aesthetics and history (analyzing the complex influence of the Danish existentialistic philosopher Søren Kierkegaard). 

Sanae Okamoto (UNU-MERIT, Netherlands) 

Dr. Sanae Okamoto is a psychologist and behavioural scientist with a background in Psychology, Evolutionary Anthropology, Cognitive Neuroscience, and Behavioural Economics. She has expertise in both industry and academia by addressing diverse objectives such as Circular Economy, Climate Resilience, Mental Health, and Well-being.

Dr. Okamoto received an MSc in Psychology from the Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Japan, and a PhD in Psychology from Maastricht University. Her earlier research focused on understanding the social mechanisms of chimpanzees and humans such as altruism, cooperation and group dynamics and conducted at Kyoto University, Maastricht University, and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

Zala Pavšič (iASK, Hungary)

Zala Pavšič is a research fellow at iASK. She is a historian working on contemporary history of Southeast Europe. Apart from a PhD in Cultural History from the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, her previous training includes Master degrees in Russian Language and Comparative Literature from the University in Ljubljana. Her research areas include memory studies, history of emotions and gender studies. She is the recipient of numerous international grants and fellowships, including the Max Weber Fellowship (European University Institute, Florence), postdoctoral fellowship at the CEU Democracy Institute in Budapest and CAS SEE Fellowship (University in Rijeka).

Delfin Pllana (Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at the Embassy of the Republic of Kosovo in Hungary)

Delfin Pllana holds a PhD from the University of Sheffield. Since 2009 he is part of the diplomatic service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kosovo, with a diplomatic rank of Minister-Counsellor, having been among the founders of the first diplomatic mission of the Republic of Kosovo in Hungary, where he served in the period 2010 to 2014 as Deputy Head of Mission. Since February 2016 he is serving as Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Republic of Kosovo in Sofia and since 2024 in Hungary. Prior to joining the diplomatic service, Mr. Pllana had a career build up in the IGO, NGO and media sector working for over 10 years.

Dženita Šiljak (iASK, Hungary) 

Dženita Šiljak holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Sarajevo. She has worked as an assistant professor and researcher in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Hungary. Dženita’s research focuses on the economic convergence of transition countries towards the European Union and within the EU itself, and the role of institutions in the transition process. She has authored several articles in peer-review journals and is a co-editor of a book entitled “Bosnia and Herzegovina and European Integration: Obstacle and Challenges”.

Gábor Soós (Hungarian National Commission for UNESCO)

Gábor Soós has an educational background in the humanities and social sciences (Ph.D. English Literature, Budapest, ELTE (2010); D.E.A. in Philosophy, Université de Paris-Sorbonne, Paris 4 (1999); M.A. in English, (1996) ELTE), and worked both as an academic and as a civil servant and diplomat. He is Secretary-General of the Hungarian National Commission for UNESCO since 2016. He was diplomat and Deputy Permanent Delegate of Hungary to UNESCO (2002- 2006); Alternate Member of the Executive Board of UNESCO (2004-2006). As vice-Chair of intergovernmental experts meeting for drafting the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage (2002-2003) he also contributed actively to the elaboration and implementation of that normative instrument.

Ivana Stepanović (iASK, Hungary) 

Dr. Stepanović is a permanent research fellow at iASK and lecturer at the University of Pannonia, Kőszeg Campus. She is the Academic Coordinator of the UNESCO Chair for Culture Heritage Management and Sustainability in Hungary. She holds a PhD in Anthropology from the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, an MA in Human Rights South-East Europe from University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and University of Bologna. Her teaching and research activities focus on social media research, reconciliation in former Yugoslavia, online activism, and the impact of artificial intelligence on societies.

Levente Szabados (Foundation for Information Society, Hungary)

Levente has a background in cognitive sciences and considerable experience in leading research and development teams as well as transforming research results into software applications. He has filled various roles at two startups including co-founder, lead of research, and chief technology officer. Levente’s work has covered topics including web ontologies, evolutionary computation, neural networks, and diverse natural language processing approaches. He currently has over 10 years of experience in applied AI and is working as a Senior Consultant, “Startupper” and CTO. He is also Lecturer in applied Artificial Intelligence, tech leadership at Frankfurt School of Finance & management and Public speaker with interest in cognitive science.

Attila Tanyi (University of Tromsø, Norway) 

Attila Tanyi is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tromsø: The Arctic University of Norway, specializing in moral and political philosophy. He leads the Philosophy for Modern Times (PhilMod) research group, overseeing the department’s research activities. Tanyi holds PhDs in Philosophy from Eötvös Loránd University and in Political Science from the Central European University. His research interests encompass metaethics, normative ethics, and political philosophy. Throughout his career, he has held academic positions at institutions including the University of Liverpool, the University of Konstanz, and Stockholm University. Tanyi has published extensively on topics such as consequentialism, moral psychology, and the ethics of entrapment.

Luka Martin Tomažič (Alma Mater, Slovenia)

Luka Martin Tomažič is a Slovenian legal scholar. He has been formally educated in law, international relations, local history, economics and business. He has published more than 100 scholarly works, especially in rule of law and legal philosophy. He clerked for Ernest Petrič, the former president and member of the United Nations International Law Commission and was a visiting professor at the University of Zagreb. He is an Associate Professor at Alma Mater Europaea and a full member and Vice-president of the Slovenian Academy of Legal Science. He has been involved in public discussions in Slovenia and has signed open letters on the topics of rule of law, constitutional court conduct and the educational system.

Tibor Tóth (Executive Secretary Emeritus, Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO PC)) 

Tibor Tóth is the Executive Secretary Emeritus of the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), having served as its Executive Secretary from 2005 to 2013. With over three decades of experience in multilateral diplomacy, he has been actively involved in international disarmament and non-proliferation efforts. Prior to his tenure at the CTBTO, Tóth held several key diplomatic positions, including serving as Hungary’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva (1990–1993, 2003–2005) and Vienna (1997–2001). He also represented Hungary at the Conference on Disarmament and the International Atomic Energy Agency. From 1994 to 1996, he was the Deputy State Secretary of Defense responsible for international affairs. Throughout his career, Tóth has been instrumental in negotiating global prohibition regimes for biological and chemical weapons, significantly contributing to international security and arms control.

Kıvanç Ulusoy (Istanbul University, Turkey)

Kıvanç Ulusoy is currently a Professor of Political Science at the Istanbul University. He was previously a Fulbright Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School (2012-2013), a Jean Monnet Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute in Florence (2003-2004) and a fellow at the Madrid Diplomatic School (1996-1997).  His areas of research include regime change and democratization, Turkish politics and foreign policy, Spanish politics, American foreign policy and foreign policy of Israel. Dr. Ulusoy has conducted studies at the Departments of Political Science and International Relations in various universities such as the Middle East Technical University, Bogazici University and Sabanci University in Turkey; Granada University in Spain; Stockholm University in Sweden; Tsukuba University in Japan; and Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel.

Caleb Waugh (Aktiv, Kosovo) 

Mr. Waugh has a notable career in Kosovo, focusing on policy development, election observation, and enhancing community engagement. Since August 2023, he has been serving as the Head of the Policy Section at NGO AKTIV, where he was instrumental in producing numerous policy papers addressing the concerns of non-majority communities in Kosovo. He has held positions that facilitated the observation of municipal elections, aimed at ensuring fair democratic processes. Mr. Waugh has an MA in Eastern European Research and Studies from the Università di Bologna and a BA in Political Science and Government from the University of Edinburgh. His career reflects a deep commitment to political stability and the development of inclusive policies in the Western Balkans.

Kariũki Werũ (UNU-EHS, Germany) 

Kariũki is a Researcher in the United Nations University, primarily engaged in foci surrounding Human mobility in the context of climate change (HMCCC). He also has had experience advocating for Wellbeing Science as a transformative means to solve contemporary challenges in an inclusive and equitable manner. Aside from this, he has also worked on the intersection of climate change impacts on mental health, especially in communities exposed to the highest risks of our changing climate. Throughout the breadth of his work, he always tries to be exposed to perspectives that differ from his own, so that he may continue to learn and grow his thinking further.

Klaus Wölfer (Former Ambassador, Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs)

After graduating with a Doctorate in Laws of the University of Vienna and the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna, he joined the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1981. He served as a diplomat in the Austrian Embassies in Rome/Italy, Belgrade/Yugoslavia and Budapest/Hungary and headed the Austrian Cultural Institute in Rome between 1996 and 2002. He also served as Director General for the federal funding for the arts at the Prime Minister’s office from 2002 to 2006. In 2006, he organised the conference “The Sound of Europe” in Salzburg as a prelude to the Austrian Presidency. He was the ambassador of Indonesia, Singapore, Timor-Leste and ASEAN 2006-2011 and ambassador to Turkey from 2012 to 2017. After mid-2017, he was the head of Austrian MFA’s South East Europe unit in Vienna. He also served as Deputy Political Director and Special Envoy for the Western Balkans. He retired from public office in May 2021 and has since been senior counsel for geopolitical and diplomatic questions, supporting various companies. He writes and lectures on foreign policy issues. 

Anna Zeichner (ICCROM, Italy) 

Anna Zeichner serves as the Liaison Officer at the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM). In this capacity, she facilitates communication and collaboration between ICCROM and its member states, as well as with various international organizations. Zeichner plays a pivotal role in organizing and participating in high-level meetings with ambassadors and cultural heritage representatives from around the world, contributing to ICCROM’s mission of promoting the conservation of cultural heritage globally.

Rubin Zemon (iASK, Center for Advanced Researches, North Macedonia) 

Dr. Zemon is an ethnologist and social-cultural anthropologist, and the Director of the Center for Advanced Research. He was a research associate at the Institute for Social and Humanistic Research “Euro-Balkan” in Skopje, a university professor at the University “St. Apostle Paul” in Ohrid. He was appointed Director of the Institute for Social and Humanistic Research at the Euro-Balkan University in Skopje. He is an expert for the Council of Europe and OSCE / ODIHR for various missions and projects related to national minorities and multiculturalism, in European countries, especially in South-Eastern Europe.