Senior researchers

Katinka Bacskai

I am a sociologist and history-sociology teacher. My main research topic is public education. My research fields are the efficiency of teachers teaching children in low socio-economic status, the school dropout and the comparison of public and private sectors. I am familiar with both quantitative and qualitative research methods; I analyze big Hungarian (e.g. National Competence Measurement) and OECD databases as well. I acquired my PhD degree in 2014, the title of my dissertation is ’What the teacher worth if it is Central-European? Teachers teaching low SES children in two Central – European countries’ [Mit ér (el) a tanár, ha közép-európai?: Alacsony státusú diákokat tanító tanárok két közép-európai országban.] Currently I am teaching teacher candidates in teacher training, and BA and MA students in pedagogy major.

Veronika Bocsi

I graduated on History and sociology science at the University of Debrecen, than I made my doctoral studies in the field of educational sciences and I made my habilitation at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Debrecen. Currently, I am the associate professor of the Faculty of Child and Adult Education. Furthermore, I am educator and supervisor in the Doctoral Program on Educational and Cultural Sciences (Doctoral School of Human Sciences, University of Debrecen). Two monographs, 20 journal articles and 49 book chapters were published. My main research field is higher education. My work draws the attention mainly on student life from the different perspectives of the sociology (lifestyle sociology, cultural sociology) but they concern to topics related to romology, sociology of religion and public education as well. I have taken part in 20 national and international research projects. In the focus of my educational work are standing subjects related to sociology and research methodology. I am also the member of Talent Council of the University of Debrecen, the coordinator of the Talent Management Program (DETEP) and the president of the Council of Scientific Students' Associations. In addition, I received the Ferenc Erdei Ferenc Erdei Prize of the Hungarian Sociological Association.

Ágnes Engler

I am the senior lecturer of the Institute of Educational Sciences of the University of Debrecen. My research interest is directed to the common problems of educational sociology, adult education and demography. In the focus on my research are standing the basic questions of the family and the education on family life. In my previous researches, I measured the academic achievement and career prospects of students who get their certification with a child. Related to formal adult education, I also discover the academic career of mature students regarding the compatibility of learning, work and family. An outstanding area of my researches on higher education is the investigation of the future plans of students linked to family and career.

Hajnalka Fényes

I graduated as economist-sociologist in 1991 at Budapest, I had my PhD degree in Sociology in 2001, and I made my habilitation in Education science in 2010. I am an associate professor in University of Debrecen at the Department of Sociology and Social Policy. I am educator and supervisor in the Doctoral School of Human Sciences (University of Debrecen) in two Doctoral Programs (in Educational and Cultural Sciences and in Sociology Program). My main research focus on higher education students. Since 2002, I work with the colleges of CHERD, and I participated in the 6 biggest research of CHERD (Regional University Research, TERD, HERD, Campus-lét, IESA and now in a project dealing with dropout of students). My research is in the borderline of sociology and education science, and I am interested in quantitative methodology of sociology as well (multilevel analyses, contextual analysis). My research fields: 1. the social mobility of HE students (the role of financial and cultural capital on students’ achievement and on further status); 2. differences between males and females in the whole education system (male disadvantage hypothesis: males are socially less mobile in higher education and nowadays they are in minority in HE as well, gender role and father role attitudes of students; 3. Volunteering of students (motivations of volunteering: new forms of volunteering among higher education students (career development, enlarging social capital etc) and traditional volunteering: the role of religiosity on volunteering).

Klára Kovács

The aim of my researches is to introduce and analyse sporting habits of students in the Carpathian Basin and to examine what are the socio-cultural, environmental and individual factors that affect it, whether that involves a student sport activities during his or her university studies. I examine the relationships between healthy or unhealthy behaviour, subjective well-being, achievement and sport as a social protective factor: how contributes sport to students’ well-being and academic and non-academic achievement. The aim of my researches is to explore the role and importance of sport in the higher education institutions of the Hungarian, Slovakian, Ukrainian, Serbian and Romanian border regions and in minority Hungarian student groups. My comparative study investigates the characteristics and forms of sporting activities in the above institutions as well as the similarities and differences in the role, influence and institutional infrastructure of sport at the universities and colleges of the region surveyed. Besides, as a follow-up to our previous research, I intend to identify the social and individual factors that influence sporting habits.

András Kun

I graduated as an economist in 2002 in the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Debrecen, and I received my PhD degree in 2009 in the Doctoral School of Economics of the University of Debrecen. My main research areas are connected to information asymmetry, economics of education, labour market studies, higher education research (as well as their connections) and human resource management (especially recruitment, selection and organizational culture). Currently, I am an associate professor in the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of Debrecen, Department of Human Resource Management. I am tutoring subjects on bachelor, master and PhD levels (in Hungarian and in English) in the following fields: human resource management, labour market studies, and research methodology. I also have teaching experience in organizational behaviour, project management and operational management.

Prof. Dr. István Polónyi

I am an educator in the Institute of Educational Studies and Cultural Management at the University of Debrecen. I take on a role as an educator and a supervisor in the Education and Society Doctoral School of Education at the University of Pécs; furthermore, I am a core member of the Doctoral School of Human Sciences at the University of Debrecen. I received my degree in 1994 in economics. I make my investigations in the field of the economics and policy of education, the financing of education and research, human resource development, economy and adult education.

Károly Teperics

I investigate education research from the beginning of the 1990s. I involved the agglomeration researches from the field of geography into the territorial network of education. My investigation extends to the questions of the international relationships (foreigners in Hungarian public and higher education) and to the interrelation of the development of human resources with the development of the system of the institution and with regional development. In higher educational researches, I investigate the labour market characteristics of graduated people parallel to the institutional agglomeration. As an educator with experiences and relationships in public education (A-level exam president and public educational expert) and dealing with methodology as well, I know the problems of teacher education and I am seeking the possibilities for the reformation of teacher education related to science. My supervised doctoral students investigate the territorial relationships of higher education and the questions of gipsy integration. Regarding my work, the monography explaining the territorial relationships of the University of Debrecen and the chapters of university handbooks exploring regional development are the most important. The number of my academic publications is 100 which have 158 references. I am the member of the Educational Subsection of the X. Section of Earth Sciences of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences; furthermore, I am the president of Hungarian Geographical Society in the Class of Debrecen. I work at the University of Debrecen at the Faculty of Science and Technology in the Department of Social Geography and Regional Development where I am a senior lecturer.

Last update: 2023. 03. 26. 20:10