Center Members 2021/2022

Ádok Lilla

Center for Communities

I study at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics for a Master's Degree in Work and Organizational Psychology. I obtained my Bachelor's Degree from Károli Gáspár Reformed University. My focus is on the functioning of organizations and their dynamics, be it a workplace, a religious community, a school class or, in a broader perspective, our society. I have become a student at the MCC - School for Mindset Psychology since autumn 2019, I joined the Center for Communities the same year. My personal faith plays a crucial role in my life, which is why I chose a research topic that explores the relationship between Christian religion and psychology.

Márton Csapodi

Center for Constitutional Policy

I am Márton Csapodi, a law student at the Faculty of Law and Political Science of Pázmány Péter Catholic University. In 2019 and 2021, I spent one semester at the Faculty of Law and Public Administration of Jagellonian University in Krakow, with an Erasmus scholarship. From 2019 to 2021, I was a student at the MCC School of International Relations. In the academic years 2018/2019 and 2019/2020, I was awarded the National Scholarship for Higher Education, in 2019 I was awarded the Imre Kopits Scholarship. My research focuses on the relationship between the Court of Justice of the European Union and the constitutional courts and ordinary courts of the Member States, and on institutional reform proposals related to the functioning of the CJEU.

Sára Borbála Dobó

Center for Private Law

I am Sára Borbála Dobó, a fourth-year law student at the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of Eötvös Loránd University. This year I am starting my third year at MCC, after two years of specialized (school) training as a research assistant at the Center for Private Law of the MCC Law School, under the mentorship of Dr. István Varga. In the Membership program, I will be working on the issue of "Fact finding of arbitrators in comparison to state court judges". I plan to spend my next semester at the Cologne Faculty of Law in the framework of the Erasmus mobility program. I prefer to spend my little free time with friends and family, at the theatre or with a good book or film.

Máté Dombi

Center for Geopolitics

I am Máté Dombi, a first-year student at the Department of Economics and Public Policy at the Corvinus University of Budapest. From 2018 to 2021, I completed my undergraduate studies at the Corvinus University of Budapest where I obtained a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations. Parallel to this, I had the opportunity to participate in the MCC Junior Program and later I became a student at the MCC School of International Relations. Even at the beginning of my university studies, I was very interested in the changes taking place in the post-Soviet area and how geographical factors determine the room to manoeuvre of states and their relations. The courses I have taken at university and at the Collegium have strengthened this interest. So, in the next year, as a member of the Center for Geopolitics at MCC, I would like to focus on the states in the post-Soviet space, and in particular on Ukraine.

Kinga Borbála Dukai

Center for Journalism

I am currently doing my last semester at the Corvinus University of Budapest, majoring in Finance and Accounting. Although I have developed a lot professionally during my university years, I feel that this is not the career in which I could unfold all my potentials. I want to do something for people, to make an impact on their life. High school teaching and the non-profit sector is what really attracts me and makes me feel comfortable. Once I get my bachelor's degree, I am going to apply for a Master's degree to become a Teacher of Economics. I am currently doing my university internship at an NGO, Amigos for Children Foundation. It is not yet clear to me which field will really suit me, but I am trying to find an answer along the lines of the aforementioned aspirations.  In addition, it is of paramount importance to me to gain experience in as many areas of life as possible. This is the reason why I applied to the Mathias Corvinus Collegium's program for high school students, and then to its Junior and specialized courses. The MCC community has given me a lot over the years, and I have made lifelong friendships. Besides academic and professional development, I find it important to be part of a unique group of people where we can motivate each other and enjoy each other's company.

Róbert Gönczi

Migration Research Institute

I will spend my research year as a research assistant at the Migration Research Institute under the mentorship of Szabolcs Janik, Deputy Director. I graduated from the National University of Public Service, Faculty of Military Sciences and Officer Training, where I obtained a Bachelor’s degree in International Security and Defense Policy. I graduated Summa Cum Laude in 2021. My BA thesis topics were the Russian expansion in Africa and the use of private armies and hybrid warfare. I also graduated from the School of Social Sciences at Mathias Corvinus Collegium in 2021. Previously, as an MCC Fellow, I also spent more than three months as a Visiting Fellow at the Warsaw Institute in Poland, but I have also worked for Mandiner.hu as a foreign policy journalist and correspondent. Currently, I work as a foreign policy journalist at Neokohn.hu. In 2020, I won the first prize at the Institutional Students' Scientific Conference, which allowed me to compete in the national final in 2021, where I won a special prize for my research. Between January 2020 and February 2021, I also served as Vice President of the NUPS College for Advanced Security Studies, first as a trustee, but later elected by the members.

Barnabás Heincz

Center for Law and Society

I am a student of the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of Pázmány Péter Catholic University and that of the MCC Law School, and a member of the Center for Law and Society. I work as a journalist for Mandiner and Hype&Hyper. I have been working as an intern in public relations and public policy offices for two years, covering media and strategy. I spent a year in Warsaw, Poland, as a fellow at the Wacław Felczak Institute for Polish-Hungarian Cooperation. I studied as an international fellow at the Faculty of Law, University of Warsaw and at the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok. The kitchen is my second home, my favourite drink is negroni, I love alternative music, Eastern Europe and socialist realist architecture. My research topic is Politics and ethics – a legal history and legal theory of the Polish and Hungarian abortion legislation.

Kincső Horváth

Center for Communities

I am studying at the Department of Psychology, Clinical and Health Psychology, ELTE Faculty of Education and Psychology, and I plan to become a certified psychologist by May 2022. Mental health and the work as a psychologist has always been a priority to me, so I started a specialization in bibliotherapy at the University of Pécs, which will enable me to work as a psychologist and coach. Beforehand, I was a student of the MCC Mindset School of Psychology, so I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Ádám Márky and his Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) approach. ACT is based on central themes such as resilience, acceptance of inner experiences and value-based decisions, among others. My research topic at the Center also focuses on this subject; I am exploring the phenomena of burnout and ways to reduce it among Hungarian health care workers. How to deal with the hard emotions that arise when helping people, how to live them in a way that allows us to get the most out of them.

Csoma Pál Kecskés

Center for Political Science

I graduated from Eötvös József High School in Budapest in 2017, currently, I am a fifth-year law student at Pázmány Péter Catholic University. In 2019, I spent a semester at the University of Tübingen, and in 2021, I spent a semester at the University of Siena. Since 2019 I have been working as a journalist for Mandiner. In 2019, I was admitted to MCC, I graduated in 2021 from the School of History and Social Sciences (formerly: Specialization in Central Europe). Currently, I am a member of the Center for Political Science, where my research focuses on national and constitutional identity in the practice of German, Hungarian and Polish constitutional courts. In my paper, I explore the concept of national identity as formulated in the Lisbon Treaty and from this perspective, I examine the controversial issues between the Court of Justice of the European Union and national constitutional courts related to the jurisdiction and supremacy of the former, and the political impact of this question.

Boglárka László

Center for Family

I graduated in psychology and psycho-education from Babeș-Bolyai University. During my university years, I came into contact with many children and adolescents as a trainer, mentor and teacher. Working with them made me more sensitive to issues such as healthy psychological development, talent development and choosing a career.

Currently, I am a developmental and clinical child psychology major at Pázmány Péter Catholic University, and my work at the Center focuses on parenting skills that are of increased importance in the development of gifted children. Just as education does not happen only in school, support for gifted children cannot be effective without the cooperation of parents.

Andrea Ménkű

Center for Public Law

I am Andrea Ménkű, a fourth-year law student at the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of Eötvös Loránd University. I am currently participating in the Erasmus+ mobility programme at the Albert Ludwigs University in Freiburg. I have been a member of Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) for four years now. I participated in the MCC Junior course and continued my studies at the Law School. During my undergraduate years, I became particularly interested in public law and joined the Public Law Workshop in the autumn of 2021. Under the guidance of my mentor, Dr Márton Sulyok, I am investigating the practice of end-of-life decisions in Hungarian and German practice, which raises many questions from both a legal and an ethical and moral perspective in our modern, individualistic world. The possibility of making a prior declaration, known colloquially as a living will, is a human dignity entitlement that every person with the capacity to act has, in order to make advance provision for the use, refusal or waiver of health care in the event of incapacity. The right of prior declaration, as part of the patient's right to self-determination, raises, inter alia, the dilemma of how it relates to the right to life and the State's duty to protect it. In the course of the research I will examine this and similar constitutional questions, and I will also seek answers to the question of how widespread, how effective and how well-established the system of refusing life-saving life-sustaining treatments is in practice in Hungary (and comparatively in Germany), also exploring the possible reasons for the effectiveness (frequency) or failure (lack of success) of such procedures. I will also examine the role of notaries in the procedure and compare the Hungarian and German systems.

András Nagy Csomor

Center for Private Law

I am András Csomor Nagy, a fourth-year student at the Faculty of Law and Political Science of Pázmány Péter Catholic University and that of the Law School at Mathias Corvinus Collegium. I am currently a member of the Center for Private Law. I am working as a research assistant to Prof. Dr István Varga, and I am also a contributor to Mandiner.hu. I studied at Esterházy Academy and Tranzit Public Leadership Training. I am also the first violonist and leader of the orchestra “András Csomor Nagy and his band”.

Next year, my research will focus on "the question of applicable law in the context of international commercial arbitration".

I spent my last semester at the Universitat de Valencia as an Erasmus student and this academic year I will continue my studies at CEU San Pablo University in Madrid. I am also a student at the most prestigious college in Spain, the Colegio Mayor de San Pablo.

Peter Nemere

Center for Public Law

My name is Péter Nemere, I was born on 7 October 1998 in Veszprém, the city of Queens. I graduated from the Hungarian-French bilingual section of the Albert Vetési High School with excellent results, and in several subjects, I passed my final exams in a foreign language. I am currently a fourth-year student at the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of ELTE. I have been a member of Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) since my freshman year, first, I took part in the Junior Program and then I was admitted to the Law School. From the very beginning, I have been impressed by the environment at MCC where I can learn and work with motivated young people who are willing and able to act. This academic year, as a member of the MCC Center for Public Law, I am participating in a new training program that will help me to further deepen my understanding of the interconnectedness of the different areas of public law and prepare me to work as a researcher.

Éva Papp

Center for Journalism

I'm Éva Papp, a member of the Center for Journalism at the MCC Media School. This year I am starting my fourth year at Mathias Corvinus Collegium and I am also a student of psychology at ELTE. I have always been interested in the media, and my last year's experience has confirmed my desire to try my hand at journalism. The Center for Journalism provides a firm professional background and a community where everything is there to unfold your potentials. I believe that the program of the Center will provide me with the skills and experience that are crucial to my future career.

Róbert Papp

Center for Law and Society

My name is Róbert Papp, I was born in Szolnok, Hungary, and I have been a law student at the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of Eötvös Loránd University since 2018. I have long been interested in American culture, abstract theoretical structures, and, since the beginning of my legal studies, the relationship between natural law, law and morality. Combining my interests, this year I am conducting research on "The American Founding Fathers' Conception of Natural Law and its Impact on the Founding Documents". The aim of my research is to explore the view of law and society held by the thinkers who laid the foundations of the now unique American culture, and to apply this to the early documents that were the precursors of the American Constitution, to reveal certain ideas in legal theory and thereby to trace the American conception of natural law that underpins the originalist constitutional interpretation of today.

Kinga Popovich

Center for Journalism

I am Kinga Popovics, a student of Aesthetics and Art History at Eötvös Loránd University, and a member of the Center for Journalism at the MCC Media School. I am particularly interested in the organization and the development of culture, in freeing the so-called "high culture" from the ivory tower without compromising quality. In the Collegium, I am therefore involved in specialised journalism and the development of an arts dissemination organization, which I am trying to base on the theoretical knowledge I have acquired at university.

Dorottya Klára Somogyi

Center for Public Law

I am a fourth-year law student at the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of Pázmány Péter Catholic University and a member of the Center for Public Law at Mathias Corvinus Collegium. Previously, I was a student at the MCC Law School. I have worked as an intern in a civil law firm as well as in another criminal law firm. In addition to my legal studies, I study classical singing at a private music school in Budapest. My research focuses is on theft-offence behaviours and methods. My paper examines the forms of violent crimes against property by looking at the crime statistics and procedures in two locations, Budapest and Veszprém county.

Zsolt Botond Szabó

Center for Political Science

I'm Zsolt Szabó Botond, born in 1999 in Sopron, the most loyal town. Ever since, I have always been interested in public affairs, politics, history and geography. I remember even in kindergarten, while the others were talking about superheroes and whatnot, I couldn't decide whether to be Attila the Hun against the Romans or a soldier in a border fort against the Turks in a game. That hasn't changed much since then. I don't like the mainstream world or anything else that's boring or mass. This is probably true for us Hungarians in general;  we are not interested in what belongs to others or what everyone else is doing. We like to go our own way.

I spent my twelve years of public education at Hunyadi János Evangelical Primary School, then at Széchenyi István High School, and then I applied to university to study Political Science at the National University of Public Service. In the blink of an eye, I became a “veteran” fourth-year university student, which continues to amaze me. What turned out to be my best decision? Definitely my application to Mathias Corvinus Collegium. For me, MCC is a bit like a bird sanctuary, where talented young people who have had their wings clipped by life are nurtured and taught, helped to fly again. They would not have the opportunity to do so elsewhere. Partly in gratitude for this help, this year, I'm working as an assistant for the Center for Social Science at the MCC School of Social Sciences and History. My research explores the impact of Facebook on sovereignty and fundamental rights.

Krisztina Tóth-Ugyonka

Center for Family

I study at Pázmány Péter Catholic University, I will graduate in spring 2022 with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology, and I am also a second-year theology student. Since February 2016, I have been strengthening the MCC student community, although it is more the other way around: MCC strengthens me actually. I had the opportunity to develop myself both personally and professionally, first, in the framework of the High School Program, later in the Junior Program, and then as a member of the MCC School of Mindset Psychology. As a member of the Center for Family, I now have the opportunity to develop in a completely different, and so far distant field, namely in research work.

János Ábel Újhelyi

Center for Law and Society

I am János Ábel Újhelyi, a fourth-year law student at ELTE Faculty of Law, a researcher at the MCC Law School (formerly a student at the MCC School of International Relations), member of the National Security Research Cell at the Advanced College for National Security, and volunteer sergeant major of the Hungarian Defense Forces. My main fields of interest include constitutional law, public international law, criminal law, security policy, national security and military history.

In addition to my current research at MCC, I am also involved in other research activities, namely the defensive fighting of the Hungarian 1st Army between 3 December 1944 and 22 January 1945, the Hungarian and Romanian military force development program in 2017, and the activities of the German Gehlen Organisation and the BND Residentura in Hungary between 1948 and 1956.

My research work at MCC focuses on the People's Court proceedings against Dr. László Bárdossy (1890-1946), former Hungarian Royal Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, in 1945, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and I am primarily interested in whether or not the proceedings can be considered as show trial.