VIITH INTERDISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE ON COMPREHENSIVE STATUS OF HUNGARIAN COMMUNITIES IN THE CARPATHIAN BASIN
Boundaries and connections through space and time
21–22 November 2025,
Odorheiu Secuiesc, Romania
The Conference-series of the Research Institute for National Strategy is dedicated to serve as a regular platform for dialogue among academic and policy-shaping circles focusing their research on Hungarian communities living in Hungary and beyond its borders. The primary aim of the symposium is to foster a deeper understanding of ideas, perspectives and achievements of researchers and institutes studying coexisting ethnic groups in the Carpathian Basin. As a result of the complexity of the subject the symposium principally adopts an interdisciplinary approach.
The 2025 conference is organized around two central themes: boundaries and connections. The concept of boundaries encompasses both concrete and abstract forms—ranging from geopolitical and linguistic demarcations to less tangible but equally significant cultural, ethnic, identity-based, or temporal distinctions. These boundaries are constructed and maintained through political, economic, and social processes, and are manifested in both individual and collective practices. From tangible national and regional borders to mental and symbolic divisions, their formation and perpetuation remain a shared challenge in the historically fragmented Carpathian Basin.
Equally important is the exploration of those connections that emerge as a result of individual and collective practices overarching existing boundaries. These include economic practices that cross ethnic or linguistic lines, cultural and academic collaborations that defy national borders, intergenerational social and cultural phenomena, and the networked manifestations of such connections.
The conflicts arising from the existence of various boundaries alongside the formation of connections driven by the intention to overarch such demarcations are still actively shaping the living conditions of Hungarian communities in the Carpathian Basin. Therefore, the VII. Interdisciplinary Conference will focus on instances posed by physical and mental boundaries, practices of overcoming them, and the enduring spatial and temporal connections that define the region.
Call for Section Proposals – Deadline: 15 June 2025
We welcome proposals for conference sections until 15 June 2025. Especially encouraged are sessions aligned with this year’s mission of the conference by elaborating on or exploring specific aspects of the overarching thematic areas listed below. At the same time, we remain open to hosting any module that supports the broader goals of this long-standing academic series.
Proposed thematic focus areas for sections include:
- Social, economic, and political interpretations of linguistic boundaries and borderline situations in the 20th and 21st centuries
- Family history legacies in the Carpathian Basin
- The heritage of socialism and regime change in the Carpathian Basin – studies in the field of post-socialism
- Borders and over-vaulting practices in the context of regional economics
- Boundaries and connections from geopolitical perspectives
- Ethnic divides and interethnic relations
- Social and economic impacts of the Russia–Ukraine war, with particular attention to the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia
- Climatic and environmental thresholds in the Carpathian Basin
- The work and achievements of academic communities and research networks in the Carpathian Basin
Given the complexity of the topics and the emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches, we particularly welcome presentation and section proposals from the following academic disciplines, as well as interdisciplinary collaborations among them: geography, economics, geopolitics, minority studies, environmental and Earth sciences, ethnography, linguistics, political science, regional studies, sociology, and sociocultural anthropology. We are also pleased to provide a forum for relevant contributions from other academic fields.
For the first time this year, we also support the organization of English-language sections.
The conference will pay special attention to the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the bicentenary of the birth of Mór Jókai. These themes will likely be addressed through roundtable discussions and/or plenary lectures.
APPLICATION
Proposals for planned sections—either in Hungarian or English—must include a description of between 2,500 and 4,000 characters. Proposals should be submitted via the following form by 15 June 2025:
https://forms.gle/iAg4ZoFSfFYwsF818
Applicants will be notified of the accepted sections by 30 June 2025.
SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:
Árpád Antal, János Bali, Levente Barkaszi, Mátyás Borbély, Norbert Fejes, Ferenc Ilyés,
Andrea Leonas-Bern, Katalin Kovály, Bence Kucsera, Benedek Nagy, Attila Dénes Orbán,
Márton Péti, Attila Puskás, Gyöngyi Schwarcz, Jenő Szász, Ferenc Szilágyi, Anett Tőzsér
[and researchers and experts from our professional partner institutions]
OPERATIONAL ORGANIZERS AND CONTACTS:
Aliz Kamilla Bálint, Andrea Leonas-Bern, Gyöngyi Schwarcz, Miklós Tury-Nagy, Petra Varga-Péterfi
Email: konferencia@nski.gov.hu
Click here for Call for Proposals
A felhívás magyar nyelven ide kattintva érhető el
