We, Polémia Institute,
focus on highlighting the importance of social issues.
Our aim is primarily to popularize political science and social sciences, which we promote through our participation in academic life, our own research, and educational materials. All members of the group are engaged in the social sciences, including journalists, political analysts, consultants, and researchers. Additionally, we work to improve the quality of public discourse in Hungary: our Kultikus and BRÉKING podcast episodes, blog posts, and Kultúrkedd writings address various issues and questions within the social sciences in an easily understandable language. Beyond our online activities, we organize interactive games, workshops, and lectures to highlight problems or their importance in everyday politics. You may have already encountered us at Auróra, the Gólya Cooperative, or the Space of Opportunities! Moreover, we regularly participate in the Bánkitó Festival, where we contribute to the Szájensz Szeánsz, section, and in 2023, we organized our own summer university called Kritika és Felelősség Szabadegyetem(Summer University of Criticism and Responsibility) to increase young people's general interest in public affairs.
One of our goals is to spark the political interest of individuals who rarely engage with politics but consume online content. To achieve this, we utilize our video blog series, as well as our detailed podcast episodes and post series, which explore specific political topics in depth.
Within the general public, our primary target audience is young people. Beyond our videos, we strive to engage with them in person. In addition to teaching, we organize events where we collaboratively explore pop culture topics through a political lens with the audience.
The membership is committed to ensuring that the scientific work of our members is integrated into the activities of the association. While we may have different perspectives on various issues, we travel together to conferences, help each other with proofreading papers, and collaborate on preparing presentations.
If we know others who are dedicated to advancing an important social cause or committed to improving political culture, we are eager to partner with them. This kind of collaboration led to the creation of our program series at the Bánkitó Festival and our first videos on our YouTube channel.
Among us, there are lawyers, political scientists, sociologists, psychologists, and journalists. Some of us draw frequently, we have project managers, photographers, musicians, and some are actively involved in politics. We are a team because we aim to leverage our diverse interests and expertise to meaningfully improve the quality of civil society and public discourse.
Dorottya Lovász is the president of the Polémia Institute and a PhD student in Political Science at ELTE Faculty of Law.
During her university years, she not only studied political science but also obtained a degree in graphic design and took programming courses.
She previously worked as an analyst at the 21 Kutatóközpont and is currently a project coordinator at K-Monitor.
In her free time, she develops websites, photographs weddings and other events, writes, and illustrates poetry.
Her research focuses on political communication, political style, political participation, and the intersection of science fiction and politics.
She is an alumna of the Society for Social Theory and a dedicated volunteer.
E-mail | Linkedin
Dániel Milbacher is the vice president of the Polémia Institute and a political advisor. He is also the chairman of the board of trustees of an educational foundation.
His research areas include the relationship between political power and social autonomy, theories of democracy, education policy, and healthcare modernization.
In his spare time, he is involved in science communication.
E-mail | Linkedin
Zsolt Nagy is the secretary of the Polémia Institute, a political scientist, and a project manager at Democratic Society.
He previously worked at the Republikon Institute and is currently pursuing a PhD at ELTE's Political Science Doctoral School.
He earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees in political science from ELTE Faculty of Law. His areas of expertise include hybridization, regional theories of democracy, and the history of political thought in Hungary.
He is also passionate about examining the political aspects of science fiction and rock music. Over the past years, he has participated in and organized several volunteer projects aimed at political and civic socialization, such as (Ezer Gyerek and Prokon).
E-mail | Linkedin
Zsolt Horváth holds a bachelor's degree in sociology from Pázmány Péter Catholic University. His thesis focused on populism, the attitudes surrounding it, and its manifestations. He also completed a master's in Communication and Media Studies at BME GTK. He has been involved in online journalism since 2017 and, since 2022, has served as the editor-in-chief of PHENOM magazine's pop culture section. He is also the host of the Kultikus podcast and a communications officer at the Romaversitas Foundation.
Péter Szolcsányi earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from ELTE Faculty of Law, where he also began his legal studies. He later pursued a master’s degree in political science at the same institution. He is currently a PhD student at ELTE's Faculty of Law. During his university years, he was involved in the Student Union and the Political Science Workshop. He completed internships at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences' Centre for Social Sciences and the Republikon Institute. His main interests include political communication and social movements, with his research focusing on political symbols.
Vanessza Juhász graduated in 2018 with a degree in political science from ELTE Faculty of Law. She earned her master's degree in Communication and Media Studies from BME. She is currently a PhD student at ELTE's Political Science Doctoral School. Her research focuses on political argumentation and debate culture. Since 2020, she has been a journalist at Mérce, and since September 2022, she has worked at Policy Solutions as part of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung scholarship.
András Dús is a psychologist and family therapist in training. He obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees from ELTE's Faculty of Education and Psychology. In addition to his interest in psychology, he is committed to public engagement. He is fascinated by the intersections of psychology and political science, political communication, and mental health policies. In his free time, he enjoys classical music, card games, and films.
Csenge Schőnviszky earned her bachelor’s degree in Social and Political Science from the University of York in England. She is currently studying European Studies and External Relations at the University of Amsterdam. In addition to her interest in international relations, she is involved with the international organization LYMEC and is a participant in the Alliance of Her training program for female politicians organized by the ALDE party family. She is passionate about improving the social situation in Hungary, child protection, and the future impact of climate change on migration. She is currently a political analyst at the 21 Research Center.
Lilla Csernai holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from ELTE's Faculty of Education and Psychology and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in counseling and school psychology at the same institution. Alongside her studies, she is involved in several projects: she is one of the organizers of the Szájensz Szeánsz event series, a member of ELTE’s Peer Support Group, and works on the Merengő Podcast. She is also a member of the Hungarian Psychological Society and conducts music therapy sessions for patients in the psychiatric and crisis intervention departments at Péterfy Hospital. In her free time, she enjoys playing music, painting, writing, reading, and walking her dog.
Bence Ács is a political scientist, Junior Prima Award-winning journalist, foreign policy analyst at Portfolio Group. He earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees from ELTE Faculty of Law and is currently pursuing a PhD at Óbuda University’s Doctoral School of Security Studies. His main research interests are armed conflicts in the Middle East, but he is also interested in military technology and the geo- and security policies of African and Far Eastern countries.
Orsolya Bajnay earned her bachelor's degree from Corvinus University’s Faculty of Business and later completed her master’s in sociology at ELTE. Since 2016, she has been an active, and now an alumni, member of the Széchenyi István College for Advanced Studies. She currently works as a senior analyst at the 21 Research Center. Her research and interests include social inequalities, gender inequalities, feminism, and rural sociology.
Csaba Fűzfa holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Corvinus-TK and a master’s in regional and environmental economics from the same institution. During his university years, he completed internships at the Republikon Institute, MTA-TK, and alongside a member of parliament. He is currently a policy expert at the Republikon Institute and a member of the Budapest workshop.
Dani Hódosi is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in philosophy at the Faculty of Humanities at ELTE. Within the university, he is one of the organizers of the FIÓKA program, a support network offering introductory courses at ELTE. Additionally, he is an organizer of the FOTEL book club and community, where discussions are held on public affairs and philosophical topics. Beyond the university, he is engaged in youth community work through Szintézis, where they organize a community for politically active young people. His main areas of interest include the philosophy of language, political philosophy, particularly the relationship between ideology and language..
What are the similarities and differences between the two systems, or should we talk about two different systems at all? Is there a uniform model for illiberal democracies, or do we have to examine the details separately for each country? You will get answers to such and similar questions in our video!
At the beginning of February, the primaries began in America, the most important event of which is Super Tuesday on March 3, where you can decide who will be the party's presidential candidate (voters vote in 15 states at the same time). But what were the results of Super Tuesday, who will win the Democratic presidential nomination and who will run with the best chances against Donald Trump? What can we expect in the 2020 US presidential election? The round table discussion was led by our member Balázs Karóczkai. Graphics and text: Aurora
On December 12, we presented our democracy game set in the Star Wars universe at IV. Szájensz within the framework of Széánsz in Aurora. Before the game, Dorottya Lovász gave a short lecture, who talked, among other things, about the relationship between political science and the world of Star Wars, and why it is useful for social scientists to study the world of science fiction. Then came the game itself, where the audience became the leaders of the rebels and had to make different decisions in order to succeed in their mission, which unfortunately ended up failing. Finally, Vanessza Juhász analyzed the team dynamics and explained what the essence of the game was and how difficult it is to make political decisions. Graphics: Dorottya Lovász
The association prepared five programs for the Bánkitó Festival. On the first day, Csaba Tóth told the interested parties how disinformation and fake news appear in science fiction worlds. Then the staff of the Republikon Institute (Andrea Virág) and Nézőpont Institute (Dániel Nagy) discussed what we should expect from the autumn local government elections. On the second day, we prepared an interactive game involving the entire membership of the association. Finally, we held a workshop presenting the life of a rural youth with Gergelly Szukács, the beekeeper, and then the interested parties could listen to the teleported broadcast of the well-known show Kötöttfoggs Bánk. Graphics: Bánkitó Festival
The goal of our members' presentation, Forms of Resistance in Sci-Fi Universes is to show the forms of oppression, dictatorships and actions against them through popular and lesser-known science fiction universes. Before the situational workshops, it is necessary to explain the nature of resistance and dictatorial forms. The organizers want to make a noticeable difference between the oppressive systems in relation to totalitarian systems, external power oppression, oppressive systems targeting social strata, and privatized oppression. The universes of Star Trek, Star Wars, Dune, The Matrix and The Hunger Games are used as examples for this. It is important that it is not necessary to have a complete or detailed knowledge of the universes, in fact, they are specifically curious to see if the viewers will come to the same conclusion as they did in the series. Graphics: Public Life's School