Péter Tibor NAGY has completed his studies with two PhDs in Education (1991) and in History (1995). He obtained his habilitation at the Philosophical Faculty in Debrecen (2000) and held a four year ‘Széchenyi lectureship grant’ at the ELTE (Eötvös Lóránd University in Budapest, Faculty of Social Science). His highest titles: Doctor of Science of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, university professor.

Working on the project since November 2020.

Yossi Korazim-Kőrösy is a senior lecturer at the Department of Social Work, Zefat Academic College (ZAC) in Israel. He also teaches at the Graduate International Program of Tel Aviv University, School of Public Health and the Academic College of Tel- Aviv–Yaffa. His courses are on Social Welfare & Social Policy, Community Organizing, Inter-organizational and Interdisciplinary Collaborations, and Crisis Management in Organizations. At ZAC, he is heading the Interdisciplinary Research Center for Multi-Cultural Community Development. As a private organizational and community consultant, he works for the Ministry of Social Affairs in Israel, where his last Public Sector position was the Head of Policy-Planning Department. Among other tasks, he was coordinating the Prime Minister (Interdisciplinary) National Committee for Children and Youth At-Risk, and the National Reform Committee of the Local Social Welfare system. Dr. Korazim-Kőrösy was the Founder and first Chair of the Interdisciplinary Forum for Community Development in Israel. Born in Hungary, Dr. Korazim-Kőrösy served on the Boards of the International Association for Community Development (IACD) and the (American) Association for Community Organization and Social Administration (ACOSA). Previously, he served on the boards of the Israeli Association of Social Workers as National Chairman of Social Policy; Shatil – The New Israel Fund’s capacity building center for social change organizations and; Ossim Shalom – Social Workers for Peace and Welfare. Dr. Korazim-Kőrösy holds a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) and Master of Public Administration (MPH) from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and Doctor of Social Work (DSW) from Columbia University, NYC. Among his current international research interests are: Comparative Interdisciplinary Collaborations; Government – Civil Society Relations, and Macro-Practice methods for social change. Dr. Korazim-Kőrösy has over 100 scientific publications and public documents in Hebrew, English and Hungarian.

Working on the project since August 2021.

I started working at the Institute for Educational Research in 2000. I worked as an assistant to Tibor Péter Nagy and participated in research. At that time, the Institute was mainly involved in OTKA research.

After that I made a short detour. In 2007, a researcher from the Institute for Educational Research called me back to the Institute and offered me the position of a research assistant for the then ongoing.

I then worked as a research assistant and later as an organiser on several projects until 2015. I really enjoyed the tasks and maintained a good collegial relationship with my colleagues. I got to know many researchers over the years. I have had the privilege of working with some really big names and have learned a lot from them. I have trained myself, first successfully completing a course in grant writing, and then qualifying as a project assistant in 2012 as part of a higher vocational training course.
From 2015-2017 I worked as a textbook publisher at the Institute for Educational Research. From 2018-2021 I worked as a research assistant for the EFOP research of the Education Office. The research ended in August 2021. This year, I was contacted by Tibor Péter Nagy, who would like to welcome me back as an assistant in the Inclusion4Schools project. I was honoured and very happy to accept. I find the topic exciting and very timely and we are now working together on it.

Working on the project since January 2021.

Agnes Kakasi has completed her Master of Philosophy in Ethnic and Racial Studies at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, and completed three years of PhD research at the Center for Transcultural Research and Media Practice of Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland. Her research topic focused on the cinematic representation of immigrant characters in contemporary Irish film. She has worked as an educator in all school levels: elementary, secondary, and higher education. She has also gained work experience as an office assistant in two international educational institutions in Hungary.

Personal motivation: “I believe education is a key component in tackling issues of social inequalities: if children are allowed to be a part of an inclusive educational environment, I think they are more likely to cross social boundaries and actively stand up against unfair or unequal treatment as adults. The work Inclusion4Schools is doing is an essential step on the path towards an inclusive society.”

Working on the project since April 2022.

Éva Gáti is a Ph.D. student conducting research in the field of Social Psychology since September 2022. She studied Psychology at Eötvös Loránd University (BA, 2019) and Cultural Psychology at the University of Amsterdam (MSc, 2022). In her research, she investigates the social-psychological processes that facilitate or inhibit individuals’ motivation to stand up against injustice by participating in collective action.

Personal motivation: I joined the project because I wanted to take part in the fight against systemic inequalities that Roma children face in education.

Working on the project since November 2022.

Richard spent his childhood in Encs where he competed elementary school and high school. In 2008, he began his studies in the University of Miskolc, where he successfully graduated from the Business Informatics BSc. In 2013, he founded the Roma News Production YouTube channel, which has now tens of thousands of followers. As a film director, he won at several smaller film festivals and was nominated for several awards (48 Hour Film Project, CineFest). In recent years, he has helped companies and foundations dealing with Roma to build their online presence and communication.
Working on the project since August 2022.

Former colleagues

He was born in 1948. Now he is a university professor at the János Wesley Theological College, in the Department of Education of which he was the founder and head for many years. During his career, he taught in elementary school, high school, and then educational subjects at universities and colleges. He was the head of the Department of Social- and educational sciences, and then the director general of the János Kodolányi University College in Székesfehérvár. He worked as a sociologist of education in career counselling institutes, later in several research institutes, was deputy director and then director general of the Hungarian Institute for Educational Research.

He led educational policy programs in Hungarian Radio for years, was a member of the National Public Education Council, and then of various specialized standing committees of the Hungarian Accreditation Committee. He is currently a member of the editorial board of journal ’Educatio’ and of the book series ’Society and Education’. His research topics are sociological and political issues of K-12 and higher education.

Why am I participating in the Inclusion4schools initiative?

Because for me, the triple slogan of “freedom, equality, brotherhood” is still valid today. I believe that a democratic society must create the greatest possible level of equal opportunities for all and that such a society must be solidarity-based, tolerant and inclusive.

He worked on the project between January and June 2021.

Ágnes KENDE has earned her MA from Sociology in 1995 and she is completing her Ph.D. thesis in social policy at ELTE University. She has worked in various EU-funded research projects at the CEU Center for Policy Studies since 2008, such as EDUMIGROM: Ethnic differences in education and diverging prospects for urban youth in an enlarged Europe; Reducing Early School Leaving in the EU (RESL.eu); in the framework of SALEACOM Overcoming inequalities in schools and learning communities: innovative education for a new century; and the Solidarity in European Societies: Empowerment, Social Justice and Citizenship (SOLIDUS) project. She is currently working in ETHOS – Towards a European Theory of Justice and Fairness research project on developing to create a new integrative perspective on justice and fairness at the School of Public Policy, and the Departments of International Relations and Legal Studies of Central European University and in the EDUC project the “Future Challenges to Education Systems in Central Eastern European Context” (EDUC) aiming at assessing the ability of the education systems of five Central-Eastern European countries to respond to various ongoing changes.

Earlier, Agnes was engaged with the situation of Roma as a journalist, radio editor, and contributor to various policy studies, while later on, she acted as an expert in the implementation of school integration programs in Hungary.

Personal motivation: “I am pleased to take part in a program to achieve inclusive education for disadvantaged Roma children, as I see this as the only way forward in the long term to alleviate systemic racism against Roma, eliminate discrimination against them in all areas of life and reduce inequalities. I am particularly pleased to be able to work in this program with multiple countries and actors from different fields and backgrounds to create inclusion.”

Worked on the project between January 2021 and December 2022.

Hanna Szekeres, PhD is a lecturer and researcher at the Department of Social Psychology, at Eötvös Lóránd University (ELTE), and a qualified experimental (quantitative) social psychologist. She lived in Israel for years (she completed her bachelor and master studies there) and worked in an academic research group, that studied the psychological background of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, conflict resolution interventions, and also provided training and counselling to NGOs.
She has completed her PhD at ELTE and her dissertation research is on bystander intervention, what we do when we witness prejudice, the likelihood of (non-)intervention, its forms and effects. In addition, in recent years, she has participated in or led research projects investigating the nature of prejudice against Roma (with a particular focus on school discrimination) and potential prejudice-reducing interventions.

Personal motivation: “The strength of the Inclusion4Schools project is that it focuses, in my opinion, on one of the most noble and important social challenges – the integration of disadvantaged children in school.”

Worked on the project between July 2021 and November 2022.

Milán Bogdán originally finished his university studies as an engineer of food sciences, but he has developed an interest in increasing social issues at an early age.  His connection to education and to the support of the Roma minority was made by his family, which has years of experience in fighting inequalities in Hungary. After graduating, he gained experience in communication and management in both Hungary and other European countries.  He works as a project assistant for Oltalom Charity Society, helping the daily work of leaders and the whole operation of the team.

Personal motivation: “I have positive expectations of the project and its outcomes. I feel that the team is highly motivated and has every skill to achieve the goals that we have set. I think that it is essential to reach out to communities who strive for a change, to connect them with one another, and to start sharing their experiences of improvement. I have intended to work in connection with education for a long time, thus I consider the project as a great opportunity and experience to start with. Usually, I am trying to express a rational opinion in our discussions and I can contribute to the team with ideas and effective solutions to a number of upcoming tasks.”

Worked on the project between November 2020 and September 2021.