As a founding member and Senior Research Fellow of ESSRG, I have acted as managing director of the ESSRG Nonprofit Ltd team since 2009. I enjoy teamwork through inspiring action planning and playful organisation, partnership building, co-creation, and public engagement procedures.
After completing an MA in Sociology at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) and an MA in History at Central European University (CEU), I pursued my PhD in Environmental Sciences at Szent István University (now MATE).
Meanwhile, I was an Associate Researcher at the Suvet Research (Budapest, Hungary) for seven years (1997-2004). As a co-founder, I also acted as editor for the Múlt-kor History Magazine between 2000 and 2009.
As a lecturer in environmental sociology and qualitative (participatory, cooperative) research methodologies, I participated in developing and introducing several courses at Szent Istvan University (MSc in Agro-Environmental Engineering, Nature Conservation Engineering and Waste Management Technicians, 2009-2017).
At the Semmelweis University, Faculty of Health and Public Administration, Institute of Mental Health, I teach environmental sociology in the MA in Interdisciplinary Family Studies programme (2020-).
After spending a formative month researching local food in 2014 as a Japan Foundation Fellow at Kyoto University’s Graduate School of Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, I started a course on Sustainable Food Systems at Kyoto University.
I have participated in and acted as a task or work package leader in over 20 EU research and innovation projects. These international research and innovation collaborations shaped my approach to driving change in environmental social sciences, socioeconomic analysis of the agri-food innovation sector, sustainable and local food systems, transition to sustainability, and policy analysis.
On the science-policy interface, I contributed to the JRC scientific and policy report on Short Food Supply Chains and Local Food Systems in the EU in 2013. I collaborated as the lead author on Chapter 3, “Eco-agri-food systems,” of the TEEB for Agriculture & Food: Scientific and Economic Foundations report in 2017-2018. In support of the EU Farm to Fork Strategy, I also participated in the Sustainable Food System Framework Initiative by contributing to the publication “Concepts for a Sustainable EU Food System” by DG SANTE, AGRI, ENV, and MARE.
External positions:
- Country contact, Living Knowledge – The International Science Shop Network
- Board member, Environment & Society Research Network (RN12) of the European Sociological Association (ESA)
- Member, Urgenci Community-Supported Agriculture Research Group
- Editorial board member, European Journal of Mental Health – Well-being in a social and ecological context, Semmelweis University, Institute of Mental Health
- Volunteer, Initiative for Equality
Research interests:
- Socioeconomic bases of Agro-Food Systems and the Sustainability Transition, Food as a commons, Food sharing economies, Market vs non-market food provisioning
- Food policy for the transformation of the food system
- Participatory methods, cooperative research, Citizen Science