The 9th International Congress of Hungarology will be held at two venues in northern Hungary: the University of Miskolc (ME) and the Tokaj-Hegyalja University in Sárospatak (THE) – between 24 and 29 August, according to MTI.
The more than 30 symposia at the 2026 conference will primarily focus on the following topics:,
How do Hungarians see themselves in the 21st century, and what image does the world have of us?
The topics include, among others, digital humanities, language teaching methodology, historical memory and the preservation of cultural heritage – it was announced at a press conference in Budapest summarising the meeting.
Relevant in every age
At Tuesday’s event , István Monok , co-chair of the International Society for Hungarian Studies, recalled that the International Society for Hungarian Philology, founded in 1977, adopted the name International Society for Hungarian Studies in 2001; the organisation serves as the international academic umbrella body for Hungarology.
The International Congress of Hungarology is the most significant international forum for Hungarian studies; it is held every five years and attracts between 400 and 500 specialists from around the world
– pointed out István Monoki.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent state of war, the congress planned for Warsaw was cancelled, meaning that this current meeting is taking place ten years after the 2016 congress in Pécs – explained the co-chair. „How we are viewed from the outside, through an external lens, has always been a relevant issue,” said István Monoki.
According to the description, the central theme of the 2026 conference will be the interplay between national self-awareness and the image of Hungarian identity: a community’s identity is only secure if it is able to reconcile its own self-image with how others perceive it.
Speakers have registered from 22 countries
The University of Miskolc (ME) is a leading academic and cultural centre in the northern Hungarian region, said Zita Horváth, Rector of the University of Miskolc, emphasising that the higher education institution comprises eight faculties, which also shape the region’s industrial and economic profile.
According to Zita Horváth, the university’s Great Hall will serve as the main venue for the 9th International Congress of Hungarology, hosting the opening ceremony and the plenary sessions. As she said, the conference already has approximately 400 registered participants: the majority of them are speakers who have registered for the event from 22 countries.
According to the plans, two symposia will be held in Sárospatak, whilst the remaining sessions will take place on the University of Miskolc campus, the rector added. Réka Tasi, the congress’s secretary-general, said that 325 presentations would be given across 31 symposia at the August event.
Interdisciplinary dialogue on the changing image of Hungarian identity
The topics of the symposia will include, amongst other things, the image of Hungarians living abroad, but there will also be sessions on the history of science and technology, geography, literary studies, anthropology and ethnography. According to a written summary provided by the organisers, the aim of the event is to initiate an interdisciplinary dialogue on the changing image of Hungarians amidst 21st-century globalisation and a shifting world order.
The plenary speakers at the congress are leading figures in the international and domestic academic communities, including Eörs Szathmáry, a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, an evolutionary biologist and recipient of the Széchenyi Prize, as well as Antal Molnár, a historian, Director of the Institute of History at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and a member of the Pontifical Commission for Historical Sciences based in the Vatican.
The congress programme consists of plenary lectures, section sessions and thematic symposia. The programme is diverse, covering a wide range of the humanities and social sciences. The main patrons of the event are Tamás Sulyok, President of the Republic, and Mihály Pósfai, President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
