The group has been conducting youth research and analysis since the early 2000s, being engaged both in theoretical (Youth paradigm shift) and applied youth research. As a part of the latter, we support market and policy decision-making processes and carry out research laying the grounds for youth policy planning. The group leader is Csaba Jancsák and the group members are Mária Rita Kiss, András Krémer, Gábor Dániel Nagy, Ildikó Laki, and Tamás Sánta.
The group has been conducting research in microhistory, narrative history forms, and personal and oral history since the 2000s. Our research findings are published in the volume series Szemtanú [Eyewitness] (ISSN 1587-2963), launched in 2001, and the volume series of the Sociology Group of MTA SZAB [Szeged Academic Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences] (ISSN: 2061-2621). The group leader is Csaba Jancsák and the group members are Imre Pászka és Gábor Ferenc Kiss.
The research group’s mission is to promote a culture of active citizenship through education. The group members lead training programmes to develop civic competenices and collect and disseminate good practices in civic education. The group leader is Mária Rita Kiss. The group’s publications are available here and here. The group’s research findings resulted in the launch of an elective university course, Civic Education and Competence Development in Primary and Secondary School; a postgraduate specialisation programme (4 terms), Preparation for the Educational Specialist Exam in Civic Education; and a 30-hour professional development programme for teachers, Developing Civic Education and Civic Competence in the Primary School.
The research group was established as a response to Project SZTE EFOP 3-5-2-17-2017-00003. Its members are the teaching faculty of the Social Policy MA programme at the University of Szeged. The group explores the evolution of social issues in the 19th and 20th centuries from the perspectives of social history, sociopolitics (társadalompolitika) and social policy (szociálpolitika). The group’s research projects spring forward from the premise that society’s responses to actual social challenges are formed by social processes, the political elite’s problem perception, the available room for manoeuvre in real politics, economic affairs, international processes and professional rationality. The group leader is Mária Rita Kiss, and the group members are Lajos Olasz and Zoltán Cora. The group’s publications are available here and here.
The Community Values Research Group deals with the issues of communities in the broad sense. It provides a forum for discussing academic and theoretical issues emerging in the field and interpreting research and personal experiences. In this sense, the group provides a platform for thinking about the understanding, promotion and development of community processes. The other factor that holds the group together is our work methods. Our events and programmes are realised in a work community where we consider constructive ideas to be the results of our dialogues. In these dialogues, there are no designated ranks or unquestionable pronouncements, but instead there are doubting questions or debates that inspire arguments, corrections in thinking or reinforcements, which in turn lead to further questions. The group leader is András Krémer.
Established in 2019, the Human Resource Studies Research Group organises academic events, conducts research and publishes its findings in Hungarian journals. The group leader is Péter Miklós.
Our department organised research camps in Jánoshalma on 3 occasions for our students participating in our programmes at the time.
In July 2013 and in August 2014, we contributed to the implementation of the "Together for Each Other Against Child Poverty" project of the Child Benefit Programme Office of the Jánoshalma region in cooperation with the Child Benefit Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA) (see: http://gyerekesely.tk.mta.hu/). In the 2013 research camp, we conducted a questionnaire survey in 4 settlements (Jánoshalma, Mélykút, Kéleshalom and Borota) to assess the needs of local families with children and possible directions for further development of the Child Benefit Programme in the region. In the 2014 research camp, we carried out the data collection for the impact assessment after the programme had finished. The questionnaires were compiled by the Child Benefit Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and our students volunteered as interviewers in administering the questionnaires to the sample selected by the research group. (cf. A kistérségben élő gyermekek, fiatalok és családjaik helyzetének, igényeinek és szükségleteinek felmérése 2013 Polonyi Gábor MTA TK Budapest 2013.) [A Survey of the Situation, Needs and Necessities of Children, Youth and Their Families Living in the Region 2013] Polonyi Gábor MTA TK Budapest 2013).
The third Jánoshalma research camp was realised in the autumn of 2015 as part of the educational module of the department project “Integration and reintegration of disadvantaged groups in Jánoshalma applying the tools of higher education” (TÁMOP 4.2.1/d-14/1/KONV). The objective of the research was to involve our students in mapping the living conditions, income situation, level of qualifications and future vision of the disadvantaged groups in the municipality, with a special focus on the situation and needs of young people. Our students presented their research findings at an event part of the Night of Research Students Programme and the Student Conference (TDK) at the Juhász Gyula Faculty of Education in 2015.
Apart from facing a new type of professional challenges, the participating students had the opportunity to conduct social science observations, gain experiences and establish new relationships in a sociocultural environment formerly unfamiliar for them. They could put into practice their research methodology training that they had mastered during their education, experience how theory may differ from practice and develop their researcher competencies. The students found it motivating that they could do socially useful work as part of their training, and could thus contribute to revealing possible solutions to truly important problems.
In Baks, a local integration program was initiated when the Christian Roma College of Szeged designed a research program with students of other Roma special colleges in the country. The two processes created a special opportunity for a programme to be launched that would both provide research findings for a real, "live" municipal development programme and at the same time enrich the students with practical research experience.
The Department of Applied Social Sciences of the University of Szeged was asked to lead the research programme, and other students – some from the department while others from other programmes at the University of Szeged – joined the participants of the research camp as well. We organised two research camps with this team: in the first camp we conducted a pre-research study with qualitative methods, and in the second, we designed a quantitative, questionnaire-based study on the integration issues of the settlement and the opportunities for the municipality programme. At the end of the two research camps, we offered our feedback to the municipal authorities and the programme managers and organised a workshop to create a platform for discussing our experiences.
Apart from having a really good time during both of the camps while engaging in true fieldwork, we could accumulate rich materials that could serve as a basis for Student Conference papers, thesis papers and valuable presentations.
