Belgian Club of Hungarian Scientists

The Belgian Club of Hungarian Scientists and the Hungarian Science Without Borders lecture series came to life in 2013. Initiated by Hungarian researchers living in Belgium, the programmes were hosted by the Liszt Institute Brussels, formerly known as the Balassi Institute.

The main purpose of the Club is to provide the Hungarian scientific community of Belgium with an informal forum for interdisciplinary discussions of broad interest (e.g. relocation to Hungary, potential collaborative projects with Hungarian research partners, accessibility of research grants). The Club meetings are organized together with lectures for a broader audience. Invited speakers of the “Hungarian Science Without Borders” lecture series talk about current scientific issues of their selected field.

The Club events increase the good reputation of the Hungarian scientific community in Belgium and contribute to the success of Hungarian scientists working either in Belgium or in Hungary by providing them with a valuable networking opportunity.

Additional information concerning the Club:
Email: BMTK
Facebook: BMTK2013

Next event of the Belgian Club of Hungarian Scientists:

17/02/2022 - The dynamics of the largest global logistics network in COVID-19 times - Lecture of Prof. Dr. Botond Szebeny

The postal network is one of the most traditional logistics systems in the world and curently, the largest global physical network of this type. In the recent period, it has undergone a huge transformation, driven, among others, by the digitalisation, e-substitution, diversification. Letter volumes are shrinking, however, an entire new world has emerged through the booming e-commerce delivery. The COVID-19 pandemic, with all its challenges, has further accelerated this change. The postal network has recently re-emerged as an essential infrastructure dimension, crucial for the citizens and the economies, both locally and globally.

Botond Szebeny - Secretary General - PostEurop

Events in 2021:

COVID-19 pandemic. Lecture by Dr. Ágnes Galgóczi and Dr. Ferenc Jakab on the viruses transmitted from animals to humans and on the vaccines

In the framework of the "Celebration of Hungarian Science" programme and with the support of the Departement of Science Diplomancy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Hungary, Dr Ágnes Galgóczi and Dr. Ferenc Jakab presented in their hibrid lecture the facts behind the COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary respectively the viruses transmitted from animals to humans.

Dr. Ágnes Galgóczi is a public health specialist, lawyer, currently the Head of the Department of Epidemiology and Infection Control at the National Centre for Public Health and Analyses Hungary.

Dr. Ferenc Jakab is a Hungarian virologist professor, during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 the leader of the Coronavirus Research Task Force. Currently he is the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the University of Pécs, scientific secretary of the Szentágothai János Research Centre and also the leader of the highest biosafety level National Virology Laboratory.

The lecture took place on 10 November 2021 at the Liszt Institute, with professor Jakab joining the event online.

More information here.

Antibiotics and bacterial resistance - online lecture by Dr. Csaba Pál

On 11 October 2021, the online lecture of Dr. Csaba Pál could be followed live on our Facebook page. The biologist professor presented the antibiotic research programme of the National Laboratory of Biotechnology in Hungary.

The Csaba Pál Lab works on understanding evolutionary processes using tools of laboratory evolution, computational systems biology, and genome engineering. Their interest includes antibiotic resistance, genome evolution, and metabolic networks.

More information here.

Buda - a historical bridge between 16-17th century Hungary and Belgium by Wittlinger Gabriella

On the 9th of September the Club took a historical voyage with Gabriella Wittlinger.

The lecture presented the story of renaissance Buda and the Kingdom of Hungary that welcomed the Brussels-born Habsburg princess, the future Mary of Hungary, in its full glory, when she married Hungarian king Louis II. Mary forged a strong bond between today’s Belgium and Hungary eventually leading to the participation of Flemish and Walloon troops in the Buda siège and the creation of Buda bridge in Brussels centuries later.

More information on the lecture and Gabriella Wittlinger here.

You can watch the recording of the lecture below.

From rock-paper-scissors to European Parliament's politics

On 20 May we were introduced to game theory by Prof. Dr. László Á. Kóczy, DSc.

The success of the Hollywood movie "The Beautiful Mind”, a biographical drama film based on the life of the American mathematician John Nash, a Nobel Laureate in Economics, made Game Theory well-known all over the world. Started by John von Neumann (Neumann János) and with John C. Harsányi among its first Nobel laureates the field could qualify as a Hungaricum. Since then, Stag Hunt describing the trust dilemma, a conflict between safety and social cooperation originated with philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the Prisoners' Dilemma have become part of popular culture but few know that Game Theory has a great number of practical applications.

More information here.

Watch the recording of the lecture below.

Friend of Foe? Apples or Pears?

Our online lecture of 14 April 2021 by Prof. Dr. Gyula Sáry focused on visual recognition.

Visual recognition is surprisingly fast: in a fragment of a second we can decide about questions like in the title. Visual analysis does not have to be very accurate for this, a rough processing of the image is usually sufficient. Our visual system has the machinery for a rapid initial analysis and this processing is fast enough to precede the detailed description and identification of the objects we see. The lecture will give a brief description of the visual system and investigation methods.

Professor Sáry is currently serving as a chairman of the Department of Physiology and vice-dean for education at Faculty of Medicine, University of Szeged. He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses enthusiastically in English, German and Hungarian and his pedagogical skills have been regularly appreciated by the international and domestic students, decorating him with the title “best lecturer of the year” for a decade.

More information here.

Watch the recording of the lecture below.