The staff members of the Equilibrium Institute and the members of its Advisory Board are renowned experts in Hungary who are considered to be among the best researchers and analysts in their respective fields.
The work of the Institute is helped by more than 30 experts, including economists, sociologists, political scientists, lawyers, urbanists, and climate researchers.
Tamás Boros
Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Equilibrium Institute
Previously, he worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Parliament, and the European Commission, and later co-founded the Policy Solutions political research institute. He is the co-author of the books Hungary 2030 – A Vision for Hungarians and The Hungary Handbook – 33 Solutions to 33 Problems. He is a frequent guest on policy analysis TV-programs and has given hundreds of interviews to Hungarian and international media outlets, including the BBC, The Economist, and the Financial Times. He has been serving as the executive director of the Equilibrium Institute since its foundation, where, in addition to the operational management of the think tank’s work, he has participated in drafting dozens of policy proposals and frequently writes op-eds for leading Hungarian media outlets.
tamas.boros[at]eib.hu
Réka Szemerkényi
Director of International Affairs
Former Ambassador of Hungary to the United States
Réka Szemerkényi is the former Ambassador of Hungary to Washington and a leading geopolitical expert in trans-atlantic security with over 20 years of experience in a variety of government, academic and private sector capacity. She is the former Executive Vice President of the Washington think-tank CEPA, the Center for European Policy Analysis. Her government roles include her mission as Ambassador of Hungary to the United States and being National Security Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister of Hungary. Her business experience include being Senior Advisor to the Chairman and CEO of MOL Group, the Hungarian Oil and Gas Company and Consultant of the World Bank.
Ákos Kozák
Director of Economic Research and co-founder of the Equilibrium Institute
Economist and sociologist
Ákos Kozák is the head of economic research and co-founder of the Equilibrium Institute. Previously, he served as the director of the GfK Hungária Market Research Institute for nearly 30 years. He is the former president of the Hungarian Marketing Association. Formerly, he was also a lecturer at the Budapest Business School and is currently an academic research fellow at the Cyber Economics Research Centre. He is the author or co-author of numerous academic studies on market research. He is the 2008 recipient of the Gábor Klauzál Award (the most prestigious Hungarian state award in the area of trade). He is an expert in futures research and consumer studies and holds a PhD in the sociology of consumption.
akos.kozak[at]eib.hu
Gábor Filippov
Director of Research
Historian and political scientist
Gábor Filippov is the director of research at the Equilibrium Institute. Previously he worked as an expert advisor in the Hungarian National Assembly and then as a political analyst and senior analyst at the Hungarian Progressive Institute. His analyses and op-eds have been published by numerous domestic and international media outlets, and he is frequently invited to talk about politics on television and radio shows. His research focuses on the European and the Hungarian far-right, on the histories of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia and their present-day manifestations, as well as the workings of contemporary authoritarian regimes.
gabor.filippov[at]eib.hu
Dóra Csernus
Director of Climate, Energy and Environment
Economist
Dóra Csernus is the director of climate, energy and environment policies at the Equilibrium Institute. As an expert in environmental issues, she has worked for the Ministry of Environment and Water, the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Future Generations and the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice, representing the Hungarian position in different EU, UN, and OECD fora. She later worked as Director for International Policy Development at Klímapolitika Research and Consultancy Ltd, and as an independent expert in climate and environmental issues. Her main focus is on climate policy, air-quality control and water policy.
dora.csernus[at]eib.hu
Gábor Fadgyas
Chief Operating Officer
Gábor Fadgyas is Chief Operating Officer of the Equilibrium Institute. A communications professional, he began his career as a journalist and editor before serving as a media communications officer at Hungary’s National Development Agency and in the Office of the Minister without Portfolio for European Affairs. He subsequently worked as an adviser in the Ministerial Cabinet of the Ministry of Economy and as a State Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Cabinet. He spent a year in Washington, D.C., as a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow. From 2010, he was a member of FleishmanHillard’s Budapest team for 16 years, holding several senior positions, including Director of Professional Services and, later, Director of Development.
gabor.fadgyas[at]eib.hu
Julianna Pásztory
Deputy Chief Operating Officer
Sociologist
Julianna Pásztory is Deputy Chief Operating Officer of the Equilibrium Institute. She holds a master’s degree in sociology from Corvinus University of Budapest, with a specialisation in Global Social Studies. After graduating, she spent two years at an independent anti-corruption think tank, contributing to its research and communications activities as well as managing projects. She is a graduate of the Public Policy Manager programme jointly offered by the Equilibrium Institute and International Business School. For her final policy project, she developed a package of policy proposals addressing the ageing of Hungary’s teaching workforce and the growing shortage of new entrants to the profession.
László Kenyeres
Deputy Director of Business Relations
Sociologist
Deputy Director of Business Relations at the Equilibrium Institute. He was previously a fellow at the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) and later a social statistician, where he researched household income and expenditure structures. Later, he gained experience in the financial and energy sectors as a programme manager and leader of enterprise-wide customer-centric transformations. Recently, he has been involved in methodological and technological developments of various research approaches and satisfaction measurements. His focus is on building multi-source integrated databases to support data-driven decision-making.
Bertram Marek
Senior Analyst
Political Psychologist
Bertram Marek is a Senior Analyst at the Equilibrium Institute and a political psychologist. He holds a BA in Political Science from Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), an MA in Communication and Media Studies from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME), and an MSc in Political Psychology from the University of Kent. He previously worked as a Junior Analyst at NielsenIQ. He is currently pursuing a PhD at ELTE’s Faculty of Education and Psychology, where his research examines the relationship between nostalgia and anti-establishment attitudes. He has taught communication, statistics and research methodology at ELTE.
bertram.marek[at]egyensulyintezet[dot]hu
Flóra Nádasdi
Research Assistant
Flóra Nádasdi is the research assistant for the business projects of the Equilibrium Institute. Previously, she graduated from the Budapest Corvinus University with a Master’s degree in Marketing, where she focused on consumer behaviour and marketing research. Then she experienced the Hungarian IT business as a sales assistant. Currently, she assists the Equilibrium Institute in preparing business projects, with a particular focus on creating various data visualizations.
Zoltán Balázs
Member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board
Economist and political scientist
He is a member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board. He is the Program Director of the doctoral program in political science at the Corvinus University of Budapest. He has held research fellowships at the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin, the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (Wassenaar), the Catholic University of Portugal in Lisbon, and the University of St Andrews. His areas of research include analytical political theory, conservative political thought, Hungarian intellectual history, and the thought of Aurél Kolnai.
Ágnes Havas
Member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board
Film and television expert
She is a member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board. She is the former CEO of the Hungarian National Film Fund. In 2018, Variety magazine’s International Women’s Impact Report ranked Ágnes Havas among the 50 most influential women in the entertainment industry. She subsequently became the program director at the Hungarian division of HBO, and she served in the same capacity at the Hungarian television channels Spektrum and TV3. For several years she worked as the CEO of Skyfilm, where she worked jointly with Gábor Herendi as a producer. After that, she began managing her own company, Havas Films, which has operated as the Hungarian partner in the international joint production of several documentaries.
Edina Heal
Member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board
Technology consultant
She is a member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board. Ms Heal is the former CEO of Google Hungary. She was on the cover of Forbes magazine’s 2015 issue on the most influential women in Hungary. Previously, she served as the CEO of Hungary’s most-listened-to and highest-grossing radio station at the time, Sláger. She also managed the EMI record label in Hungary, and she worked for Island Records, PolyGram, and EMI in London. She is the founder and director of Egyenlítő, a foundation that promotes women’s equality.
Attila Holoda
Member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board
Energy expert
He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Equilibrium Institute. Petroleum engineer, MBA Manager, PhD, Energy Expert, Associate Professor and Managing Director of Aurora Energy Ltd. He worked for MOL for 23 years, where he was a senior manager in hydrocarbon exploration, production, storage and processing for 13 years, and then head of hydrocarbon mining for the entire Eurasian region. He was briefly Deputy State Secretary for Energy at the Ministry of National Development. He is currently an energy consultant to companies, banks and municipalities.
Imre Kovách
Member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board
Sociologist and a Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
He is a member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board. He is a scientific advisor at the Institute for Sociology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences’ Faculty of Social Science (MTA-TTK), a university professor, and the director of the doctoral program in sociology and social sciences at the University of Debrecen. His areas of research include rural society, social inequalities, and social integration. He has also served as the president of the European Society for Rural Sociology and is currently the vice president of the International Society for Rural Sociology. His work has been recognised in the form of several academic and state awards as well as a wide variety of invitations to teach as a visiting professor. He is a corresponding member of the Académie d’Agriculture de France.
Szilvia Németh
Member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board
Education Researcher, Sociologist and Educator
Szilvia Németh is a member of the Advisory Board of the Equilibrium Institute and Managing Director of the T-Tudok Centre for Knowledge Management and Educational Research. She has worked in educational research since 2003. Her work focuses on equity in education, the inclusion of disadvantaged and Roma students, and creative approaches to learning. She has led numerous research and evaluation projects in Hungary and internationally, and previously served as an education expert for the European Commission. She earned her degrees from Eötvös Loránd University before pursuing further studies in educational research at the University of Cambridge. Together with Judit Lannert, she co-authored Kreatív tanulás (Creative Learning), published in 2024.
Dr. Balázs Rékassy
Member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board
General Practitioner, Healthcare Manager and Health Policy Expert
Balázs Rékassy is a member of the Advisory Board of the Equilibrium Institute. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at Semmelweis University in 1992 and subsequently earned a master’s degree in public health and health policy in London. He has worked at the Hungarian Ministry of Health, on a World Bank programme, in the pharmaceutical industry and in senior management roles at health insurance companies. He has also helped launch several healthcare initiatives in Hungary. Since 2020, he has served as a health policy expert for the Municipality of Budapest, focusing primarily on health policy and healthcare system reform.
Ignác Romsics
Member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board
Historian
Ignác Romsics is a member of the Advisory Board of the Equilibrium Institute. He is a Széchenyi Prize-winning historian, university professor and full member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on twentieth-century Hungarian history, particularly the Horthy era, the Treaty of Trianon and Hungarian foreign policy. Throughout his career, he has conducted research and taught at the Institute of History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University and Eszterházy Károly University. He is one of the most prominent scholars of modern Hungarian history and the author of numerous seminal historical monographs.
István Síklaki
Member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board
Social psychologist
He is a member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board. He is a professor emeritus at the Budapest Corvinus University and teaches in the doctoral program of the Eötvös Loránd University of Sciences (ELTE) Department of Sociology. He previously worked as the managing editor of the division on psychological publications at the Gondolat publishing house in Hungary and then went on to work as a research fellow at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Psychology. He formerly served as the Director of Research at the Sawyer-Miller Group’s Budapest office, and then as a researcher at the Medián Opinion and Market Research Institute.
András Szöllősi-Nagy
Member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board
Hydrologist and an external expert at the Equilibrium Institute
He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Equilibrium Institute. He is a professor and head of the Water and Environmental Policy Department of the National University of Public Service. He worked for 25 years as a senior official at UNESCO. In that capacity, he was based in Paris as the Secretary of the International Hydrological Programme, and then he continued as the Rector of the UNESCO–IHE Institute for Water Education in Delft. He was on the Board of Governors of the Marseille-based World Water Council and also served as the president of UN-Water and of the UNESCO-IHP Intergovernmental Council, respectively. He is the recipient of numerous domestic and international prizes and awards.
Mária Törőcsik
Member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board
Economist and university professor
She is a member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board. She teaches marketing, purchasing and consumer behaviour, and personality-based marketing. Her research focuses on consumer behaviour and its changing trends and patterns, as well as contemporary issues in marketing. She is a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Business Management. She teaches in the doctoral programs of the University of Pécs and the Széchenyi István University.
László Urbán
Member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board
Economist and banking expert
He is a member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board. He currently serves as a member of the Supervisory Board of the Slovenian NLB bank. After the regime transition, he was elected a Member of the Hungarian National Assembly. As a banking expert, he started out at the World Bank in Washington and then continued his career at ABN-AMRO in Hungary. He went on to serve as the vice president for corporate business at the Postabank, also in Hungary. At Citigroup in New York, he was in charge of global product development. Subsequently, in Hungary, he became the director of the Hungarian National Bank and then the deputy chairman of Hungary’s largest commercial bank, OTP. He is a former member of the EBRD Board of Directors.
Diána Ürge-Vorsatz
Member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board
Physicist-climatologist
She is a member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board. Diána Ürge-Vorsatz is one of Hungary’s leading physicist-climatologists and Vice-Chair of the UN’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. She is a professor at the Central European University, Director of the Centre for Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Policy. She has published widely in the field of environmental and energy science, particularly on climate change mitigation.
Tibor Závecz
Member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board and co-founder of the Equilibrium Institute
Sociologist and public opinion researcher
He co-founded the Equilibrium Institute and is a member of its Advisory Board. He is the director of the ZRI Závecz Research Institute. Since 1989, his work has continuously focused on researching the social base of political parties; the political process; the public mood; and the political/ideological attitudes of citizens. He served as the director of public opinion research at Szonda Ipsos (later Ipsos), a leading Hungarian polling company, and he held this position for 25 years. His surveys and analyses of the public’s perceptions of social issues and political events have made him a regular presence in the Hungarian media where he frequently comments on issues in the orbit of his research.
János Zlinszky
Member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board
Biologist and university professor
He is a member of the Equilibrium Institute’s Advisory Board. He serves as the European Parliament’s delegate on the Board of Directors and the Management Board of the European Environment Agency (EEA). Previously, he worked as an expert for the United Nations Open Working Group (UN OWG) in New York. Before his job at the UN, he was the head of the Strategy and Research Division of the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Future Generations. He also served as the senior environmental advisor to László Sólyom when the latter was the President of the Republic.
