Students of the PTI pariticipated in the 35th Scientific Conference of Hungarian Students with outstanding results

In the social sciences section of the Scientific Conference of Hungarian Students, in the subgroups of religious sciences and theology, PTI students returned with five awards.


On April 14-15, 2021, the Scientific Conference of Hungarian Students (OTDK) organised its biannual competition. In the social sciences section, religious studies and theology subgroup students of the PTI have won five awards.

The conference of the social sciences section of the OTDK was organized this year by the Metropolitan University of Budapest. The social sciences section (philosophy, political science, media and communication, sociology, etc.) was divided into 28 subgroups, including three subgroups of religious sciences and theology. In these three subgroups, a total of 33 young researchers presented their research results (see here the complete list of presentations), from higher education institutions throughout the Carpathian Basin, mostly Hungarian universities.

From the Protestant Theological Institute of Cluj-Napoca seven students participated, who had previously achieved remarkable results in the Scientific Conference of Transylvanian Students (ETDK) in the last two years:

  • István Biró (BA 4): Teaching church history at the Faculty of Theology in Cluj-Napoca between 1895 and 1948 Supervizor: Dr. Vilmos József Kolumbán
  • Henrietta Demeter (MA 2): Narrative sermon and the biblical narratives. Supervizor: Prof. Dr. Kiss Jenő, professor
  • Debora Földvári (BA 4): Women in the service of the church in the New Testament era. Supervizor: Prof. Dr. Zoltán Adorjáni, professor
  • Dávid Nagy (BA 4): The debate on the new Reformed orthodoxy and liberal theology in the second half of the nineteenth century. Supervizor: Dr. Vilmos József Kolumbán
  • Norbert Nagy (BA 3): Faith comes through hearing - The problem of sermon communication, or the effective communication of the divine speech. Supervizor: Dr. Botond Péter Koppándi, lecturer
  • István Tasnádi (MA 2): The episcopal activity of György Verestói. Supervizor: Dr. Dezső Buzogány, professor
  • Lehel Vass (MA 1): The textual and redactional history of Gen 46:8-27. Supervizor: Dr. Csaba Balogh, associate professor

The submitted papers were evaluated and scored by two or three reviewers in a blind review system during February-March, and they were presented in the groups mentioned above, where a four-member jury evaluated the students' presentations.

Students of the PTI have earned the following awards (see here the complete list of awarded participants):

  • Religious studies and theology subgrup 1

    • Lehel Vass - Special prize

  • Religious studies and theology subgrup 2

    • Nagy Dávid - 3rd prize

  • eligious studies and theology subgrup 3

    • István Biró - 2nd prize
    István Tasnádi - 2nd prize
    Henrietta Demeter - Special prize

We are delighted that our students participated in the competition, and the awards with which the most successful works were rewarded are a great honor for the Theological Institute. Congratulations to the winners and their supervisors! We hope that these results will serve as an incentive for further research and as motivations for those supporting talented students in their career development.

Finally, we wish to express our gratitute to the organizers for the professionally managed event. The online form of communication, despite all its disadvantages, offered an opportunity to many people who otherwise could not have attended this important event.