On April 9, 2024, Mende Balázs Gusztáv, deputy director of our institute, delivered a presentation titled "Hungarian Prehistory and the Image of the Hungarians. What Can Archaeogenomics Contribute?" at the meeting of the Specialist Policy Working Group of the Forum of Hungarian Representatives from the Carpathian Basin (KMKF).

The KMKF serves as an advisory body, supporting the work of the National Assembly by establishing a parliamentary dimension to cooperation between Hungary and Hungarian communities beyond its borders. Its aim is to regularize cooperation between Hungarian parliamentary parties and legitimate representatives of Hungarian communities outside Hungary at the legislative level.

The basic structure of the KMKF consists of four working groups, one of which is the Specialist Policy Working Group. Through this group, KMKF members can gain insight into the work in certain fields closely related to national politics and make proposals in connection with them. Their annual meeting focused on „what the image of Hungarians is like, how do Hungarians appear in textbooks and educational systems in neighboring countries, and subsequently, the scientific approach to the topic of Hungarian prehistory and the image of Hungarians was put on the agenda.

In the first agenda item ("Image of Hungarians, Hungarians in the Education Systems of Neighboring Countries"), Árpád Hornyák, head of the Modern History Department at the University of Pécs, gave a presentation, while in the second agenda item ("Hungarian Prehistory and the Image of Hungarians"), Balázs Sudár, senior researcher at the HUN-REN RCH Institute of History, and Mende Balázs, deputy director and senior researcher of the HUN-REN RCH Institute of Archaeogenomics, delivered presentations.”

source of images: Hungarian Parliament