At the opening plenary, Prof. György Hajnal, Head of the Department and Chair of EAPAA (European Association for Public Administration Accreditation), welcomed conference participants. His involvement highlights the department’s ongoing influence in advancing public administration education and accreditation standards.  

Attila Bartha (editor of the Q2 journal Intersections) and Sabina Schnell (assistant editor of the D1/Top3 journal Public Administration Review) played key roles in the first-ever Editors’ Panel, which gathered editors from both international and Central and Eastern European public administration journals. Their discussion focused on publishing challenges, strategies, and how to strengthen the engagement with scholarship from the CEE region.  

Kovács Éva Margit presented her research on Hungary’s asylum procedures and the integration of Ukrainian refugees at the Evidence-Based Policy Making working group. Her work shed light on the operational management of these procedures and their impact on refugee integration.  

Finally, Gajduschek György co-chaired Working Group IX: Law and Public Administration, presenting on the intersection of the rule of law and national culture, and contributing to an open panel on administrative traditions, further solidifying our department’s role in shaping key debates in public administration.   

In the highlight of the conference, Prof. György Hajnal and his international team won the Best Comparative Policy Paper Award for their paper on the strategies European governments adopted during the COVID-19 crisis.  

Every year the 33rd NISPAcee Annual Conference provides a valuable platform for our department to showcase research, engage with experts, and continue contributing to the global dialogue on governance and public administration.  

The detail program can be accessed here: https://www.nispa.org/conference/2025/programme.php