Tünde Tátrai is featured in the portrait series highlighting Doctors of the MTA

The Hungarian Academy of Sciences’ portrait series, ‘Doctors of the MTA’, featuring scholars who have recently earned the Doctor of the MTA title, currently highlights Tünde Tátrai, Professor at Corvinus University’s Department of Supply Chain Management and a renowned public procurement researcher, who was awarded the academic degree in 2026. 

Right after graduating with a degree in economics, she decided to focus her research career on procurement. Driven by an interest in business law as well, she went on to complete a law degree, eventually choosing public procurement—a field bridging both legal and economic dimensions—as her PhD topic. 

Although the topic initially seemed quite narrow, over the years she built an extensive professional network, serving as a guest lecturer at universities worldwide—from Italy and Russia to the United States, South America, South Africa, and Japan. 

„Many believe that researching public procurement is synonymous with studying corruption, but it is a far more multifaceted topic that impacts both competition and efficiency. Public procurement accounts for 15 to 20 percent of GDP, making its importance unquestionable for the functioning of any country,” emphasizes the researcher, who considers ensuring the conditions for fair competition to be paramount in public procurement. 

In the interview, she also noted that she considers one of her greatest scientific achievements to be identifying—together with her colleagues at Corvinus University—specific characteristics in developing countries that lead to different competitive conditions in their public procurement markets. 

Tünde Tátrai played a key role in establishing Hungary’s public procurement management training program. In her view, the world of public procurement can only function efficiently if there are senior and middle managers specializing in this field who are equipped to interpret the results of comparative research in the area. 

The full interview is available in Hungarian on the MTA website.