Krisztián Csaplár-Degovics is a Hungarian historian dealing with the Balkan-policy and colonial past of Austria–Hungary, the nation- and state-building processes in the Balkans, Humanitarian Interventions on the Balkans and with the history of Albania, Serbia, Kosovo and Macedonia in the 19^th and 20^th century. As a senior research fellow and the Head of the Department for Southeast European Studies, he is working for the HUN-REN Research Centre for the Humanities, Institute of History. He is member of the Bulgarian–Hungarian Joint Academic Commission of Historians and of the Albanien-Institut housed in Munich and in Vienna.

Educated at the Eötvös-Loránd-University in Budapest (history, archive studies) and at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich (Albanology, history of Southeast Europe) he obtained his PhD-degree in 2008. After teaching at the ELTE-University (2001–2004), he was an academic co-worker of the Südost-Institut in Munich (2003–2004), and of the Library of the Albanien-Institut at the Institute for East European History at the University of Vienna (2005–2006). Between 2008–2012 he worked as teaching assistant and assistant professor at the ELTE-University-Budapest. Between 2013–2019 he was the editor of the book series Edition Ungarische Geschichte in Berlin (Osteuropa-Zentrum Berlin-Verlag). Habilitation in 2019. He is a co-editor of a new series Imperialism and Colonialism in Central and Eastern Europe (CEU University Press, from 2025 onwards)

László Márkusz is a senior diplomat serving in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He began his diplomatic career as the Second Secretary for Political Affairs at the Hungarian Embassy in Sarajevo from 1997 to 2002. As a member of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, he held several positions related to the Western Balkans, including desk officer for Croatia (2002-2003), Deputy Director for the Western Balkans (2009-2010), and Ambassador to Kosovo (2015-2020).

Márkusz also worked as a political advisor on the Western Balkans for the Council of the European Union from 2005 to 2008 and served with the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia in 2009. Additionally, he gained experience in the Ministry of Defence of Hungary, where he was the Deputy Head of Cabinet from 2003 to 2004.

He earned his MA in War Studies from King’s College London in 1994 and holds a PhD in Eastern European History from ELTE University in Budapest. Márkusz is also an author and co-author of four books focused on the history and politics of the Western Balkans.

Journalist, Communications Specialist at the HUN-REN Research Centre for the Humanities and the HUN-REN RCH Institute of History, as well as co-founder and deputy editor-in-chief of Újkor.hu, a history-focused online magazine. Her expertise lies in science communication and making academic research accessible to a broader audience.

Tasks: communication and disseminating the research activity and results of the projects in printed products (press releases), in on-line fora (social media, e-newsletter); organizing interviews and public lectures for three target audiences: academic sector, non-academic sector (stake-holders: EU Commission, OSCE), civil society in Hungary and in the EU.

IT engineer, senior full stack developer at the HUN-REN Research Centre for the Humanities. His main area of ​​expertise is creating unique web solutions and searchable databases. As an employee of the RCH, he participated in the creation of dozens of websites and databases as a developer and project coordinator.

Tasks: creating and running a project-website.