Doctoral Studies

About the Doctoral School

The University of Debrecen as one of the few Hungarian universities of national excellence has the widest range of doctoral trainings in Hungary: we have at the moment 24 doctoral schools in 5 disciplines (agriculture, arts and humanities, medicine, social sciences and sciences). The Doctoral Council of Social Sciences contains 2 doctoral schools: Karoly Ihrig Doctoral School of Management and Business Administration, and Geza Marton Doctoral School of Legal Studies.

The Géza Marton Doctoral School of Legal Studies at the University of Debrecen (accredited by the Hungarian Accreditation Committee by Decision No. 2006/4/VI/3.) started its first semester in 2006, and the Hungarian Accreditation Committee prolonged its accreditation in December 2014 till 31 December 2019 unanimously (Decision No. 2014/10/XIV/31/2/737). For more information about our Doctoral School please visit the website of the Hungarian Doctoral Council.

Currently, one main doctoral programme is available in the Doctoral School: ”Changes of state and law in Central and Eastern Europe”. One of the aims of our doctoral programme is to contribute to the education of the next generation of academics in the area of law at a high standard. Further, in the long run, we also intend to satisfy the increasing demand for PhD degrees to be an indication of the capability for a high level of abstraction, as well as of the knowledge and talent necessary for the application of the findings of academic research. Related to the above, we intend to develop the ability of candidates for (primarily applied) research, who will then, at a later stage in their careers, be able to put their high standard of knowledge to use in the appropriate area of administration or legal practice. We develop skills in capable individuals that enable them to use empirical and other academic research methods in a targeted and full-fledged manner, and to produce book-length, original publications in specific areas of scholarship. As a sign of our respect for the juridical traditions of Debrecen, on 1 September 2011 our doctoral school adopted the name of Géza Marton, legal scholar, member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and former professor of the university.

In the 2015/2016 academic year two PhD students from outside the European Union have started their PhD studies in English language

  • Dodik Setiawan Nur Heriyanto (Republic of Indonesia) - PhD supervisor: Dr. habil. Tamas Fezer
  • Huang Gui (People's Republic of China) - PhD supervisor: Dr. Sandor Madai

In the 2016/2017 academic year four PhD students from outside the European Union have started their PhD studies in English language:

  • Daniel Haitas (Australia) - PhD supervisor: Dr. Ildiko Bartha
  • Aldaoud Loiy Yousef Saleh (Jordan) - PhD supervisor: Dr. habil. Tamas Fezer
  • Bozdag Osman (Turkey) - PhD supervisor: Dr. habil. Tamas Fezer
  • Sahin Caglar (Turkey) - PhD supervisor: Dr. habil. Tamas Fezer

Organisation and thesis topic proposals

Our Doctoral School has 10 core members and 26 supervisors (including core members) from all fields of law, including civil law, law of civil procedure, criminal law, law of criminal procedure, European Union law, public international law (including international protection of human rights), legal history, jurisprudence and constitutional law. Within our main doctoral programme PhD students should choose one from our supervisor's thesis suggestions (depending on their language and research interest):

ENGLISH

  • (Mrs.) dr. habil. Zsuzsanna ARVA (PhD, habil, Dept. of Public Administration Law): The administrative aspects of education
  • (Ms.) dr. Ildiko BARTHA (PhD, Dept. of European and Public International Law): External relations of the European Union
  • (Mr.) dr. habil. Matyas BENCZE (PhD, habil, Dept. of Jurisprudence and Legal Sociology): Theoretical background to adjudication
  • (Mr.) dr. habil. Balazs ELEK (PhD, habil, Dept. of Law of Criminal Procedure): The formation of the judicial belief, and the basic principles of the criminal procedure
  • (Mr.) dr. habil. Tamas FEZER (PhD, habil, Dept. of Civil Law): New tendencies in the development of a common European private law
  • (Mr.) dr. habil. Tamas FEZER (PhD, habil, Dept. of Civil Law): Institutions of international business law in the 21st century
  • (Mr.) Prof. Tamas HORVATH M. (DSc, habil, Dept of Financial Law and Public Management): Public administration and management
  • (Mr.) Prof. Mihaly FONAI (CSc, habil, Dept. of Public Policy and Applied Sociology): Recrutation and characteristics of legal professions
  • (Mr.) dr. Sandor MADAI (PhD, Dept. of Criminal Law and Criminology): Challenges of substantive criminal law in the 21st century
  • (Mr.) dr. Gyorgy NADAS (PhD, Dept. of Environmental Law and Labour Law): Fundamental conceptual questions of labour law; harmonisation of law regarding the basic legal institutions of labour law
  • (Mrs.) dr. Henriett NADAS-RAB (PhD, Dept. of Environmental Law and Labour Law): The effects of the relationship between labour law and social law on the labour market mechanisms
  • (Mr.) dr. habil. Laszlo PRIBULA (PhD, habil, Dept. of Law of Civil Procedure): Alternative dispute resolution: ways to avoid lawsuits in the  21st century
  • (Mr.) Prof. Jozsef SZABADFALVI (DSc, habil, Dept. of Jurisprudence and Legal Sociology): Hungarian legal philosophical thinking from the beginnings to the mid-20th century
  • (Mr.) dr. Krisztian SZABO (PhD, Dept. of Law of Criminal Procedure): Possible directions of changes of some criminal procedural legal institutions in the light of the codification of criminal procedural law
  • (Mr.) dr. habil. Sandor SZEMESI (PhD, habil, Dept. of European and Public International Law): Human rights in the theory and practice of the Council of Europe and its organs and institution
  • (Mr.) dr. habil. Gabor Attila TOTH (PhD, habil, Dept. of Constitutional Law): Comparative constitutionalism
  • (Mr.) dr. Marton VARJU (PhD, Dept. ot European and Public International Law): The national interest in EU law
  • (Mr.) dr. Marton VARJU (PhD, Dept. of European and Public International Law): Human rights as legal and policy instruments in the European Union
  • (Mr.) Prof. Erno VARNAY (CSc, habil, Dept. of European and Public International Law): The infringement procedures under Articles 258-260 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union (TFEU)
  • (Mr.) Prof. Erno VARNAY (CSc, habil, Dept. of European and Public International Law): Preliminary ruling procedure under Article 267 TFEU
  • (Mr.) Prof. Erno VARNAY (CSc, habil, Dept. of European and Public International Law): Institutional-legal aspects of the European Monetary Union

FRENCH

  • (Mr.) Prof. Istvan BALAZS (CSc, habil, Dept. of Public Administration Law): Les changements de la théorie generale du service public

GERMAN

  • (Mrs.) dr. habil. Judit BALOGH (PhD, habil, Dept. of Legal History): Rezeption und Kodifikation als Gestaltungsmittel des Staatswesens. Funktionswandel der Rechtsinstituten ab dem 18. bis zum 21. Jahrhunder
  • (Mr.) Prof. Laszlo FODOR (PhD, habil, Dept. of Environmental Law and Labour Law): Klimaschutzrecht der EG; Ungarisch-Deutsche Rechtsvergleichung
  • (Mrs.) dr. Judit MOLNAR (PhD, Dept. of Law of Civil Procedure): Zivilprozess und ausserprozessliche Verfahren in Europa
  • (Mr.) Prof. Bela SZABO (CSc, habil, Dept. of Legal History): Der Einfluss der gelehrten Rechte auf die Normentstehung, Normvermittlung und Normdurchsetzung in Ostmitteleuropa im zweiten Jahrtausend
  • (Mrs.) dr. habil. Veronika SZIKORA (PhD, habil, Dept. of Civil Law): System und Reform des Gesellschaftsrechts in Europa
  • (Mrs.) dr. habil. Veronika SZIKORA (PhD, habil, Dept. of Civil Law): Entwicklungstendenzen des Gesellschaftsrechts in den 19-21. Jahrhunderten

Our supervisors are ready to accept new research topics after a preliminary discussion with the possible supervisor.

You can download all of our current non-Hungarian thesis topic proposals from here:

Admission procedure

Scholarship provided by the Government of Hungary is available only for citizens of EEA, or Hungarian nationals living Ukraine or Serbia. Because of the Hungarian legal regulations we can offer only full-time PhD programme for non-EU and EEA-citizens, the tuition fee is USD 6500 / academic year (2 semesters). The costs of health insurance and student card are included in the tuition fee.

What we need for an application

  • Application form (available here)
  • Detailed English CV
  • Master degree of law or social sciences (international relations, etc.) and its English transcript
  • 2 recommendation letters from previous professors
  • proposal for a research topic chosen from the ones offered by our doctoral school or a new topic with a detailed description
  • copies of the relevant pages of the passport
  • vaccination report for Hepatitis B, Rose-rash (Rubeola), Mumps (Parotitis epidemica) and Measles (Morbilli)
  • an evidence of payment of USD 150 non-refundable registration fee

Deadline for submitting your application: 31 May 2016.

About our programme

During our 8-semester programme, PhD students have to fulfil

  • in the first 4 semesters compulsory, alternative and optional courses (in English), by writing an essay (cca. 40.000 characters) or by oral exam (as the candidate chooses). In every semester PhD students are obliged to submit a detailed research report, in which they present their scientific research activity and its results in that semester. We also organise a reseach forum for all of our PhD students every semester, where all the PhD students are obliged to present their scientific results (based on the research report) in 10-15 minutes.
  • after the first 4 semesters PhD students are obliged to take a so-called complex exam, including a theoretical and a research element. After passing this exam, PhD students can continue their studies in the second 4 semesters - this is the dissertation-writing stage. Till the end of the 8th semester PhD students should defend their PhD dissertation. Depending on the status of the research, it is possible to defend sooner than the end of the 8th semester. The length of the dissertation is 400.000-600.000 characters (including footnotes, but excluding bibliography, appendixes).
  • PhD students need two different (one B-2 and one B-1 level) state-accredited international language exams in the date of the complex exam at the latest (English can be accepted as one of them. The second language could be Hungarian, the mother language and any other existing language, esperanto and similiars excluded).

Contact

For more information please visit the website of our university for foreign students (http://englishstudies.sci.unideb.hu/) and please feel free to contact us:

Last update: 2022. 07. 22. 14:09