Communiqué on EU-funding restrictions

Éva Bánsági • 2023-06-17

The European Commission has recently communicated through several channels that certain Hungarian organisations are excluded from EU funding.

This does not apply to ESSRG.

The Decision (EU) 2022/2506 concerns institutions that are public interest trusts established based on the Hungarian Act IX of 2021 or any entity maintained by such a public interest trust. As far as we know, at this moment, this restriction affects about 20 entities in Hungary (mainly universities).

ESSRG is an independent, private (owned by researchers), non-profit research company, and we have no connection with public interest trusts.

While we feel sorry for our research colleagues who cannot apply for EU funded projects at the moment, we keep continuing our work on the European horizon and beyond toward just, healthy, safe, and ecologically fair societies.

Recent

Update

PLAN’EAT lifestyle programme for single-parent families at the Budapest Bike Maffia Farm

Katalin Varsányi • 2025-04-08

The Environmental Social Science Research Group (ESSRG) is researching the food choices and dietary habits of single-parent families as part of the PLAN’EAT research project. In a co-creation workshop, together with the parents involved, we developed a year-round lifestyle programme in collaboration with the Budapest Bike Maffia, which we have launched in March 2025. The aim of the programme is to help single mothers to develop healthier and more sustainable eating habits, including the High Impact Behaviours that we have established: eating more vegetables, fruits and legumes – which will have a positive impact on their quality of life in the long run. Based on our previous research, we have found that stress, fatigue and financial burden are the primary barriers for the parents, thus we will focus the micro-interventions on creating a supportive community to help them connect with their fellow parents, while learning and developing skills in producing food in harmony with nature, self-sufficiency and healthy eating.

From March 1. to December 13. 2025, 15 single-parent families will participate in the comprehensive lifestyle program. In the 2400 square metre garden near the border of the 11th district, parents and their children will prepare and then take care of the vegetable beds, and plant tomatoes and other crops throughout the year. As well as caring for (and harvesting) the plants, we’ll also have lots of exciting activities, courses and games.

At the first session in March, after an intention-setting activity, the children went on a glove-treasure hunt in the garden, then together we shovelled and wheelbarrowed soil for beds; learned how to make beds, sow and cover; and all the while learned about regenerative farming, mulching, and producing food in harmony with nature.

On the second occasion, we created mini greenhouses and snail traps, and learned the basics of weeding and pruning.

Come along on the rest of our journey to find out what else Budapest Bike Maffia Farm and its community has to offer!

Planned activities for the PLAN’EAT + BBM Farm lifestyle programme

You can read more about the PLAN’EAT project on our website:

https://www.essrg.hu/hu/egeszseges-fenntarthato-etkezesi-szokasok-kialakitasa/

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The PLANET4B Project at the Telki Eco Week

Éva Bánsági • 2025-04-04

Eszter Kelemen and Kármen Czett participated at the second Telki Eco Week that took place in the last week of March, focusing on sustainable gardens and green spaces. Our colleagues presented their research on the importance of experiential learning and school gardens in Hungary. In addition, they visited the local primary school, where they conducted a biodiversity lesson for students in grades 5 through 7.

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Newly Published: Navigating the Participatory Turn in Agricultural and Food Research

Éva Bánsági • 2025-02-25

A new perspective paper, Navigating the Participatory Turn in Agricultural and Food Research: Best Practices from Citizen Science, explores how participatory methods, particularly citizen science, can address the ethical and socio-economic challenges of emerging agri-food technologies. The authors, including our colleague, Alexandra Czeglédi, revisit the European Citizen Science Association’s (ECSA) Ten Principles of Citizen Science, applying them specifically to agricultural and food research.

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Publication

Cultivating agroecological narratives

Éva Bánsági • 2025-01-06

Gardeners’ photovoice on underutilised crops’ diversity. A photo essay by Alexandra Czeglédi published in Tabula, the online journal of the Museum of Ethnography.

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