The United Nations Association of Hungary, the University of Public Service, the Hungarian National Commission for UNESCO, the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy in Berlin, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Women4Diplomacy International organised the large-scale conference entitled \u201cUNESCO\u2019s \u2018Path to Peace\u2019 Programme: Dialogue and Action for Tolerance and Intercultural Understanding”. The event centred on the theme of this year\u2019s UN International Day of Peace: „Invest in Peace: For Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day.”<\/p>\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThe international conference was held in the ceremonial hall of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The participants were welcomed by Ambassador Katalin Bogyay, President of the United Nations Association of Hungary and the Hungarian National Commission for UNESCO. She was recently elected President of the World Federation of United Nations Associations. The new President of the organisation, which brings together national UN associations from more than a hundred countries, has close professional ties to Sz\u00e9chenyi Istv\u00e1n University: last year, the University recognised her work by awarding her an honorary doctorate. In recent years, she has taken part in numerous joint programmes linked to UN values, sustainability and international dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In her speech, Katalin Bogyay emphasised the importance of preventive diplomacy, noting that most conflicts stem from mutual misunderstandings between the parties, which is why meaningful dialogue and listening to the other side are needed before tensions escalate. She also spoke about the importance she attaches to involving young people \u2013 including university students \u2013 in her work and ensuring that their voices are heard within the work of the UN.<\/p>\n\n\n Ambassador Katalin Bogyay, President of the United Nations Association of Hungary and the Hungarian National Commission for UNESCO, and Honorary Doctor of Sz\u00e9chenyi Istv\u00e1n University<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In his opening address, Mih\u00e1ly P\u00f3sfai, President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, highlighted that peace is not merely the absence of war, but a state built through law, culture and education. He emphasised that whilst science cannot negotiate a ceasefire, it can help uncover the facts, expose manipulation, maintain channels of cooperation, and help societies to base their decisions on knowledge rather than fear. In this sense, scientific cooperation is itself a form of peacemaking.<\/p>\n\n\n Mih\u00e1ly P\u00f3sfai, President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n At the conference, Zolt\u00e1n Tarr, Minister for Social Relations and Culture, emphasised that dialogue should not be the final step in bringing a crisis to an end, but rather one of the first steps in preventing conflict. He added that culture can be regarded as a form of \u201csoft power\u201d that can help to establish and maintain peace.<\/p>\n\n\n Zolt\u00e1n Tarr, Minister for Social Relations and Culture<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ambassador Khondker M. Talha, President of the 43rd Session of the UNESCO General Conference, focused on the potential of art to foster peace. \u201cCan a work of art stop a war? Perhaps not. But it can be the first step towards peace,\u201d<\/em> he stated. He added that dialogue can begin not only at the negotiating table, but: it can also start with a painting, a melody, a performance or an image. In his view, political and economic agreements do not build trust between people in themselves; meanwhile artists, scientists and educators can create spaces where people have the opportunity to meet, exchange ideas and encounter new perspectives.<\/p>\n\n\n Ambassador Khondker M. Talha, President of the 43rd Session of the UNESCO General Conference<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The keynote speaker at the conference was Hedva Ser, a sculptor recognised as a UNESCO Artist for Peace and a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Cultural Diplomacy. A defining symbol of her work is the Tree of Peace. Bringing together a series of intertwoven symbols, the sculptor expresses the idea that lasting peace is built not on uniformity, but on the coexistence of differences and the continuous nurturing of relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n Hedva Ser, sculptor and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Cultural Diplomacy<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The conference\u2019s first panel discussion, entitled \u201cInvesting in Peace: For Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day\u201d<\/em>, was chaired by Professor Eszter Luk\u00e1cs, Vice-President for International Affairs and Strategic Relations at Sz\u00e9chenyi Istv\u00e1n University. The session was opened by Dr Istv\u00e1n Lakatos, Deputy State Secretary for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a member of the Executive Board of the United Nations Association of Hungary. Dr R\u00e9ka Varga, Dean of the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Public Service, Dr Anik\u00f3 Szalai, Director of Institute at the University of Szeged, and P\u00e9ter Balogh, Hungary\u2019s Senior Youth Delegate to the United Nations, shared their thoughts on the role of universities, research, education and the younger generations in peacebuilding. A key point of the discussion was that, alongside professional knowledge, higher education can also foster openness, a sense of responsibility, and respect for other cultures and perspectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The conference\u2019s panel discussion entitled \u201cInvesting in Peace: For Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day\u201d was chaired by Professor Eszter Luk\u00e1cs, Vice-President for International Affairs and Strategic Relations at Sz\u00e9chenyi Istv\u00e1n University<\/em> <\/em>(far right)<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n Dr Istv\u00e1n Lakatos, Deputy State Secretary for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The second panel was introduced by Dr Csaba G\u00e1bor, Deputy State Secretary for Cultural Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with reflections on the power of B\u00e9la Bart\u00f3k\u2019s art to connect nations. The discussion, moderated by Widad Brimo, Secretary-General of the United Nations Association of Hungary, featured Dr Ivan Ivanov, Associate Professor at the International Balkan University in North Macedonia, Professor Andrea Mel\u00e1th, Head of the Department of Vocal and Opera Studies at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, Zeever Zahra Baqar, UN Policy Representative for the International Association of Applied Psychology and founder of the Baqar Foundation, and Dr Judy Kuriansky, a clinical psychologist, UN Member State adviser, journalist and co-founder of Women4Diplomacy International. Exploring the community-building power of art, music, psychology and education, they considered of how empathy and mutual understanding can become the foundation of peace.<\/p>\n\n\n International students from the university also took part in the conference.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In one of the event\u2019s symbolic moments, Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist Dalma B\u00edr\u00f3 presented a memento to an international student at Sz\u00e9chenyi Istv\u00e1n University as a symbol of the hoped-for Palestinian\u2013Israeli reconciliation. This gesture gave personal expression to the underlying theme of the conference: that peace can be built on relationships that bridge differences and on reaching out to one another.<\/p>\n\n\n A symbolic moment of gift-giving.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Created: 2026.09.11. 21:03 Alongside diplomacy, education, science, culture and the arts also play a crucial role in building peace \u2013 this was the central theme of the international conference took …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":10582,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/alumni.sze.hu\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/image-21-1024x683.png\")
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