easa

To: Prof. László Lovász
President, Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Re: Support for the Resolution of the Presidium of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Adopted on February 12th 2019

Dear Professor Lovász,
The Executive Committee of the European Association of Social Anthropology (EASA)wishes to express its full support for the Resolution of the Presidium of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences made on February 12th 2019.¹ We applaud the Academy’s determination to protect academic freedom and independence in Hungary through this resolution.

We further wish to express our deep concern about the institutional restructuring of the financing of research and higher education within Hungary more widely that the Hungarian government has both enacted and proposed in recent years, of which the changes proposed at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences appears to be a part.

We believe that the planned reforms will severely compromise the independence of critical social sciences and the academic autonomy of individual scholars and institutions in Hungary. This loss of academic independence will endanger the strong international standing of Hungarian scientific work.

We sincerely hope that the Presidium’s Resolution is successful in persuading the Hungarian government to reconsider its position on the particular matter concerning the Academy, and we would urge the Hungarian government to do so at the earliest possible opportunity.

Yours sincerely
Sarah Green
President, EASA
On behalf of EASA’s Executive Committee

¹ as published at https://mta.hu/english/resolution-by-the-presidium-adopted-on-february-12-2019-109386 (last accessed 14th February 2019)