Affiliated to the Institute of Literary and Cultural Studies in the University of Debrecen, the Subprogramme in Hungarian Literature and Culture draws upon the cutting edge research and educational activity of the Institute, with expertise that enables our students to study practically all areas within Hungarian and comparative literary scholarship. The research themes advertised in the national database (doktori.hu) include themes in medieval, early modern, modern and contemporary Hungarian literature, the history of particular genres as well as research with a strong analytical focus on individual texts. The doctoral research projects undertaken by the students in our subprogramme are characterised by broad historical/philological orientation, while at the same time they tend to have an interdisciplinary background, informed by theoretical inquiry (language philosophy, philosophical anthropology, cultural theory, memory studies etc.), and, frequently, embarking on a critical engagement with popular culture phenomena. This is indicated by the fact that, in recent years, our subprogramme has become one of the important centres of the serious academic investigation of children’s and young adult literature.
Although the pool of our doctoral candidates comprises primarily students with an MA diploma from our University, typically with a track record of undergraduate research at our Institute, our subprogramme also welcomes humanities students who graduated at other universities, as well as those who, having earned a university diploma years ago, wish to pursue academic research while keeping their job, with a view to obtaining a doctoral degree.