Our mission
Milestone Knowledge Port gathers, produces, and applies national and international knowledge. The local channeling of this knowledge is facilitated by programs, projects, and other forms of cooperation realized by the diverse community of the Port, made up of Milestone alumni, members of the Hungarian diaspora, and representatives of national and international scientific, economic, and cultural life. Our goal is to facilitate that alumni and members of the Hungarian diaspora return home from abroad, and use their knowledge and experience to benefit the country. Knowledge Port is the site of meetings and exchanges of ideas. It catalyzes innovation and positive change, enabling Hungary to provide as prepared as possible responses to the challenges of the 21st century.
Our Vision
We believe in a Hungary where knowledge and talent serve as the grounds of advancement both on the level of the individual and on the level of society. We position Knowledge Port to be a hub through which international knowledge and experience flows into the country, interacts with local knowledge and practice, and generates innovation and change on the local and global levels. We would like Knowledge Port to be the starting point of the way Hungary repositions herself in the 21st century.
As part of realizing our mission, in March 2022 we launch our event series: lectures, roundtable discussions, cultural programs, and community events will take place at the home of Milestone Institute in Wesselényi Street. We also organize exclusive events aimed at our alumni, which, apart from focusing on the present and future possibilities of the job market, also facilitate the homecoming of Hungarian students studying abroad and of the broader diaspora.
As we consider it important to contribute to the intellectual and cultural life of the district housing our institute and Budapest, we organize programs open to the general public several times a year.
Events
The Milestone Knowledege Port’s upcoming event will be the Galileo Night held on the 23rd of September.
This will be Milestone’s the first-ever scientific night where Milestone Institute students will do presentations about their research in TED-style talks. The presentations will discuss on topics how genetic research can help honeybees cope with the increasing number of heat waves. We will also discuss whether consumerist life strategies can be eliminated in a capitalist economy, and whether there is a link between our social structure and our ideals of beauty.
The event is going to be in English. The participation is free of charge, but subject to pre-registration.
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Life-Work. Conversation with Imre Bak
The Milestone Knowledge Port cordially invites you and your Partner to its upcoming event, where Orsolya Hegedüs will be in conversation with Imre Bak, on Thursday 7th July 2022, from 18:00 at the Great Hall of Milestone Institute.
The discussion will focus on Imre Bak’s exceptional career, which began in the mid-twentieth century and is still characterised by uninterrupted activity today. The Hungarian neo-avant-garde grandmaster’s persistent, consistent and uncompromising artistic work, although considered at the forefront of the Hungarian and regional art scene from the very beginning, has only reached the deserved level of international recognition in the last decade. Today, Imre Bak’s works are among the most sought-after and highest-priced works on the Hungarian contemporary art market, and are included in prestigious international public collections such as the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the Tate in London and the New National Gallery in Berlin. Still active at the age of 83, the artist has faced many challenges and obstacles in his career and life, most of which stem from the fact that he has lived and worked in Hungary all his life. His ability to rise above the circumstances and become a world-class artist at an early age is due to his talent, diligence, resilience and humanity, combined with a sophisticated mind, openness and an extensive knowledge.
This time, Orsolya Hegedüs will focus the conversation on the human side of Imre Bak: she will ask him about the stories of his life and career, which are not included in the art literature.
The discussion will be held in Hungarian. After the talk, you are welcome to a reception in honour of the artist.
The event is supported by acb Gallery, representing Imre Bak.
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Budapest Vándor-Révész Choir’s opening concert
On 19 May, at 18.30, the Milestone Institute’s Great Hall will serve as the venue for the Budapest Vándor-Révész Choir’s opening concert.
Choir music lovers will be able to listen to amazing music pieces: the Budapest Vándor Choir will perform works by world-famous Latvian composers.
The event is free of charge, everyone is welcome.
Find out more about the concert here: https://www.facebook.com/events/769582074031222
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Arrivals – Continuation or re-start?
A roundtable discussion
Date: 9 April 2022, Saturday, 7 pm
Venue: Great Hall, Milestone Institute, 17 Wesselényi street, Budapest
Moderated by Orsolya Nemes
Panelists: Éva Fodor, Róna Kopeczky, Noémi Lukács
The theme of our panel discussion is moving back home from abroad. It will tackle the stories of three successful Hungarian women who studied abroad and achieved a huge success in their career, far from their home country, however, who later on, decided to continue their journey in Hungary. Currently, they are all well-known and renowned members of their professions; a true testament of their successful careers.
They will talk about the reasons and motivation behind their decision, and how reality compared to their expectations. Furthermore, the discussion will touch upon the difficulties they have faced in Hungary, any help they received, any adversities they had to overcome in adapting to the circumstances and the professional environment in Hungary.
And the question remains: Would they change anything if they had to decide today?
The conversation will be moderated by Orsolya Nemes, presentation trainer and communications consultant of Milestone Solutions Lab. She has also hosted multiple TEDx speeches and wrote the book “Generational Myths” besides being a guest publicist for HVG and Forbes.
Eva Fodor is the Professor of Gender Studies and is currently a member of CEU’s Senior Leadership Team as Pro-Rector for Foresight and Analysis. She researches social inequalities, with a special focus on gender inequalities in the labour market. She recently published an English-language book titled The Gender Regime of Anti-Liberal Hungary.
Dr Noémi Lukács is a molecular biologist, she was a lecturer and researcher of the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf before she started her position as the scientific team leader of the Biology Centre of Szeged. Later, until her retirement in 2014, she worked as a department head of the Szent István University (now under Corvinus University). While living in Germany, she discovered an antibody, which was essential to Covid-19 vaccine production. The antibody was produced in a world-class laboratory which she built in her great-grandparents’ house.
Róna Kopeczky is a curator, art historian and holds a PhD from the Sorbonne. She is the former curator of international art at the Ludwig Museum in Budapest and currently works as the artistic director of the acb Gallery in Budapest. She was a member of the curatorial team of the OFF-Biennale and co-founded Easttopics, a platform for representing the contemporary art scene of Eastern Europe.
The event is co-hosted by Future:Hungary.
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Don’t look up – Fiction or reality As You Like It?
A roundtable discussion
Date: 19 March 2022, Saturday, 5 pm
Venue: Great Hall, Milestone Institute, 17 Wesselényi street, Budapest
Moderated by László Kőszeghy
Panelists: Ada Ámon, Márton Bene, Júlia Sonnevend
The scientist duo played by Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio are waiting for their turn in the most watched morning show of the United States. They are nervous – it is not easy to inform the world about a huge comet is approaching the Earth, and unless we act, it is bound to kill us all. Before the broadcast, the scientists are warned to keep it light. This is not very promising, they think.
Don’t Look Up is an allegorical and satirical story about our age, which is sceptical about truth and talking about the truth. How should the results of the climate scientists, ominously pointing in the same direction, be communicated? What are the major obstacles of efficient climate communication? Our panelists represent the perspectives of social sciences and climate politics, and will comment on questions raised by the film and resonating with many of us, such as people’s desire to hear stories, our unavoidable sentimentality, and how social media, which favors the sensational, works. Our panelists are Ada Ámon economist, expert of energy politics and climate politics, Chief Advisor to the Mayor of Budapest on Climate Affairs; Márton Bene politologist and sociologist, senior research fellow at the Institute for Political Sciences, Centre for Social Sciences; and Júlia Sonnevend media scholar, associate professor of the New School for Social Research, New York. The discussion is moderated by László Kőszeghy, module leader at Milestone Institute, PhD student in philosophy at CEU.
Ada Ámon – economist, expert of energy politics and climate politics, Chief Advisor to the Mayor of Budapest on Climate Affairs, former director of Energiaklub Climate Policy Institute and Applied Communication, and senior associate leading the Central Eastern European climate programme of E3G (Third Generation Environmentalism) independent climate change think tank.
Márton Bene – politologist and sociologist, senior research fellow at the Institute for Political Sciences, Centre for Social Sciences, specialized in political communication and political behaviour
László Kőszeghy – module leader and mentor at Milestone Institute, PhD student in philosophy at CEU.
Júlia Sonnevend – media scholar, associate professor of the New School for Social Research, New York. Her recent research focuses ont he forming and social significance of global myths and the role of human attraction in everyday life and in politics.