The Research Team

Veronika Patkós (Principal Investigator)

Veronika Patkós obtained her PhD in Political Science from Corvinus University of Budapest (Hungary) in 2017. Since 2013, she has been affiliated with the Institute for Political Science of the Centre for Social Sciences (now ELTE Centre for Social Sciences, Budapest), where she currently serves as a Senior Research Fellow. In parallel, she has held a part-time Assistant Professorship at ELTE's Faculty of Law since 2017, teaching quantitative methods and academic writing. Her research focuses on political polarisation and partisanship, in particular its measurement, causes and consequences for democratic accountability and economic performance. She has developed innovative approaches to measuring polarisation and contributed to several comparative datasets, including the European Government-Opposition Voters (EGOV) dataset. She is the author of a Hungarian language monograph on the causes and consequences of political polarisation in Europe. Her work has appeared in journals such as West European Politics, European Political Science Review, The International Journal of Press/Politics, Parliamentary Affairs, Acta Politica, East European Politics and Quality & Quantity. She is a recipient of the János Bolyai Research Scholarship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and has led two NKFIH-funded research projects as Principal Investigator.

Baranyai Artúr

Artúr is a PhD student in Political Science at Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Law (Budapest, Hungary). He is affiliated with the ELTE Centre for Social Sciences, Institute for Political Science (Budapest), where he currently serves as a Junior Research Fellow. His research focuses on the intersection of empirical political analysis and political theory, combining qualitative and quantitative approaches to examine the structure and development of political ideas. His broader research interests include political theory, political polarization and climate politics.

Benedek István

István received his PhD in Political Science from Eötvös Loránd University in 2023. He is a Research Fellow at the ELTE Centre for Social Sciences, Institute for Political Science, and an Assistant Professor at Eötvös Loránd University’s Institute of Political Science. His research focuses on democratic theory, democratization, autocratization, populism, political polarization, and comparative politics, with a particular interest in Hungary and Central and Eastern Europe. He serves as a country expert for the Varieties of Democracy project and has published in journals including Comparative European Politics, Partecipazione e Conflitto, Politics in Central Europe, and the Czech Journal of Political Science. Since 2025, he has been a board member of the Hungarian Political Science Association. 

Hajnal Áron

Áron obtained a PhD in Political Science at Corvinus University of Budapest (Hungary), where he has been employed as a lecturer since 2022. From 2025, he is also a Research Fellow at the ELTE Centre of Social Sciences (ELTE, Hungary). From 2023 to 2024, he was the recipient of a visiting scholarship at the Hertie School of Governance (Berlin, Germany), funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). His research interests revolve around political polarisation, corruption, and democratic backsliding. In recent years, he has worked as a research associate for the Budapest Institute for Policy Research (Hungary) and the European Research Centre for Anti-Corruption and State-Building (Rome, Berlin) and has been involved in several Horizon projects. His work has been published in journals such as Political Studies, Political Studies Review, Public Choice, East European Politics, and Public Policy and Administration. Currently (from October 2026 to March 2027), he is also affiliated at the University of Vienna as a visiting fellow, supported by the Eötvös Mobility Grant.

Plesz Bendegúz

Bendegúz is an early-career researcher in political science and a PhD candidate at ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest. Since 2021, he has been affiliated with the ELTE Centre for Social Sciences, Institute for Political Science (Budapest), currently serving as a Junior Research Fellow. In parallel, he holds a lectureship at ELTE, teaching courses in quantitative methods and academic writing. His research lies at the intersection of electoral behaviour and democratic theory, with a particular focus on the formation, transformation, and durability of political identities. His work has appeared in journals such as European Political Science Review, Leadership, Politics and Governance, East European Politics, and West European Politics.