Outstanding students from the University of Szeged’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences can now join an international research community through the prestigious Undergraduate Teaching and Research Awards (UTRA) excellence program at Brown University. Selected through a faculty nomination process, participants spend an intensive week collaborating with faculty members and students from some of the world’s leading universities. In 2026, the program’s Summer School on the Theme of Ritual will be held in Hungary for the first time, with Dr. Ágnes Matuska of the University of Szeged serving as one of its instructors.
Brown University’s Undergraduate Teaching and Research Awards (UTRA) excellence program hosts its summer school in a different country each year. In 2026, Hungary will welcome the event for the first time. Focusing on the theme of rituals from an interdisciplinary perspective, the program will examine topics including religious and state ceremonies, customs and habits, rites of passage, community practices, and even courtship rituals.
Leading the summer school are Brown University historians Holly Case and Cynthia Brokaw, joined by instructors Marno David of the University of California, Berkeley, and Dr. Ágnes Matuska of the Institute of English and American Studies at the University of Szeged’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
“The program has been running for several years, but 2026 will be the first time it is held in Hungary – and my first opportunity to participate as an instructor,” said Dr. Ágnes Matuska. “I was previously involved as the program’s liaison, and I’m especially pleased that, over the years, several students from the University of Szeged’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences have earned places in the program.”
Participation is by invitation only. Faculty members nominate students whose academic achievements and potential make them strong candidates, while the final selection is made by a committee at Brown University. Over the past few years, three students from the University of Szeged’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences have been selected for the program: one specializing in theater studies, one in comparative literature, and one in English studies.
Supported by Brown University’s Cogut Institute for the Humanities and the Humanities Initiative Programming Fund, the summer school highlights the expanding international opportunities available to students and faculty members at the University of Szeged’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, fostering direct academic collaboration with peers from some of the world’s leading universities.
Source: SZTE Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
