Trust Begins With Scientific Rigor

Prof. Dr. András Hajdu is Dean of the Faculty of Informatics and Head of the Department of Data Science and Visualization at the University of Debrecen. He has served as Head of Department since 2011, as a Full Professor since 2017, and as Dean since 2019.

He holds a PhD in Mathematics and Computer Science and completed postdoctoral research at the Artificial Intelligence Information Analysis Laboratory of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. His principal research fields include data science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, medical-image processing, and discrete mathematics.

His work combines theoretical expertise with the development of image-based technologies intended for real-world use. He has led or scientifically supervised research projects in automated cancer-cell recognition, endoscopic diagnostic technologies, machine-learning sensor networks, and computer-assisted diabetic-retinopathy screening. The cancer-cell recognition project under his scientific leadership received a national innovation award.

Prof. Hajdu has co-authored 74 scientific journal articles and approximately 120 conference publications. According to his CV, 16 of his journal articles are classified as D1/Q1 and a further 39 as Q1. His work has received more than 4,500 citations, with an H-index of 34.

His scientific standing is also reflected in his professional responsibilities. He served on the Board of the International Association for Pattern Recognition between 2015 and 2019 and was President of the Hungarian Association for Image Processing and Pattern Recognition during the same period.

He has been an IEEE Senior Member since 2015, an NVIDIA Certified Ambassador since 2021, and a board member of the AI Doctoral Academy's AI Educational Resource Committee.

He has acted as an expert evaluator for European research and innovation programmes, including Horizon 2020, the European Innovation Council, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, and SME funding instruments. He also serves in editorial roles for scientific journals including Scientific Data, Infocommunications Journal, and Mathematics.

Prof. Dr. Gábor Szederkényi has been a Full Professor at the Faculty of Information Technology and Bionics of Pázmány Péter Catholic University since 2013 and a scientific advisor at HUN-REN SZTAKI since 2014.

He holds a PhD in Information Science, a DSc in Engineering Sciences from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and a habilitation in Information Science. He has also worked as a visiting researcher at the Spanish National Research Council's Marine Research Institute in Vigo.

His research focuses on nonlinear dynamical systems, system identification, parameter estimation, identifiability analysis, network-structured models, and the computational analysis and synthesis of biological systems. A central part of his scientific work concerns kinetic and biochemical reaction networks: mathematical structures that make it possible to examine how complex systems behave, which parameters can be reliably determined, and whether different model structures can explain the same observed dynamics.

His main scientific contribution is a computational framework combining computer science, systems theory, graph structures, and optimisation for the analysis of kinetic models. This work has produced algorithms for identifying and comparing reaction-network structures capable of representing a given dynamic system.

Prof. Szederkényi has led and contributed to major national and international research programmes in nonlinear systems, biochemical reaction networks, process control, and network-structured dynamical systems. His international experience includes European Union FP7 research, bilateral scientific collaborations with Spanish and Slovenian institutions, and invited or plenary presentations at international conferences and research institutes.

He has served as an external reviewer for European Research Council Starting Grant proposals and as a research evaluator for scientific organisations in Austria, Slovenia, and Hungary. He was Secretary of the IEEE Hungary Section between 2010 and 2016 and has been a member of the IEEE Control Systems Society since 2007.

Since 2019, he has led the Roska Tamás Doctoral School of Sciences and Technology at Pázmány Péter Catholic University. His CV lists eleven completed doctoral researchers under his supervision or co-supervision, each graduating with summa cum laude distinction.

His scientific achievements have been recognised with several awards, including the Youth Award of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Hungarian Order of Merit, Officer's Cross. The latter was awarded for internationally recognised scientific results in the analysis and control of nonlinear dynamical systems, including methods applicable to complex biological systems.

Prof. Dr. Adrienne Csutak is a Full Professor and Director of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Pécs Clinical Centre. She has led the department since 2019, has held the rank of Full Professor since 2021, and has served as President of the Hungarian Ophthalmological Society since 2025.

She holds an MD, PhD, DSc, and an MSc in health-services management. She is a specialist in ophthalmology and ocular surgery, combining senior clinical leadership with extensive experience in research, innovation, medical education, and clinical validation.

Her clinical expertise spans corneal and external-eye disease, glaucoma, medical and surgical retina, cataract surgery, ocular diagnostics, laser treatment, and ophthalmic screening. Her documented surgical experience includes more than 10,000 phacoemulsification procedures, alongside extensive experience in glaucoma, corneal, oculoplastic, and retinal surgery.

Her specialist training includes programmes at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London and the European School for Advanced Studies in Ophthalmology, with advanced modules in medical retina, surgical retina, glaucoma, cataract and refractive surgery, and oculoplastic surgery.

Prof. Csutak has direct experience with the implementation of UK diabetic-retinopathy grading and screening methodologies, wide-angle scanning laser ophthalmoscopy, and the development of image-processing systems for diabetic-retinopathy screening. The DRSCREEN project in which she participated achieved first place in the 2010 Retinopathy Online Challenge.

Her scientific work includes ocular biomarkers, tear and ocular proteomics, diabetic ocular complications, retinal disease, inflammation, oxidative stress, wound healing, and the development of ophthalmic innovations. She has served as principal investigator in numerous multicentre Phase II and Phase III clinical trials covering retinal disease, glaucoma, ocular-surface conditions, and other ophthalmological indications.

She has held expert and reviewer roles for the European Commission and numerous scientific journals, including Experimental Eye Research, Acta Ophthalmologica, Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology, Ophthalmic Research, Journal of Proteomics, and Journal of Diabetes Research. Since 2026, she has served as an examiner for the European Board of Ophthalmology, and she leads an EBO-accredited ophthalmology training centre.

Her achievements have received major professional and national recognition. These include the Imre Blaskovics Award, one of the Hungarian Ophthalmological Society's most prestigious honours, and the Hungarian Order of Merit, Officer's Cross, awarded in 2024. Her research and innovation record also includes European, United States, and Hungarian patent activity, as well as a commercially licensed invention.

Dr. András Horváth is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Information Technology and Bionics of Pázmány Péter Catholic University. His research focuses on computer vision and artificial intelligence, with particular emphasis on modern machine-learning algorithms, neural networks, image analysis, and their efficient implementation on emerging computing architectures.

He has participated in major international research programmes supported by organisations in the United States and the European Union. These include the DARPA UPSIDE programme, research supported by the United States Office of Naval Research, European innovation programmes, and Horizon Europe projects.

The DARPA UPSIDE programme examined unconventional computing approaches for intelligent data processing and object recognition. Dr. Horváth's participation in such programmes reflects experience with technically demanding international research conducted across artificial intelligence, computing architecture, and practical image-recognition systems.

He is the author or co-author of more than 75 peer-reviewed scientific publications presented in international journals and conference proceedings. He is a member of both the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society and the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society. Between 2022 and 2024, he served as the elected Chair of the IEEE Cellular Nanoscale Networks and Array Computing Technical Committee.

Alongside his academic work, Dr. Horváth has substantial industrial experience in applied artificial intelligence. At Eutecus, he contributed to the development of image-processing and AI-based systems, particularly for smart-city applications. Following Eutecus's acquisition by Verizon in 2016, he continued his work at Verizon as a Data Science and Machine Learning Fellow, contributing to the research and development of large-scale data-science and artificial-intelligence solutions.

His experience therefore spans both academic research and the implementation of AI systems intended to operate under real-world technical constraints.