Communication Science Doctoral Program

The main goal of the Communication Science Doctoral Program is to prepare students for individual research on both theoretical and applied aspects of communication, understood in a broad sense. The program emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach, by offering a wide range of research topics that span across communication and media science and its related disciplines, including visual arts, anthropology, stylistics and rhetorics, cultural studies, linguistics, political science and behavioural science.

“Taking academic knowledge into the industry”

The PhD story of Aleksandra Zivanovic

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"In the doctoral programme, you are more than just a student"

the PhD story of Alexandra Bagi

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Why the Communication Science Doctoral Program?

Communication – whether verbal, non-verbal, written or visual – affects every aspect of our lives. We constantly communicate and are constantly being communicated to. If you’re interested in how and why this happens, then this is the doctoral program for you! Join our COMMunity of dedicated scholars and young researchers!

Admissions

• Applicants are required to submit a research plan in English. Interviews are conducted in English.

• Length of the research plan: min. 10,000 and max. 20,000 characters, including references.

• If an applicant selects both the Communication Science Doctoral Program and the Sociology Program, the Head of the DS and the Admission Boards decide which track is competent to conduct the admission procedure. If both programs are deemed competent, the applicant may participate in both admission procedures.

Admissions evaluation criteria

Criteria	Maximum points
Prior achievement
Master’s-level education / professional experience consistent with knowledge and competence expected by the doctoral program	10
Former research experience, publications	10
Research plan
Quality and elaborateness / detailedness of research plan	20
Appropriateness of research concept with regard to the profile of the doctoral program	10
Feasibility and relevance of research	10
Interview
English language and professional communication skills	20
Performance during interview (competence, debating skills, flexibility)	20

Supervisors and instructors

Dr. Réka Benczes
Dr. Eszter Berta-Deli
Dr. Tamás Bokor
Dr. Andrea Kárpáti
Dr. Lajos Kovács
Dr. Judit Gabriella Sass
Dr. Lilla Petronella Szabó
Dr. Levente Székely

Topics

• Platformization and the cultural industries – Tamás Tófalvy

Cognition, language and communication
• Metaphor and metonymy in discourse and communication – Réka BENCZES
• Factors influencing memory for media messages – Gábor KOVÁCS
• The effects of non-verbal signals on thinking, speech and attention – Gábor KOVÁCS
• Linguistic creativity in social media discourse – Réka SÓLYOM

Digitalization and social media
• Discourses about disruptive technologies – Tamás BOKOR
• New challenges in the enhancement of digital competences – Tamás BOKOR
• Individual and society in digital network media – Tamás BOKOR
• Social media and their effects on society and human behaviour – Lajos KOVÁCS
• Conceptual integration in social media communication – Réka SÓLYOM
• Innovative forms of science communication – Ágnes VESZELSZKI
• Deception and manipulation in digital communication – Ágnes VESZELSZKI
• AI and linguistics – Ágnes VESZELSZKI

Social, organizational and marketing communication
• The role of interpersonal communication in collective judgement and decision making – Gábor KOVÁCS
• Organisational communication in a changing landscape – Lajos KOVÁCS
• Green and sustainable marketing communication: Linguistic and non-linguistic devices – László KOVÁCS
• Brand names, brand associations and positioning – László KOVÁCS
• Linguistic devices in marketing communication and branding – László KOVÁCS
• Alternative solutions to exploring and communicating social problems – Ariel MITEV

Visual and design communication
• Design communication as a social and economic catalyst: Making research as designing – Dóra HORVÁTH & Attila COSOVAN
• Visual communication in social media – Andrea KÁRPÁTI
• Fashion communication: history and current trends – Andrea KÁRPÁTI
• Current trends in visual communication: new genres, technologies and meaning making in communicating through images – Andrea KÁRPÁTI
• Exhibition communication: visitor studies, experience design, science communication, multilevel assessment of museum / gallery / commercial exhibitions – Andrea KÁRPÁTI

Alumni

Since 2015, 49 doctoral students have successfully defended their doctoral thesis in the Communication Science Doctoral Program and its predecessor, the Social Communication Doctoral School. Meet our graduates!