Dr. Szabolcs Szuromi, DSc., President of Pázmány Péter Catholic University officially opened the Strategic Partnership – Transnational Project Meeting. Its opening day was on 7th February 2018.

He highlighted in his speech that reading roots in human communication and it is used in order to make bridges between cultures.

He recalled memories from his high school years and mentioned Walter Scott and Rudyard Kipling as his favourite writers. He said that he has always liked the descriptive parts in their novels as these detailed descriptions animate literary texts, thus enrich the readers’ imagination. As richness of expression has weakened in the past few decades in every field of culture, he pointed out that it is our responsibility to enrich cultural knowledge of the younger generations.

The President finished his speech with the thoughts that the Transnational Project Meeting will be „rich in culture and rich in communication”.

M. Frédéric Rauser, Cultural Counsellor and Director of the French Institute of Budapest delivered his speech about the importance of literature and he also emphasised that literary texts are closely connected to our lives, they are embedded in it.

Digital Humanities and this Transnational Project in particular is essential regarding it enables multilevel, rich reading strategies.

Later on, Zsuzsanna Angyal on behalf of the Central Directorate of Foreign Affairs gave a presentation on Pázmány Péter Catholic University’s operation and history, then Sam Mohamad, international officer introduced the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. After that, the guests watched a promotional video about the Faculty.

Pr. Dr. Anikó Ádám, Director of the French Department and leading coordinator of the project introduced the French Connection Research Group, their achievements and plans for the near future. She highlighted how important this project is for her personally.

The Transnational Project funded by the European Commission and PPCU is dealing with comparative literature and the reading of literary texts. Professors and researchers (members of the LEA - Lire en Europe Aujourd’hui - group) and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA SZTAKI) are examining the questions of what new reading strategies have developed, and what innovative methods can be applied in order to strengthen reading’s stead in today’s fast-paced world again. The project is going to continue its academic work until mid-2020.

Partner Institutions

• Universidade De Aveiro
• Université Du Luxembourg
• Université De Reims Champagne-Ardenne
• Université De Picardie Jules Verne
• Universitat de València
• Universidad De Cádiz
• Université Paris-Est-Créteil
• Universidade De Lisboa
• Hungarian Academy of Sciences Institute for Computer Science and Control
• Universiteit Antwerpen
• Université D'aix Marseille
• Universidade Do Porto
• Université Paris Nanterre
• Pázmány Péter Catholic University

For further information on the project, please visit lea.letras.ulisboa.pt