Ferenc Gyuris and István Hoffman represented the governance and legal research dimension of ClimEx-PE at the 10th Polish–Hungarian Legal Studies Conference, held at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS) in Lublin on 27–28 April 2026.
The international conference, entitled Legal Regulation in Turbulent Times: Challenges for Public Participation, Children’s Rights, Climate Crisis, and the Renewal of Legal Education, brought together Polish and Hungarian scholars and experts to discuss contemporary legal, institutional and societal challenges. The programme addressed the climate crisis and societal resilience from a range of disciplinary perspectives, with the ClimEx-PE project providing an important framework for discussions on climate-related legal and institutional transformation.
Ferenc Gyuris, Associate Professor at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) and a researcher in ClimEx-PE, presented new project results in his lecture Silos in Regional Governance: The Case of Hydrogeological Challenges. His contribution focused on how fragmented territorial and administrative structures can hinder effective responses to hydrogeological challenges and highlighted the need for better coordination across conventional sectoral and administrative boundaries.
István Hoffman, Professor at ELTE’s Faculty of Law and leader of ClimEx-PE Work Package 4, “Societal and legal tools for enhancing the application and acceptance of NB-MAR,” chaired the conference’s interdisciplinary plenary session Beyond Law: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Polish–Hungarian Cooperation in Higher Education, Children’s Participation and the Climate Crisis. His role in ClimEx-PE focuses on the legal, administrative and societal conditions that can support the implementation and wider acceptance of nature-based managed aquifer recharge solutions.
The conference participation reflects the strongly interdisciplinary character of ClimEx-PE. Alongside its hydrogeological research and development of nature-based groundwater recharge solutions, the project examines how governance structures, legal frameworks and institutional coordination can enable their effective implementation in practice.