Two new institutional units will start operating within the Africa Research Institute at the Bánki Donát Faculty of Mechanical and Safety Engineering: an African Studies Library and a lecture hall. The library, named after Dr. Géza Füssi Nagy, one of the most prominent Africanists, linguists and literary translators of the 20th century, and the lecture hall, named after Prof. Toyin Falola, Nigerian historian and professor of African Studies, were inaugurated by Prof. Zoltán Rajnai, Dean of the Faculty.
The head of the Africa Research Institute, Prof. Dr. János Besenyő, and the children of the eponym, Szabolcs Füssi Nagy and Anna Orsolya Füssi Nagy, welcomed the guests and presented the activities of the Africa Research Institute, the Library and the circumstances of its establishment, and last but not least the life and work of the eponym. Among the participants were some Members of the Honorary Consular Corps; researchers; His Excellency Abdelhafid Alahoum, Ambassador of Algeria; His Excellency Abdelkarim Hermi, Ambassador of Tunisia; First Secretary Salma Ait Belhadj, from the Embassy of Morocco; and Chargé d’Affaires Ernesto Pedro Ganga, from the Embassy of Angola. In addition, the inauguration ceremony was also attended by several national educational and cultural institutions, as well as by organisations working on the African continent.
The library has around 6000 books and journal periodicals on Africa. Thanks to the staff of the Institute, this number is constantly growing. The library is free of charge not only for the University of Óbuda, but also for teachers and students of other higher education institutions. In addition, the new lecture hall is used for providing training courses such as the English-language postgraduate training course of the Human Response Manager (HRP), run by the faculty and the Research Institute. The library as well as the lecture hall will significantly support the work not only of the Africa Research Institute but also of the Bánki Faculty.
*The Research Institute is characterised by a highly diversified, interdisciplinary approach to its research, with a special focus on security studies, military science, history, international and development studies, political science and regional studies, to mention a few. In addition to the wide range of research topics, four permanent research groups are active: Conflict and Terrorism, Global South, Migration and Sustainable Africa.
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