2. Dr. Zita Gurmai Member of the European Parliament Zita Gurmai (1965) has an MA in economics (1988) and a Ph.D. (1991) She worked as an economist till 2002 when she was elected as the member of Hungarian National Assembly. From 2004 she is the member of the European Parliament and the Vice-President of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality.

3. Groups Facing Social Exclusion in Hungary Eszter Kósa, PhD, (1972) is a social worker and social policy analyst. Since 1997 she has been working on projects in the social field funded by the European Union, initially in the business sector and more recently in public administration. Since 2005, she has been a freelance consultant and expert advisor. Her fields of interest are social policy, social inclusion, training, planning, and EU support policy.

4. Equal Treatment and Equal Opportunities in European and Hungarian Law Dávid Kardos (1978) graduated from the Faculty of Law and Political Science, Eötvös Loránd University. From 2002 until 2005, he was an adviser to the National Radio and Television Commission. Since 2005, he has been working at the European Parliament for Magda Kósáné Kovács MEP.

5. Equality for Roma Gábor Daróczi (1974) was born in Berettyóújfalu, near the Romanian border. He attended local primary schools. In 1985 he moved to a school in Budapest, where he received his high school diploma. He earned a degree in Cultural Management at the University of Pécs. He worked in the Education Department of the Soros Foundation and then for the National Health Development Research Institute on a national representative survey of Roma health. He is currently working for the PHARE Office of the Prime Minister’s Office where he coordinates a national media campaign on Roma education and Roma identity. In late 2004, he became ministerial commissioner for the integration of disadvantaged and Roma children at the Ministry of Education. Since mid-2006, he has performed the same task as a political consultant to the Ministry of Education.

6. Almost Beyond the Pale Ágnes Herpainé Márkus (1967) is a social worker, social policy analyst and community development expert. She graduated as a teacher of Mathematics and Chemistry. In 1988, she began working at a children’s home and then joined the staff of the Family Support Service in Kőbánya, Budapest. Between 1993 and 2001, she initiated social services in the civil society and regional development organisations of villages in Zala County. Since 1999, she has been a freelance consultant specialising in regional strategic planning and a researcher of multiple social disadvantages. This latter topic is the theme of her PhD thesis. Since 2003, she has worked for the National Institute for Family and Social Policy, where she is responsible for the coordination of regional and sectoral planning relating to EU funds. She is an external lecturer at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest.

7. Opportunities at the Start of Life László Németh (1958) is a social worker and social policy analyst. He is a practising art therapist and a university instructor of social workers. He supervises and offers support to social workers, art therapists and team leaders. As a social policy adviser, he elaborates expert strategies for decision-makers as well as monitoring and evaluation systems for funding organisations. He also designs model programmes, taking part in such programmes as a consultant. He is a university instructor in European Union assistance programmes and sources of funding. He also assists organisations applying for such funds as a consultant and supervisor.

8. At Home in a Foreign Land Dr. Endre Sik PhD, DrSci. (1948) is a professor at the Department of Minority Studies, Eötvös Loránd University, a senior researcher at TARKI, and director of the National Focal Point of the European Union Centre for Monitoring Race and Xenophobia. He heads the PhD programme at the University of Pécs. For ten years he was chairman of Menedék – the Hungarian Association for Migrants. He has also served as president of the Hungarian Sociological Association.

9. Different Women Dr. Andrea Pető PhD. habil. (1964) is a historian and sociologist. She is an associate professor at the Department of Gender Studies at the Central European University, Budapest, and an associate professor at the University of Miskolc, where she directs the Equal Opportunities and Gender Studies Centre. She has published four monographs and edited eighteen volumes (six in Hungarian, two in Russian, and ten in English) on gender and women in politics. She is also the author of numerous articles in English, Russian, German, Croatian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Georgian, Hungarian, Italian and French.

10. Text download at http://www.kosane.hu/index.php?pg=sub_176 http://www.kosane.hu/index.php?pg=sub_176 If you want copies to be sent to your library contact: eszter.kosa@t-online.hu