Dr. Dezső Kovács

Retired University Lecturer, Rural Researcher and Entrepreneur. Researcher, Writer, Guest Teacher, drafts and manages projects for local governments and civic organisations.

Dr. Kovács taught at the Economic and Social Sciences Faculty of Szent István University in Gödöllő, Hungary between 1993-2007, and the Economics Faculty of West Hungary University in Sopron 2007-2010. He worked at the Regional Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Pécs between2007-2011. He also lectured in English for Erasmus students at Kodolányi University in Székesfehérvár.

He spent a year each at West Virginia University and Missouri University in the US, with Fulbright and HAESF grants, respectively. Mr. Kovács enjoys an extensive professional and research network from Italy to Norway, from Austria to Ireland and from the US to Russia. His main interests are rural development and tourism development on the countryside. He has done research on rural tourism, wine tourism and wine roads, rural heritage and world heritage, experience economy, honey and beekeeping, ecotourism and eco-gastronomy, equal opportunities, rural women and issues of active ageing. He managed and was involved in several research and development projects in Hungary and abroad. Among others he managed the Mecsek Honey Road project and the Mecsek Greenway Association, an EDEN Award-winning civic organisation.

Dr. Kovács has published more than 120 studies and articles as well as five books on the themes of rural tourism, world heritage, rural development, wine tourism and beekeeping. He has written a book of interviews on the Villány-Siklós Wine Road, a strategic study for the Zala County Wine Road and an interview and best practice book for beekeepers. Together with his friend, Mrs. Dobosi Antal Anna they edited a book about the World Heritage Village of Hollókő.

Besides his native Hungarian, Dr. Kovács speaks, reads and writes in English and speaks Russian as well.

Dr. Kovács likes to participate in creative community processes, where big things are born from seemingly small ideas. With a penchant for bringing people together, Dr. Kovács has facilitated the success of several large-scale community projects over his career. A dedicated educator, he believes in the power of changing minds and improving lives through teaching and sharing information.

In his free time Dezső reads a lot and walks 5-10 kilometres in the Mecsek Mountains almost every day.