Péter Kónya is a renowned historian and the rector of the University of Prešov, Slovakia.
He earned his Master’s degree in history and Russian language and literature in 1990 at the Faculty of Arts of Šafarik University. He was awarded a PhD degree in 2000 in Bratislava, at the Faculty of Arts of Comenius University, where he also received his doctor habilitatus degree in 2001. In 2003, a professorial title was issued for him in Prague, and the same year he started work at the Prešov Faculty of Arts of Šafarik University. From 2005 on, he has been chairing the Medieval and Early Modern History Department. In 2003, he was elected vice dean of the Faculty, in 2007, he became vice-rector, and since 2015, he has been working as rector of the University of Prešov.
As a grantee of several international scholarships, he has established valuable contacts with a great number of universities and scholarly research centres in Central Europe. Between 2001 and 2003, the receptor institution of his János Bolyai Research Scholarship was the University of Debrecen. Since 2010, he has taken part in two National Research Fund projects, the principal investigator of which was Debrecen. At our university, he is a member of the Doctoral School of History and Ethnography. His major field of research is the royal free cities in Upper Hungary in the Early Modern Age. Professor Kónya has an outstanding number of scholarly publications, many of which appeared in Hungarian. He had vital merits in signing a co-operation agreement both between the two universities and between their respective faculties. In 2011, his work was recognized by the Debrecen branch of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences when awarding him a Pro Cooperatione prize.
He was awarded the title of doctor honoris causa of the University of Debrecen in 2016.
