In September 2025, the Hungarian postgraduate specialization in data stewardship was launched for the second time at the Faculty of Humanities of Eötvös Loránd University. The programme is offered by the Department of Digital Humanities (ELTE DH), which also hosts the National Laboratory for Digital Heritage and provides a unique professional environment within Hungarian higher education for prospective students. In this semester, the course Repository Management was taught by Etele Szüts PhD, director of the Library Institute of the National Széchényi Library (NSZL) at the Hungarian National Museum Public Collection Centre (HNMPCC). After introducing the theoretical foundations, he accompanied the students on a series of professional workshop visits.

The students visited the National Széchényi Library as well as the Library and Information Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (LIC HAS). At the national library, Mátyás Rényi and Gábor Klinger, heads of department at the Collection Preservation Division, presented the NSZL’s metadata and repository management activities, along with the processes of digital preservation within the library’s collections.

At LIC HAS, Erika Bilicsi, Head of the Scientific Information Department, provided a detailed overview of the structure and operation of the REAL (Repository of the Academy’s Library) repositories. The students also learned about the professional activities of the library’s newly established Research Support Department, introduced by its head, Tibor Faragó-Szilvási. In addition, presentations by data stewards Gabriella Virág and Enikő Meiszterics offered a comprehensive picture of the purpose and services of the ARP Data Repository, as well as best practices supporting research data management.

The ELTE DH data steward training provides not only a theoretical foundation, but also a genuine professional community and hands-on experience for future data management specialists. Through these professional visits, students gained first-hand insight into the everyday work and challenges of data stewardship in Hungary.