Dr Gábor Polyák is professor for media law and media policy at the Eötvös Loránd University, he is head of the Media and Communication Department. He also works for the Institute for Legal Studies of the Centre for Social Sciences as a senior research fellow. Further, he is the leading researcher of Mertek Media Monitor, a Hungarian NGO dealing with media policy issues. Before, ha was the head of the Department for Communication and Media Studies at the University of Pécs between 2016 and 2020. He was research fellow at the University of Münster, Institute for Information, Telecommunication and Media Law from 2014 to 2016, and associate professor at the University of Pécs, Institute for Information and Communication Law from 2001 to 2014. His educational background includes law and media studies at the University of Pécs, Master of Laws degree in ICT law at the University of Vienna, PhD degree and habilitation at the University of Pécs.
He teaches and does research in the fields of media law, IT law, media policy, and he also teaches media literacy for media teachers. In 2016, he was an expert for the Committee of the Regions in the process of reviewing the AMD directive. In 2018, he took part in the International Visiting Leadership Project of the US State Department. His last books are Medienpolitik in Osteuropa. Theoretischer Rahmen und mediale Praxis (Berlin: B & S Siebenhaar Verlag, 2018); Algoritmusok, keresők, közösségi oldalak és a jog – A forgalomirányító szolgáltatások szabályozása [Algorithms, Search Engines, Social Media – Regulation of Intermediaries] (Budapest: HVG-Orac, 2020). In 2020, he was awarded by the Voltaire Prize for Tolerance, International Understanding and Respect for Differences of the University Potsdam.
