Interview with two international students who excelled at GTK’s Scientific Students’ Associations (TDK) conference in November 2025.
At the recent faculty TDK conference, 52 students (two and a half times more than last year) presented their research results in eight sections, and nearly half of them won the opportunity to represent GTK at the next National Scientific Student Associations’ Conference (OTDK). This was the first occasion that international students participated in the conference and thus contributed to the diversity of GTK’s research community.
Three international students (all final-year Stipendium Hungaricum Scholarship holders) were remarkably successful: Hagar Sabek (Finance and Accounting student from Egypt), Le Vu Phuong Uyen, and Le Ha Anh (both International Business Economics students from Vietnam) all excelled and collected various prizes and special awards in the competition.
Hagar Sabek competed in the “ESG and Finance” section with her paper entitled Does Green Innovation pay off? The path from green innovation to financial performance – Evidence from China and won both the first prize in her section and the Morgan Stanley special award, as well as the right to represent GTK in the national competition next year. Her supervisor was Dr László Szívós.
Le Vu Phuong Uyen presented her research paper The Relationship between Merger and Acquisition and Pricing: Evidence from the U.S. Credit Card Market in 2012-2019 and won the first prize in the “Economic Policy and International Economics” section and also the right to participate in the next national competition. Her supervisor was Dr Ádám Czelleng.
Le Ha Anh’s paper was entitled Risk Management in the Correlated Market Regime-based Sector Allocation Strategies. Her supervisors were Dr Gergely Harsányi and Ms Hedvig Gál. She won the Morgan Stanley special award and also received the special award granted by Üzleti Felsőoktatásért Közhasznú Alapítvány (Foundation for Business Education).
Two of the above outstanding international students answered our questions regarding their research journey and experiences to encourage others to participate in such an exciting professional adventure in the future.
What motivated you to participate in the Scientific Student Conference and to start working on this particular research topic?
Hagar Sabek (HS): I was motivated by the opportunity to challenge myself academically, dive deeper into a topic I find interesting, and gain experience in independent research. ESG, sustainability, and finance have always been areas of interest for me, and I wanted to explore how Green Innovation specifically can create real value for firms and society. TDK felt like the perfect platform and opportunity to combine these interests while learning how to conduct extensive research.
Le Vu Phuong Uyen (LVPU): After the presentation for my Project Work 2, my supervisor, Dr Ádám Czelleng and the second member of my committee, Dr Ákos Dombi encouraged me to revise my paper and submit it for presentation at the Scientific Student Conference. Over the summer, I received additional feedback and comments from Dr Czelleng, which boosted my confidence and further motivated me to participate in TDK.
In terms of the research topic, it was chosen for several reasons. Firstly, I knew I wanted to work on a topic closely related to mergers and acquisitions (M&As) because that area appealed to me the most when I was taking the course Industrial Organisation in the previous semester. Additionally, legal debates about Capital One’s acquisition of Discover were starting to spark by the time I started Project Work 1, so I thought studying the relationship between M&As and price strategy of credit card issuers would be useful and informative. The choice of the methodology was made while I was taking the courses in Econometrics and Data Analysis in the Social Sciences.
Could you briefly introduce the main focus of your research and explain what questions you wanted to answer?
HS: My research examined whether Green Innovation “pays off” for firms, focusing on Chinese publicly listed companies between 2017 and 2023. I wanted to understand how sustainability-driven innovation influences financial performance, and whether this relationship works through two important channels: ESG performance and R&D investments. Essentially, the main question asked was “Do greener firms perform better financially, and if so, why?”
LVPU: My research studies how M&A activity involving credit card issuing banks can affect the dynamics of the credit card market, more specifically in terms of credit cards pricing strategy. It focuses on the impact of M&As between large U.S. credit card issuers on purchase annual percentage rates (APRs) and late fees in the period 2012-2019.
What are the key findings of your study, and why do you think they are important in practice or for further research?
HS: The main findings and results show that Green Innovation does not improve short-term accounting performance, but it significantly enhances firms’ market valuation, but only when it is accompanied by strong ESG performance. This means investors value Green Innovation mainly when firms can show transparent, measurable sustainability outcomes. These findings highlight the importance of integrating innovation with broader ESG practices, and they offer a foundation for future studies comparing China’s policy-driven context with more market-driven environments like the US.
LVPU: The results suggest that M&As lead to increased late fees without affecting purchase APRs (annual percentage rates). In practice, it implies that mergers may manifest in less salient pricing changes, offering a nuanced view of market power dynamics and price discrimination. For antitrust regulators, it highlights the importance of looking beyond APRs and to also consider other less visible price components where market power might be exercised such as penalty fees when scrutinising M&A deals. Additionally, it indicates that consumer education could play an important role in curbing the negative externalities from M&As.
Looking back on the whole TDK process, what were the most valuable skills or lessons you gained – professionally and personally?
HS: Professionally, I developed strong analytical skills, learned how to work with large datasets, and gained confidence in conducting empirical research. Personally, I learned how to stay persistent with my efforts and motivation during challenging moments, manage my time wisely, and keep going even when progress felt slow. The whole process taught me discipline, resilience, and the value of feedback.
LVPU: For me, being open to receiving feedback and criticisms, and consequently willing to adapt to those comments and adjust one’s mindset is a crucial factor. Since I built my TDK paper on the basis of Project Work 2, the research grew from both the consultation notes of Project Work 2 and additional comments from my supervisor, Dr Ádám Czelleng. Inevitably, there were a lot of reorganisations of the paragraphs, rewrites, and restructuring of the logical flow, all of which would have been impossible without an open mind.
Why would you encourage other students to take part in the Scientific Student Conference, and what advice would you give them before starting a TDK project?
HS: TDK is a very unique opportunity to explore a subject you are passionate about, develop and gain research experience, and challenge yourself in ways that will shape both your academic and personal growth. It pushes you to think critically while giving you a taste of academic and professional research standards. My advice is to start early, choose a topic that you genuinely care about and are interested in, and don’t be afraid of the learning curve, you can learn anything if you have the motivation and correct mindset, your supervisor’s guidance and your own persistence will take you far.
LVPU: Firstly, by presenting your paper in front of a committee and fellow students, you get a better understanding of its strength and weakness that can allow you to revise the thesis accordingly. Afterwards, this revised paper can constitute the base of Project Work 1, or it could serve as a writing sample for application in research internships or academic mentorship prrogrammes. If the TDK project is based on Project Work 2, your thesis can greatly improve from the additional feedback from perspectives other than yours and your supervisor’s. Additionally, the oral defense component of the TDK presentation can serve as preparation for the final exam. For students who start prepararing for TDK, having someone, subject experts or laymen, to soundboard with can be beneficial during the editing process since these conversations can provide you with a fresh and unique approach to problem-solving.
We are all extremely proud of our international students and wish them good luck in the national competition. We also hope that their example encourages others to embark on this journey, which in Hagar Sabek’s words “wasn’t always easy” but was beneficial from both a personal and a professional point of view. As she put it ending on a positive note: “… there were moments when the workload felt overwhelming, but only with those challenges was the final result rewarding. Completing a TDK taught me that progress is not linear, but every step, no matter how small it, is adds up to something meaningful, so keep going!”.
Congratulations and keep up the good work!
