The Kerpely Kálmán Doctoral School was accredited by the Hungarian Accreditation Committee with its decree no. 2002/2/III as the Doctoral School of Multidisciplinary Agricultural Sciences (HAC code: D53).
In 2003, the plenum of the HAC adopted the resolution no. 2003/5/II/1 and amended the scientific classification of the Doctoral School as follows: Interdisciplinary: 1, Natural Sciences (1.4. Soil sciences), 4. Agricultural Sciences (4.1. Crop production and horticultural sciences)
Starting from 2008, the Doctoral School adopted the name of Kálmán Kerpely academic, crop producer and university professor, who was a significant Hungarian professional of developing soil conservation, tillage and fertilisation. According to the HAC resolution no. 2008/7/2/192, the Doctoral School was authorised to perform its activities in the field of crop production and horticultural sciences.
The HAC accredited the Doctoral School for five more years in regional sciences in 2009 and in crop production and horticultural sciences in 2011, based on the resolution no. 2011/1/X/1/2/406. The HAC accredited the Kerpely Kálmán Doctoral School which was established by merging the previously accredited Hankóczy Jenő Doctoral School with the Kerpely Kálmán Doctoral School until 31st December 2017, led by János Nagy, DSc (HAC 2015/6/XI/1/2/877).
In the Doctoral School, the most important basis of research work is the scientific results of the more than 30-year-old multifactorial long-term field experiment (crop rotation x tillage x fertilisation x irrigation x crop density x genotype) of the University of Debrecen, which is unique and renowned in Europe. The obtained research results – mainly in the North Great Plain region – substantiate the improvement of the efficiency of agricultural land use and regional development, thereby providing that the interventions are environmental friendly and that they meet the requirements of sustainable farming.
The teachers, researchers and PhD students of the Doctoral School carry out a wide range of analyses in the soil-atmosphere-plant system in order to determine the interactive effects of the material and energy processes in the crop production space. These research activities make it possible to examine the theoretical and practical issues of crop production and horticultural technological processes and to reveal their cause and effect relations from an interdisciplinary point of view. The quality analysis of plant products and the determination of the related quality assurance activities represent an important part of the Doctoral School's activities. Environmental protection, water management, land use, remote sensing and their regional correlations also constitute a significant area of the scientific activity of the Doctoral School. Within the framework of the FP7 REGPOT project 'UD_AGR_REPO', the institution gained access to the most modern equipment which make it possible to join research projects carried out by Austrian, German, British and Dutch universities as an equal partner.
The Doctoral School performs a doctoral programme of the food security and quality evaluation of crop production, horticultural and plant products.