The Byzness, 25th May 2026
Oxford University Byzantine Society
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THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY BYZANTINE SOCIETY
The Byzness, 25th May 2026
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1. NEWS AND EVENTS
2. CALLS FOR PAPERS
3. JOBS AND SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
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1. NEWS AND EVENTS
Dear all,
We’ve made it to 5th week! Hopefully everyone is making the most of this blistering heatwave weather. For all OUBS members, do keep in mind that today is the last day you can send in your manifestos to run for committee positions! Make sure to get them in by 11.59pm tonight, so that you can have a hand in shaping next year’s experience!
Remember to follow us on all our socials, below!
Instagram: @oxbyzsoc
Bluesky: @oxunibyzantinesoc.bsky.social
X/Twitter: @oxbyz (if you do follow us on X, we are transitioning over to Bluesky, so please do follow us there in the first instance)
All my best,
Madeleine.
For those wishing to submit an event, call for papers, job or scholarship opportunity to the Byzness please send details to the committee at byzantin...@gmail.com indicating the relevant list for The Byzness our external to Oxford and year-round newsletter or The Byzantine Lists our Oxford-centered events and circulated only in term-time. Please keep listing brief and include all relevant information in the body of the notice. Outside of exceptional circumstances, we only share events once.
Conference Registration: Evagrius in the Desert and Beyond (June 4–6)
For those interested in registering for online attendance for the conference ‘Evagrius in the Desert and Beyond, please follow THIS link / further information can be found HERE https://stnersess.edu/global-classroom/live-presentations/
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-q_EvX1FTYyGdMRVZX3JQQ
The Ambassador’s Notebook: Western Merchants, French Diplomacy, and Islamic Law in the Ottoman Mediterranean
The Ambassador's Notebook, an online lecture by Dr. Viorel Panaite, is based on his recent book. Dr. Panaite is Senior Researcher at the Institute for South-East European Studies (Romanian Academy), Professor Emeritus, Doctoral School of History, University of Bucharest, and former ARIT Mellon research fellow.
The Manuscript Turc 130 from the Bibliothèque nationale de France is a vivid testimony to the presence of Western merchants, especially the French, in the Ottoman Mediterranean. It provides rare new information on aspects of Western trade in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
Time: 7 pm Türkiye, noon am EDT
Please register here
More information
Transmitting and Preserving Languages in the Medieval and Early Modern Mediterranean. Second International Workshop
Date: 4 June 2026
Venue: Balliol College, Gillis Lecture Theatre and Massey Room (Oxford OX1 3BJ) & online
Convenors: Daniel Gallaher and Ugo Mondini (University of Oxford)
Speakers: Marina Bazzani (University of Oxford); Valentina Calzolari (University of Geneva); Benedetta Contin (Austrian Academy of Sciences); Andrea Cuomo (Ghent University); Karen Hamada (University of Tokyo); Anthony Kaldellis (University of Chicago); Markéta Kulhánková (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic)
For more information: https://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/events/2026/june/04/transmitting-and-preserving-languages-medieval-and-early-modern-mediterranean
2. CALL FOR PAPERS
CfP: Byzantine Nature Beyond the Natural: Hybrids and Imaginary Animals
Recent years have seen an ‘animal turn’ in Byzantine Studies with scholars deploying diverse approaches such as zooarchaeology, ecocriticism, and ecotheology to investigate how the Byzantines engaged with and thought about a variety of animal species. This animal turn is itself part of a wider environmental focus within the humanities to examine human perceptions of and interactions with the natural world.
One further means to explore conceptions of nature and animals within human societies is through examining hybrids and imaginary animals. Greco-Roman hybrids such as centaurs, satyrs, cynocephali, sirens, and tritons dwelled within the pages of Byzantine literature, illustrating notions of creative human-animal fusions, which were not disconnected from actual human relationships with animals. In a similar manner, Byzantine authors and artists were interested in many imaginative animals. As Boria Sax in his Imaginary Animals (2013) has theorized about this category, we should look beyond the conventional construing of human ‘experience’ and ‘imagination’ as opposing forces, and should instead understand these as intertwined. Each exerts vital influence upon how humans approach and consider the natural world and its inhabitants, especially as recent research in cognitive psychology affirms that perception itself consists largely of imagination. Accordingly, we find animals such as the phoenix, the echeneis, ant-lions, griffins, sea monsters, and dragons throughout a variety of Byzantine texts such as hagiographic and hexaemeral literature, while these are occasionally deployed within philosophical and theological discussions.
Moving beyond purely rationalizing assessments of these figures, this online conference seeks to bring together these imaginative conceptions to examine this understudied reflex of Byzantine animals. As Sax has remarked, instead of considering such figures as relics of a bygone era, ‘their creation is a constant part of the human condition,’ and an essential byproduct of human engagement with and theorization of the natural world. We welcome proposals that, rather than offering euhemerist speculations about what may ‘lie behind’ non-existent animals, strive to understand what these contemporary representations and concepts contributed to Byzantine culture and systems of knowledge.
Topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Analysis of Byzantine folkloric and mythological conceptions of hybrids in both textual and artistic media
- Ecocritical examination of imaginary animals in Byzantine theorizing about nature and its possibilities
- Exploring Byzantine uses of hybrids in philosophical, religious, or political discourse
- Ecotheological approaches to Byzantine Christian interpretations of earlier ideas about Greco-Roman hybrids and imaginary animals
This online conference will take place on November 12-13 and is hosted by the Centre for Byzantine Studies at the University of Silesia in Katowice as part of the NCN-funded project ‘Beyond the Sacred: Conceptions of Nature in Byzantium (4th-15th centuries)’. Abstract submissions (up to 150 words) for a 20 minute presentation and a brief bio (c. 100 words) should be sent to biza...@us.edu.pl by September 30. Select papers will be invited to contribute to a planned edited volume on this theme.
Call for Papers: Talanta Journal
Peer-reviewed Journal for the Study of Antiquity
Published by Peeters Publishers and the Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society
Editors: Milinda Hoo, Marian Helm, Kay Boers
The Editors of TALANTA – Peer-reviewed Journal for the Study of Antiquity (http://www.talanta.nl/), invite submissions for volume 59, to be published in 2027.
The closing date is 1 September 2026.
Submissions
We invite submissions of articles (max. 10,000 words) on the history and archaeology of the Mediterranean (including Roman provincial archaeology), the Near East, the Black Sea region, Iran and Central Asia, as well as East-West relations between and across them, and relevant reception histories, from the Bronze Age to Late Antiquity (up to 750 CE). We encourage contributions that emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary research and particularly explore intersections of archaeological and historical studies, as well as those that critically interact with social and archaeological theories.
Beginning with TALANTA 59, we also welcome brief archaeological notes and research updates (max. 5,000 words) to further encourage interdisciplinary exchange. Periodically, TALANTA publishes thematic issues, for instance dedicated to conference proceedings. For proposals for a thematic issue, please contact the Editors.
If you are interested in reviewing a specific book for TALANTA, please contact us on edi...@talanta.nl. We also invite publishers to send us books for review. These should be sent to:
Milinda Hoo
Utrecht University, Dept. History and Art History
Ancient History and Classical Civilization
Drift 6, 3512 BS
Utrecht, the Netherlands
The book will be sent to a qualified reviewer, who is asked to review the book within three months upon receipt of the manuscript. Once the review is accepted, TALANTA will publish it in the next issue.
TALANTA is published, promoted, and distributed by Peeters Publishers; published articles will receive a DOI-link.
Guidelines
The journal publishes articles in English, German, French, and Italian, although preference is given to articles in English. Submissions will be assessed by the Editors and the Editorial Board, and peer-reviewed by two experts. Author and review guidelines can be found on our webpage (www.talanta.nl). For inquiries and submissions, contact us at edi...@talanta.nl.
About TALANTA
Founded in 1969, TALANTA is a peer-reviewed journal for the study of Antiquity (ISSN: 0165- 2486). It is published by Peeters Publishers, a renowned international publishing house, and the Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society (NAHG), an independent body of Dutch scholars in the fields of Ancient History, Archaeology, and Philology of the Mediterranean, the Near East, and the Iranian world.
The journal is accordingly devoted to various intersections of history, archaeology, and reception in the study of the ancient world in its widest geographical sense, from the Bronze Age to Late Antiquity. It contains a broad variety of studies in Ancient History, Archaeology, Art History, and Classical and Near Eastern Philology, as well as a book review section.
We look forward to receiving your submission.
With best wishes,
The Editors,
Milinda Hoo, Marian Helm, and Kay Boers
APPEL A CONTRIBUTIONS | revue Perspective, no. 2027-2 : Regards queer
(FRENCH)
Pour son numéro 2027 – 2, dirigé par Thomas Golsenne (INHA), ainsi que Ersy Contogouris (Université de Montréal) et Nancy Thebaut (University of Oxford), rédactrices en chef invitées, la revue Perspective se penchera sur la pensée queer en histoire de l’art.
Cet appel à contributions s’adresse à l’ensemble du champ de l’histoire de l’art et sollicite des articles traitant du queer dans ses multiples dimensions : en tant que concept ancré dans les histoires de la sexualité et du genre, en tant qu’identité revendiquée et politisée, mais aussi en tant que verbe désignant une pratique critique qui déstabilise, réoriente et réimagine la discipline elle-même. Que signifie aujourd’hui « queeriser » l’histoire de l’art ?
Fidèle à sa ligne éditoriale, le numéro Regards queer s’intéressera à l’historiographie de la notion à travers celles et ceux qui ont contribué à la forger : nous accueillerons donc les propositions qui éclaireront les contributions de la théorie queer à l’histoire de l’art, que ce soit en se penchant sur des figures historiques ou contemporaines, en s’attachant à des artistes plus ou moins connu·es, aux mouvements artistiques ou aux courants qui traversent la discipline. Nous sollicitons des contributions relevant des trois axes suivants :
1. Queeriser le canon : le dialogue analytique avec les artistes et historien·nes de l’art utilisant les outils de la critique queer, tout comme l’ouverture vers des figures plus marginalisées et vers des récits minoritaires.
2. Histoires visuelles du genre, du sexe et de la sexualité : comment les approches queer permettent-elles de déconstruire le cis-hétérosexisme de l’histoire de l’art et encouragent-elles de nouvelles manières de considérer les genres et les sexualités ?
3. Espaces et limites d’une histoire de l’art queer : qu’est-ce qui constitue un musée queer ? Quelles expositions queer ont marqué l’histoire de l’art ? Mais aussi dans quels pays et dans quels contextes culturels les images queer et les artistes queer se sont-ils épanouis – ou au contraire ont-ils fait les frais de la censure ? Enfin, jusqu’où s’étend le regard queer, et quelles sont ses limites épistémologiques ?
En prenant soin d’ancrer la réflexion dans une perspective historiographique, méthodologique ou épistémologique, prière de faire parvenir vos propositions (un résumé de 2 000 à 3 000 signes, un titre provisoire, une courte bibliographie sur le sujet et une biographie de quelques lignes) à l’adresse de la rédaction (revue-pe...@inha.fr) au plus tard le 15 juin 2026.
Perspective prenant en charge les traductions, les projets seront examinés par le comité de rédaction quelle que soit la langue.
Les auteurs ou autrices des propositions retenues seront informées de la décision du comité de rédaction d'ici la fin du mois de juillet 2026, tandis que les articles seront à remettre pour le 1er décembre 2026. Les textes soumis (25 000 à 45 000 signes selon le projet envisagé) seront définitivement acceptés à l’issue d’un processus anonyme d’évaluation par les pairs.
> accéder à la version en ligne et télécharger l'appel à contributions et sa bibliographie.
Pour plus d'informations, visitez le site internet de l'INHA et parcourez Perspective en ligne.
(ENGLISH)
Perspective will explore, in its 2027 – 2 issue, edited by Thomas Golsenne (INHA), with Ersy Contogouris (Université de Montréal) and Nancy Thebaut (University of Oxford), guest editors, queer theory in art history.
This call for papers invites contributions from across the field that engage queer in its multiple dimensions: as a term rooted in histories of sexuality and gender; as a reclaimed and politicized identity; and as a verb – a critical practice that unsettles, reorients, and reimagines art history itself. What does it mean to queer art history today?
In keeping with its editorial line, this Looking queerly issue will examine the historiography of the concept through the eyes of those who helped shape it: we therefore welcome proposals that illuminate the contributions of queer theory to art history, whether through the study of historical or contemporary figures, better- or lesser-known artists, artistic movements or currents within the discipline of art history. In short, we seek proposals that fall within the following three areas:
1. Queering the canon: the analytical engagement with major artists and art historians using the tools of queer critique, as well as the opening up toward more marginalized figures and minority narratives.
2. Visual histories of gender, sex, and sexuality: how queer approaches allow for a deconstruction of the cisheterosexism of art history and foster new ways of considering genders and sexualities.
3. The spaces and limits of queer art history: what constitutes a queer museum? What have been the landmark queer exhibitions? But also, in which countries or cultural contexts have queer images and artists flourished – or been censored? And finally, how far does the queer gaze extend, and what are its epistemological limits?
Taking care to ground reflections in a historiographic, methodological, or epistemological perspective, please send your proposals (an abstract of 2,000 to 3,000 characters /350 to 500 words, a working title, a short bibliography on the subject, and a biography limited to a few lines) to the editorial email address (revue-pe...@inha.fr) no later than June 15th, 2026.
Perspective handles translations; projects will be considered by the committee regardless of language.
Authors whose proposals are accepted will be informed of the decision by the editorial committee by the end of July 2026, while articles will be due on December 1st, 2026.
Submitted texts (between 25,000 and 45,000 characters/ 4,500 or 7,500 words, depending on the intended project) will be formally accepted following an anonymous peer review process.
> access the English version of the call for papers and download it with its bibliography.
For additional information, visit INHA website and browse Perspective online.
3. JOBS AND SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Hellenic Society Library Bursaries
The Hellenic Society, Roman Society and the Institute of Classical Studies are running a small grants scheme to assist unfunded scholars who wish to visit the Library in summer 2026 in order to advance or complete a project of research or scholarship. All the details are available here:
https://ics.sas.ac.uk/awards/grants/combined-classics-library-bursaries
The closing date is 7 June.
Royal Historical Society Funding Opportunities
Available to members of the Royal Historical Society at a range of career stages.
Postgraduate and Early Career Research Support Grants, due on Friday, June 5th 2026.
Collaborative Grants, due on Friday, June 5th.
Teaching Fellowship, due on Friday, July 10th.
Funded Book Workshop Grants, due on Friday, July 10th.
See here for more information: https://royalhistsoc.org/new-calls-for-research-funding-from-the-royal-historical-society-opening-in-march-2026/
Applications for the RHS Master’s Scholarships
RHS Master’s Scholarships provide financial support to students from groups currently underrepresented in academic History. Each Scholarship is worth £5,000.
Applications for this scheme are in two stages:
Stage 1, to confirm the eligibility of applications, runs from Monday 20 April 2026 to Friday 5 June 2026.
Stage 2, to assess personal statements from eligible applicants, runs from Monday 15 June 2026 to Friday 10 July 2026.
Applications for Stage 1 are now invited via the Society’s applications portal.
The programme, established in 2022, seeks to actively address underrepresentation within the discipline, and enable Black and Asian students, along with those of other minorities, to consider academic research in History.
By supporting Master’s students the programme focuses on a key early stage in the academic training of future researchers. With these Scholarships, we seek to support students who are without the financial means to study for a Master’s in History. By doing so, we hope to improve the educational experience of early career historians engaged in a further degree.
There are no conditions on what the award may be spent and may be used to support fees, living expenses etc. during the degree course. Recipients also become Postgraduate Members of the Society.
Before beginning an application for a Scholarship, please read the following guide to ensure you meet the required eligibility requirements.
Institute of Historical Research Fellowships
The IHR’s Fellowship Programme provides a home for researchers conducting historical projects and offers a formal IHR affiliation for those who will benefit from a period of time embedded within the IHR community and who wish to contribute to that community. Our Fellows are often non-affiliated historians, overseas visitors, or researchers working in other parts of the history world such as public history or museums and archives. Our overarching purpose in providing a Fellowship Programme is to facilitate the research activities of mutually supportive researchers.
Please note that The IHR Fellowship replaces our previous fellowship schemes: Senior, Associate and Alumni.
Applications are currently open with a deadline of 30th June 2026.
For more information, see here: https://www.history.ac.uk/fellowships-funding/non-funded-fellowships/ihr-fellowship
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Madeleine Duperouzel
DPhil in History
President, Oxford University Byzantine Society
http://oxfordbyzantinesociety.wordpress.com