The Byzness, 14th December 2025
Oxford University Byzantine Society
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THE OXFORD UNIVERSITY BYZANTINE SOCIETY
The Byzness, 14th December 2025
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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,
Holidays are fast approaching. The OUBS remains busy, organising our annual conference and trip. However, we hope you are all enjoying a restful start to the Holiday period.
As preparations ramp up for the conference over Christmas and early Hilary Term, the OUBS will be documenting some of our more exciting endeavours on our social media channels. If you don’t follow us yet, you can find us at the following handles:
Instagram: @ox_byz
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 very 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.
Hybrid International Conference On Basil II and His Era (976-1925)
We are pleased to send you the program and the abstracts of the Hybrid International Conference on Basil II and His Age (976-1025) which will be held at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki from 13 to 15 December 2025.
Here is the zoom link :
https://authgr.zoom.us/j/97847353247?pwd=KQCYPMYG7j6wwqWdtOTpUQPTvwwxjE.1
The meeting ID (978 4735 3247) and the passcode, if needed (971725).
Invitation: Lecture by Alkiviadis Ginalis, December 18, 2025, 5:00 p.m.
Boğaziçi University Byzantine Studies Research Center cordially invites you to a lecture by Alkiviadis Ginalis , entitled "Τα Πάντα ῥεῖ - The impact of Riverscapes on human mobility and the shaping of economies in Late Antiquity" as part of the lecture series “Changes on the Horizon: Economy of the Late Antique Mediterranean”
The lecture will be held at Boğaziçi University, South Campus, Perkins Hall (The Faculty of Engineering/Mühendislik), Room 1100 on December 18, 2025 at 5:00 pm
To register, if you are not affiliated with Boğaziçi University, please contact
Abstract
Riverscapes represent one of the central lifelines for the interaction between humans and the natural environment and thus the basis for the development of agriculture, industrial exploitation and economic systems in the wider sense. Unlike other fields of research, however, the Byzantine scholarship does not associate Byzantium with rivers. Hence, river courses and valleys have long been ignored as vital platforms and carriers of connectivity. Along with the major rivers that define the territory of the Byzantine Empire, it is primarily the small rivers and streams that dominate the landscape and thus influence not only communication and daily life, but also economic exchange. The current lecture therefore aims to illuminate the role of riverine waterways as essential factor for the Economy of the Eastern Mediterranean by providing a general analysis of written sources, art historical evidence and archaeological data.
Brief Biography:
Alkiviadis Ginalis is a Byzantine Maritime Archaeologist specialised in Seafaring and Harbour Studies of the late antique and medieval periods. His research interests range from different aspects of seafaring and shipwreck archaeology to harbour architecture and maritime network studies, coastal topography and environmental studies as well as maritime economy and socio-cultural exchange in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
Alkiviadis Ginalis did his Magister Philosophicum in Byzantine Studies and Classical Archaeology at the University of Vienna in 2008 and his D.Phil. at the Oxford Centre for Maritime Archaeology of Oxford University in 2014. In 2015, he received a Marie-Curie Fellowship with a European Union funded research project on “Aegean Port networks of the Roman to Byzantine periods” and in 2016 he was elected Associated Junior Fellow at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg (Institute for Advanced Study). After his Research Fellowship at the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz for the DFG-Research Programme “Harbours from the Roman Period to the Middle Ages” and Visiting Research Fellowship at the Department of Byzantine Research of the Austrian Academy of Sciences between 2017 and 2019, Alkiviadis Ginalis moved to Istanbul, where he is currently working at the Istanbul Department of the German Archaeological Institute as Research Lecturer for Late Antique and Byzantine Archaeology and Head of the Archives. In 2025 he was appointed to the Professorship of Maritime Archaeology at the University of the Peloponnese.
Alkiviadis Ginalis published widely on many aspects of Byzantine seafaring, harbour studies and maritime economic networks – among them his latest monograph on “Harbours of the Aegean in Late Antiquity and the Medieval Period. Thessaly, Maritime Connectivity, and the Eastern Mediterranean Seascape” at Archaeopress (Oxford) or his (for this lecture series relevant) forthcoming publications “Insular Episcopates. Church, Maritime Environment and Economic Life in the Southern Aegean Islands (AD 300-800)” by De Gruyter and “The Western Black Sea Coast. Networks and Connectivity” by Brepols.
Alkiviadis Ginalis shows an equally wide range of research activities and fieldwork experience, having worked in Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Italy and Austria. He has directed a series of research programmes and field projects, which since 2019 centre primarily around the Eastern Aegean Sea, the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea, such as his archaeological excavations in the Küçükçekmece Lagoon or his involvement in “The BRIA Project – The Landscape and rock-cut Architecture of Medieval Thrace”.
Opportunity for Graduate Students and ECRs: An Introduction to 3D Reconstructions for Byzantinists
The Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture and the Byzantine Studies Association of North America are pleased to offer a two-part workshop on 3D digital reconstructions for graduate students and early career researchers in collaboration with Vasiliki Lagari of the Belvedere Museum Vienna
An Introduction to 3D Reconstructions for Byzantinists| Vasiliki Lagari (Belvedere Museum Vienna) | Zoom | January 23 and January 30, 2026
Digital reconstructions of objects can enhance academic research and public engagement. This online workshop will offer Byzantinists an introduction to 3D reconstruction and its practical applications. Beginning with the digital reconstruction of an object in the first session and continuing with its visualization and practical applications in the second, participants will discover how three-dimensional representations can extend the understanding, accessibility, and impact of their research.
To ensure participants feel confident throughout the workshop, dedicated time will be reserved in both sessions for troubleshooting, questions, and individual guidance. Participants who wish to continue working on their reconstructions—or explore new models between sessions—will have the opportunity to share their progress, discuss challenges, and receive tailored feedback at the end of the second session.
Space in the workshop is limited. Students enrolled in graduate programs in North America and early career researchers working in North America will be given priority. Registration is first come, first served.
Registration closes January 19, 2026.
Who is eligible?
• Graduate students and early career researchers (PhD received after January 2018) in the field of Byzantine studies. Students enrolled in graduate programs in North America and early career researchers working in North America will be given priority.
• All participants must be BSANA members
To read a full description of the workshop and register your interest, please visit
https://maryjahariscenter.org/events/an-introduction-to-3d-reconstructions-for-byzantinists.
Contact Brandie Ratliff, Director, Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture, with any questions.
2.CALL FOR PAPERS
CfP: Medieval History Workshop at Cambridge, Lent ’26
Dear medievalists,
The conveners of the Cambridge Medieval History Graduate Workshop are very pleased to announce our Call for Papers for Lent Term 2026!
We invite proposals for 15-20 minute presentations of works in progress from Master's or PhD students on any topic related to the Middle Ages (500-1500). Each of our sessions (usually on alternating Thursdays at 4pm) feature two papers followed by Q&A.
Please submit abstracts via email no later than 13 January 2026.
The Cambridge Medieval History Graduate Workshop is inviting paper submissions for Lent Τerm 2026.
We host presentations on the cultures, economies, literature, material cultures, politics, thought, religions, and reception of the medieval world, which we broadly define as the global period between c. 500 and c. 1500. We welcome interdisciplinary scholarship and encourage submissions which stretch our conception of ‘medieval’ in time or space, from late antiquity to modern reception and from Scandinavia to the Middle East and beyond, or which deal with the practice of medieval history. These short 15–20-minute workshop papers are excellent ways to share your work, gain presentation experience, and receive constructive feedback in a supportive environment run for and by graduate students. In terms of scope, we are looking for focused studies that offer snapshots into ongoing graduate research, and particularly encourage primary source work
and case studies, rather than sweeping overviews of large topics or summaries of entire dissertations/theses.
We welcome submissions from Master’s and PhD students from any discipline or university, but especially encourage graduate students based in or around Cambridge to submit. Accepted speakers will have the opportunity to be featured on our blog, Camedieval. The Workshop meets alternate Thursdays, 4:00pm–5:30pm, with the option of virtual attendance on Microsoft Teams for audience members. In each session we usually have two 15–20-minute papers, followed by in-person socialising and refreshments.
Please send abstracts of not more than 250 words and a short bio by 13th January 2026 to cambridg...@gmail.com. The Camedieval blog regularly puts out content and is always open
for submissions.
CfP: FABULOUS BEASTS AND WHERE TO READ THEM: ANIMALS IN BYZANTINE FABLES, PROVERBS, AND DREAMBOOKS
International online conference
11 June 2026
Organizers: Lorenzo Ciolfi (Madrid), Przemysław Marciniak (Katowice), Katarzyna Piotrowska (Katowice)
Studies on animals in the Byzantine world are gaining considerable momentum. An increasing number of scholars are exploring and reconstructing zoobiographies through the lens of Byzantine literature. Yet a significant corpus of texts—often unjustly relegated to the category of minora—remains underexplored, despite teeming with animal life. In fables, popular tales, proverb collections, school manuals, rhetorical treatises, and dreambooks, animals play important roles: they drive narrative plots, embody moral and social agency, and serve as crucial vehicles for cultural meaning.
In these genres, the representation of animals combines zoological observation with the fantastic, the mythological, and the folkloristic. Studying them makes it possible to reconstruct the distinctive relationship between humans and non-human animals across the Byzantine centuries and to trace how the heritage of antiquity—cultural as well as zoological—was adapted, reinterpreted, and woven into the fabric of medieval thought, folkbiology and popular storytelling.
To mark the launch of the project on Stephanites and Ichnelates and animal fables in Byzantium—hosted at the University of Silesia in Katowice—and to foster broader engagement with animal studies, we are organizing an introductory international online conference. We invite papers that address, among others, the following questions:
- How is animality mobilized to convey ethical, social, or philosophical meanings?
- • How are animals portrayed and employed in these so-called minor genres?
- • How does practical or folk zoological knowledge intersect with the literary imagination and popular belief?
- • How are non-human actors understood and constructed in texts that are not explicitly zoological yet remain deeply entangled with both the symbolic and the real worlds of beasts?
Contributions are welcome on animals in Byzantine fables, proverb collections, dreambooks, and related paraliterary or didactic texts. We also encourage submissions examining the presence and rhetorical function of animals in scholia, commentaries, and rhetorical treatises.
Please send an abstract of up to 150 words along with a brief academic CV to biza...@us.edu.pl no later than 28 February 2026.
3. JOBS AND SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Call for Applications: The Tenth Lincoln College International Summer School in Greek Palaeography
Oxford, 27 July–1 August 2026
The School offers a five-day introduction to the study of Greek manuscripts through ten reading classes, three library visits, and four thematic lectures. It is intended for students of Classics, Patristics, Theology, Biblical Studies, or Byzantine Studies. Applications and references must be received no later than 31 January 2026.
For further information, please visit:
https://lincoln.ox.ac.uk/events/lincoln-college-summer-school-in-greek-palaeography-2026
Call for Applications for Visiting Fellowships
The Oxford Center for Hebrew and Jewish Studies is delighted to announce calls for applications for 4 different forms of Visiting Fellowships as part of its Oxford Seminars in Advanced Jewish Studies programme: OSRJL Visiting Fellowships in Rare Jewish Languages, René and Susanne Braginsky Visiting Fellowships in Manuscript Studies, Salo and Jeannette Baron Visiting Fellowships in Jewish History and Yishai Shahar Visiting Fellowships in Jewish Art History.
Each of these Visiting Fellowships will last for the duration of one Oxford term—either Michaelmas Term 2026, Hilary Term 2027 or Trinity Term 2027—and will come with an honorarium of £3,000.
The deadline to apply for each of the Visiting Fellowships is 16 January 2026 at 12 noon UK Time.
To apply, please consult the following documents:
OSRJL Visiting Fellowships in Rare Jewish Language
Call for Applications & Procedure
Application Form
René and Susanne Braginsky Visiting Fellowships in Manuscript Studie
Call for Applications & Procedure
Application Form
Salo and Jeannette Baron Visiting Fellowships in Jewish History
Call for Applications & Procedure
Application Form
Yishai Shahar Visiting Fellowships in Jewish Art History
Call for Applications & Procedure
Application Form
Please find all this information on our website here:
Call for Applications: Mary Jaharis Centre Grants 2026-2027
The Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture is pleased to announce its 2026–2027 grant competition.
Mary Jaharis Center Co-Funding Grants promote Byzantine studies in North America. These grants provide co-funding to organize scholarly gatherings (e.g., workshops, seminars, small conferences) in North America that advance scholarship in Byzantine studies broadly conceived. We are particularly interested in supporting convenings that build diverse professional networks that cross the boundaries of traditional academic disciplines, propose creative approaches to fundamental topics in Byzantine studies, or explore new areas of research or methodologies.
Mary Jaharis Center Dissertation Grants are awarded to advanced graduate students working on Ph.D. dissertations in the field of Byzantine studies broadly conceived. These grants are meant to help defray the costs of research-related expenses, e.g., travel, photography/digital images, microfilm.
Mary Jaharis Center Publication Grants support book-length publications or major articles in the field of Byzantine studies broadly conceived. Grants are aimed at early career academics. Preference will be given to postdocs and assistant professors, though applications from non-tenure track faculty and associate and full professors will be considered. We encourage the submission of first-book projects.
Mary Jaharis Center Project Grants support discrete and highly focused professional projects aimed at the conservation, preservation, and documentation of Byzantine archaeological sites and monuments dated from 300 CE to 1500 CE primarily in Greece and Turkey. Projects may be small stand-alone projects or discrete components of larger projects. Eligible projects might include archeological investigation, excavation, or survey; documentation, recovery, and analysis of at risk materials (e.g., architecture, mosaics, paintings in situ); and preservation (i.e., preventive measures, e.g., shelters, fences, walkways, water management) or conservation (i.e., physical hands-on treatments) of sites, buildings, or objects.
The application deadline for all grants is February 1, 2026. For further information, please visit the Mary Jaharis Center website: https://maryjahariscenter.org/grants.
Contact Brandie Ratliff (mjc...@hchc.edu), Director, Mary Jaharis Center, with any questions.
Doctoral position: Biblia Arabica: Critical edition and comprehensive digital inventory of Arabic Hebrew Bible/ Old Testament manuscripts and their paratexts
The project Biblia Arabica has been granted 21 years funding from the Union of Academies in Germany. We are therefore searching for a doctoral candidate.
The primary aim of the project is to comprehensively explore the history of the Arabic translations of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament on the basis of their manuscript transmission. These translations represent an important cultural and religious monument to the productive coexistence of different religious communities, as well as a unique source for the textual history of the Bible. Preserving this cultural heritage is a central task of the project. It will be pursued through three core objectives: (1) a full cataloguing and analysis of the manuscript corpus; (2) a historical assessment of its exegetical, liturgical, and broader cultural functions; (3) the critical edition and English translation of selected versions of particular scholarly significance. These objectives correspond to three areas of work: (1) “Analysis”: digital cataloguing; (2) “Context”: study of historical and cultural usage; (3) “Reading”: preparation of digital text editions. Creating a comprehensive digital catalogue is a continuous task throughout the project. On a societal level, the project safeguards and documents the cultural heritage of Jewish and Christian communities in the Middle East. It explicitly aims to make this material digitally accessible, thereby enabling participation by the communities concerned as well as by a global audience.
We are seeking to appoint a Research Fellow to undertake a three-year PhD project focused on any group(s) of Arabic Bible translations of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. Projects that address questions of canon formation are particularly welcome.
The principal investigator is Prof. Dr. Ronny Vollandt, and the position will be based at the Institute of Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Faculty of Cultural Studies, LMU Munich. Prof. Dr. Nathan Gibson (Goethe University Frankfurt) serves as co-PI. The project is funded by the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BAdW) and the Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz.
The position will be filled as soon as possible and remains open until filled.
We are looking for you:
Research Fellow (PhD) (m/w/d), 65% at Munich
These are your tasks:
§ Independent research with the aim of obtaining a scientific qualification in form of a doctorate
§ Completion of the accompanying curriculum (compulsory and elective courses)
§ Acquisition of philological skills
§ Acquisition of digital humanities skills
Collaboration with the rest of the Biblia Arabica team on tasks or activities relevant to the dissertation topic (e.g., visits to manuscript archives, participation in workshops)
You have:
§ Excellent academic qualifications (master's degree, diploma, teaching qualification)
§ An independent, structured, and proactive approach to work
§ Previous experience in working on the Arabic Bible
§ A willingness to work in an interdisciplinary team
§ Fluency in German and/or English
This is our offer:
We offer doctoral and postdoctoral positions for a fixed duration of 3 years. Remuneration is based on TV-L E13 (65%), provided that the relevant requirements are fulfilled.
The Project Biblia Arabica offers you the opportunity to work on a doctoral project and to participate in an innovative research network. Throughout your doctoral period, you will have the opportunity to acquire additional skills and take advantage of further training opportunities offered by LMU.
LMU offers all employees the following benefits, among others:
Work-life balance:
Option of part-time work
Mobile working
Flexible working hours
Training and continuing education program at all career levels
Applications from women are especially welcome. Severely disabled persons with equal qualifications will be given preference.
Contact:
Please send your application including an informative cover letter, a short CV (max. two pages), a proposal for a dissertation project, and a representative excerpt from your most recent thesis (ca. 5.000 words) to ronny.v...@lmu.de.
Call for submissions: The Azizeh Sheibani Essay Prize in Iranian and Persian-speaking World Studies
The Middle East Centre,
St Antony’s College, Oxford
Deadline for Submissions: 24 May 2026
The Middle East Centre is pleased to invite submissions for the 2026 Azizeh Sheibani Essay Prize in Iranian and Persian-speaking World Studies.
The winner or winners will be invited to dine with the judges at High Table in St Antony’s College, and will receive an award of £400 or, should two winners be chosen, £200 each.
The prize is open to two categories, graduate and undergraduate students. These categories will be judged separately. A prize will not necessarily be awarded in both categories. The prize(s) will be awarded to the best essay(s) in Iranian and Persian-speaking World Studies, in any discipline of the humanities or social sciences. Essays may be on any chronological period: ancient, medieval or modern. Essays should make use of primary sources and will be assessed on the basis of the strength and originality of the research or argumentation.
Essays should be between 6,000 and 8,000 words in length, including footnotes and references. Applicants may choose the most suitable form of citation, though all submissions should be written to the highest academic standard.
The criterion for eligibility is that entrants must be currently registered for a degree at Oxford or have been so registered in the previous academic year. Essays must not have been published elsewhere, including online.
Winners of the prize are not eligible to enter again.
Results will be announced in sixth/seventh week of Trinity Term, with the prize awarded in seventh/eighth week
All submissions should be sent as a PDF file by email to Dr Stephanie Cronin Stephani...@ames.ox.ac.uk
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Madeleine Duperouzel
DPhil in History
President, Oxford University Byzantine Society
http://oxfordbyzantinesociety.wordpress.com