Istvan Perczel

István Perczel is a Full Professor of Byzantine and Eastern Christian Studies at the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University (CEU), Budapest, Hungary. He has held visiting positions at institutions such as the École Pratique des Hautes Études (Paris, 1995) and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris, 2004 and 2010). His work includes founding the Center for the Hellenic Traditions (later renamed Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies) and leading manuscript digitization projects in India.

• Ph.D. in Religious Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1995

His research focuses on Late Antique and Byzantine intellectual history, Eastern Christian traditions, and the history of Indian Christianity. He has directed fieldwork in Kerala, India, cataloging Syriac and Garshuni Malayalam manuscripts and founded the Association for the Preservation of the Saint Thomas Christian Heritage in 2007.

During his KHK Fellowship (2012–2013), he worked on Syriac and Malayalam sources related to early Portuguese missions (16th–17th centuries) and continued publishing translations of significant texts.

• Scientific awards: Fellowships in Germany, Greece, Italy, US, and Israel