Margherita FantoliView profile
Lecturer
Margherita Fantoli is a tenure track lecturer at the Faculty of Arts at KU Leuven, affiliated with the Cultural Studies Research Group. She is an active member of multiple research institutes including DigiSoc – KU Leuven Institute for Digital Society and LECTIO – KU Leuven Institute for the Study of the Transmission of Texts, Ideas and Images in Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Her institutional involvement extends to the Faculty Council of Arts and the POC Digital Humanities. Dr. Fantoli's research spans Digital Humanities with a focus on historical linguistics, classical studies, and book history. Her work integrates computational methods with traditional humanities scholarship, particularly in analyzing ancient Greek and Latin texts, knowledge transmission networks, and multilingualism in historical contexts. She specializes in using digital tools to explore cultural transmission from antiquity through the Renaissance, with particular attention to network analysis of historical texts and academic communities. Her recent publications demonstrate a strong trend toward computational approaches to historical scholarship, particularly through the STUDIUM.AI project which maps knowledge networks around the premodern University of Leuven (1425-1797). Her work bridges classical philology with digital methods, examining topics such as canon formation in antiquity, multilingualism in early modern book catalogues, and the presence of classical texts in later periods. She frequently collaborates across disciplines, working with computer scientists, historians, and linguists. Dr. Fantoli serves as promoter or co-promoter on multiple significant research projects including CLARIAH-VL+ (toward the 'SSH Open Science Cloud' in Flanders), studies on the coherence of scientific language in ancient technical texts, and investigations into canon formation in Greco-Roman antiquity. Her teaching portfolio includes courses on data processing, linked data scholarship, and introduction to Digital Humanities, reflecting her commitment to training the next generation of digitally literate humanities scholars. She is actively involved with the Cultural Studies Research Group in Leuven, contributing to their mission of exploring cultural transmission across historical periods. Through her leadership in the STUDIUM.AI project and other digital initiatives, she helps build infrastructure for connecting historical knowledge networks and making premodern scholarship more accessible through digital means.









