Fanny Bessard

Dr. Fanny Bessard is an Associate Professor in Medieval Eurasian History at Trinity College, University of Oxford. Her research focuses on the social and economic transformations of the Middle East (700–1000 CE), emphasizing the Islamic world’s identity formation and global comparisons with Byzantium, Western Christendom, and East Asia. She combines Arabic literary sources with archaeological and epigraphic evidence, advocating a comparative approach to medieval history.

Research Projects:

• Co-directed a Leverhulme Networking Project (2015–2018) analyzing the Islamic economy as a world system between Central Asia and the Atlantic.
• Ongoing project on social inequalities in the Medieval Islamic world, exploring wealth, authority, and elite dynamics.

Teaching: Integrates archaeology and history, teaching across Eurasia’s medieval period (300–1100 CE). Supervises DPhil and Masters students in areas like wealth and poverty in the early Islamic world, and economic transformations post-Roman decline.

Awards:

• Newton Fellowship (SOAS, 2013–2015)
• Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (University of St Andrews, 2015–2016)

Collaborations: Works with economists, archaeologists, and papyrologists, emphasizing interdisciplinary methodologies.