معرفی
Jan Hennings is an Associate Professor in the Department of Historical Studies at Central European University (CEU) and a Senior Member at the Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies. Currently on sabbatical and research leave for the 2025/26 academic year, he has established himself as a leading scholar in early modern diplomatic history with a particular focus on Russian-European encounters. His institutional affiliations include serving as Head of CEU's History Department (2021-24), co-director of the MA program in Museum Studies (a collaboration between CEU and Wien Museum), and Key Researcher in the Austrian Cluster of Excellence 'EurAsian Transformations'.
His educational background includes a PhD in History from the University of Cambridge (Clare College), an MPhil in Modern European History from Cambridge, and a BA in History and German Studies from Universität Rostock. Prior to joining CEU, he held a Junior Research Fellowship at St John's College Oxford and served as a Visiting Professor and Gerda Henkel Fellow at Sabanci University in Istanbul.
Hennings' research interests span early modern Europe, Muscovy and Imperial Russia, the history of diplomacy and international relations, Russian-Ottoman relations, and travel literature and cultural encounter. His work has revolutionized understanding of diplomatic practices through comparative approaches that examine ritual, ceremony, and cross-cultural communication in early modern contexts. He has made significant contributions to understanding how diplomatic practices shaped international relations between empires, particularly between Russia and its European and Ottoman neighbors.
His publications reveal a consistent focus on the cultural dimensions of diplomacy, examining how ceremonial practices, gift-giving, and textual representations functioned as political tools in early modern international relations. His work bridges diplomatic history with cultural history, demonstrating how diplomatic encounters served as sites of knowledge production and cultural exchange.
- ESSA Book Prize 2017 for Russia and Courtly Europe
- Hedwig Hintze Prize 2012 (best dissertation award of German Historical Association)
- Fritz Theodor Epstein Prize 2012 (best dissertation award of Association of Historians of Eastern European History)
Hennings has supervised numerous PhD and MA students working on diverse topics related to early modern diplomatic history across Eurasia. His editorial roles include serving as associate editor of the Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas and on the editorial board of Diplomatica: A Journal of Diplomacy and Society. His research has been supported by prestigious fellowships including at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study (2020-21) and as an elected member of the Young Academy at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (2016-21).
As a key member of the Early Modern Studies at CEU initiative and The Early Modern Workshop, Hennings contributes to creating vibrant research communities focused on innovative approaches to early modern history. His current work on Russian-Ottoman relations at the beginning of the eighteenth century continues to push the boundaries of diplomatic history by examining cross-imperial encounters through the lens of cultural practices.
