Nicolas Payen

Nicolas Payen is a Temporary Teaching and Research Assistant (ATER) in Arabic studies at the École normale supérieure de Lyon (2024–2025). His academic career includes roles at Sorbonne University and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, where he completed his PhD on the concept of animals in early Islamic texts. He specializes in the history of medieval Islam, Arabic philology, and the intellectual traditions of the Abbasid era.

Education: PhD in Medieval History and Philosophy (2023, LMU Munich & Sorbonne University); Master's in Arab-Muslim World History (2019, Sorbonne University); BA in History and Communication (2017, Celsa).

Research focuses on animal studies in Islamic contexts, including their conceptualization in theological, legal, and literary works. Key areas include the translation movement between Arabic, Syriac, Greek, and Pahlavi, and the continuity between Late Antiquity and medieval Islamic thought.

Teaching includes medieval Arabic prose, history of the Arab-Muslim world, and translation studies. His work bridges historical analysis with philological methods, emphasizing the cultural and intellectual exchanges of the Abbasid period.