Ragagnin Elisabetta

Elisabetta Ragagnin is an Associate Professor at the Department of Asian and North African Studies, Ca' Foscari University of Venice (since 2020). Previously, she held positions including Professor (W2) at Free University Berlin (2015–2020), Research Associate at the University of Cambridge (2013–2015), and Assistant Professor roles at Georg-August University Göttingen and Goethe University Frankfurt. Her research focuses on Turkic and Mongolic linguistics, ethnolinguistics, contact linguistics, and endangered languages documentation, with extensive fieldwork in Mongolia, Iran, and Central Asia.

Her expertise spans Old and Middle Turkic sources, pre-classical Mongolian literature, Silk Road Studies, and cultural anthropology. She has organized major conferences such as the Second Conference on Endangered Languages of East Asia (2022) and the International Symposium on Endangered Languages in Northern Asia (2019). In 2014, she received an Honorary Doctorate from the Azerbaijani Academy of Sciences for her contributions to linguistics and cultural studies.

Ragagnin is fluent in multiple languages, including Turkic, Mongolic, and Central Asian tongues, with scholarly competence in classical languages like Old Turkic and pre-classical Mongolian. Her work integrates linguistic research with field-based ethnography, emphasizing the preservation of oral traditions and endangered cultures.