Professor Helena Sanson is a Full Professor of Italian, History of Linguistics, and Women's Studies at the University of Cambridge , where she is also a Fellow of Clare College and serves as Postgraduate Teaching and Examining Officer for the Italian Section. She joined Cambridge in 2005 after teaching at University College London (1998-2003) following her British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship. PhD from University of Reading (2002) Her interdisciplinary research focuses on the intersection of Italian linguistic history , literary culture , and gender studies from the Renaissance to post-Unification period. Particular emphasis includes women's contributions to linguistic thought , conduct literature analysis , and female roles in translation networks . Her work examines how women navigated language standardization, educational access, and literary production across social strata. Recent projects include Leverhulme-funded research on women's linguistic experiences in 18th-19th century Italy and co-edited volumes on transnational travelers' accounts and early modern female education . She founded the Women and Gender in Italy (1500-1900) book series and the journal Women Language Literature in Italy . Scientific awards include: British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship Leverhulme Research Fellowship Philip Leverhulme Prize CRASSH Early Career Fellowship Isaac Newton Trust grant Senior Visiting Fellowship at University of Bologna She supervises graduate research in topics spanning women's writing , linguistic thought , translation history , and cultural marginalization in 16th-20th century Italy. Her work bridges philology, literary criticism, and social history through rigorous textual analysis.
Ethiraj Gabriel Dattatreyan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at New York University. He holds a joint PhD in Anthropology and Education from the University of Pennsylvania (2015) and a B.A. in Economics and Finance from George Mason University (1997). His research focuses on media consumption, production, and circulation in relation to migration, gender, race, and urban space. He co-edits the Multimodal Section of the American Anthropological Association's flagship journal, American Anthropologist. His first book, *The Globally Familiar: Digital hip hop, masculinity and urban space in Delhi* (Duke UP, 2020), examines how Delhi’s youth utilize hip hop aesthetics through digital platforms. His forthcoming co-authored book *Digital Unsettling: Decoloniality and Dispossession in the Age of Social Media* (NYU Press) critiques corporate social media’s colonial legacies. Current projects include ethnographic work on African communities in India and a study of Angolan anthropologist Augusto Zita N’Gonguenho’s anticolonial methodologies. He previously served as Senior Lecturer and co-director of the Centre for Visual Anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London. His research employs collaborative, multimodal approaches to explore decoloniality, digital media’s socio-political impacts, and urban cultural dynamics.
Dinah Ribard is a Director of Studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), working within the Centre de Recherches Historiques (CRH). She serves as Center Director for the GRIHL (Groupe de recherche interdisciplinaire sur l'histoire du libéralisme) research group. Her academic career has been dedicated to the historical study of work, intellectual practices, and cultural production from the early modern period through the 19th century. Ribard completed her thesis in December 2000 at the University of Paris III - Sorbonne Nouvelle under the direction of Alain Viala, entitled "Live Tell Think. Research on the literary status of the philosopher: the Lives of philosophers in France 1650-1766." She was formerly a student at the École Normale Supérieure (Ulm) and holds a degree in Modern Literature. Prior to her position at EHESS, she served as an ATER (Attaché Temporaire d'Enseignement et de Recherche) at Paris III University from 1999 to 2001 and taught at Lycée Jacques-Feyder in Epinay sur Seine from 2001 to 2003. Ribard's research focuses on the history of work from multiple perspectives - examining both intellectual work (1600-1900) and material labor. She investigates how work has been conceptualized, narrated, and institutionalized throughout history. Her work explores the relationship between knowledge production and labor, analyzing how different professions and social statuses have shaped intellectual and cultural practices. She examines the historical construction of disciplines, professions, and social classifications, with particular attention to how writing practices intersect with work identities. Her recent publications reveal a consistent focus on the relationship between writing, work, and social identity across the early modern and modern periods. Ribard's scholarship demonstrates how textual practices were embedded in specific work contexts, from artisanal workshops to academic institutions. Her work shows how literary forms were used to construct professional identities and how writing practices served as forms of political action. She has made significant contributions to understanding the historical relationship between intellectual labor and material production. Ribard has published extensively, including the notable 2023 book "Le Menuisier de Nevers. Poésie ouvrière, fait littéraire et classes sociales (XVIIe-XIXe siècle)" which examines how working-class poetry was historically constructed and marginalized. Her scholarship challenges traditional literary classifications and reveals how social categories have been historically produced through cultural practices. As Director of Studies at EHESS, Ribard supervises doctoral students and contributes to the academic training of historians. She co-responsible for the Grihl seminar and teaches courses at EHESS on topics including "Writings of the Past. Literature and History: Methods, Theories, Fields" and "History and stories of work." Her teaching reflects her research interests in the intersection of literary practices, historical methodology, and social analysis. Within the CRH, Ribard is affiliated with the GRIHL research group, which focuses on the interdisciplinary history of liberalism. Her work bridges historical, literary, and sociological approaches to understanding the development of social and intellectual categories. Through her research, teaching, and institutional leadership, Ribard has made significant contributions to the historical understanding of work, knowledge production, and cultural classification.
Niamh Pattwell is Associate Professor and Head of School at the School of English, Drama and Film, University College Dublin. She holds a PhD from Trinity College Dublin and has been a faculty member at UCD since 2004, progressing from Lecturer in Old and Middle English to her current role. Her academic leadership extends to curriculum development, postgraduate teaching, and serving on university committees, including the Board of Trustees for UCD Volunteer Overseas. Her educational background includes a BA, H.Dip.Ed., H.Dip.T.Rel.Ed., and MA from University College Cork, and a PhD from Trinity College Dublin. She taught secondary school in Co. Wexford and Co. Cork before transitioning to higher education, holding teaching fellowships at Queen’s University Belfast and Trinity College Dublin. Niamh Pattwell's research focuses on the circulation and transmission of vernacular religious prose in the late Middle Ages. She has developed expertise in codicology, palaeography, and manuscript fragment studies, particularly through her work with Marsh's Library and the Index of Middle English Prose at Trinity College Dublin. Her scholarship explores the production, readership, and theological context of both orthodox and Wycliffite texts. Her recent publications show a consistent focus on Middle English religious prose, manuscript provenance, and the material culture of books. She has contributed to the Year's Work in English Studies and published on fragments, personal notebooks, and devotional texts, reflecting a deep engagement with the material and spiritual dimensions of medieval manuscripts. National Digital Learning Resources Award (2012) Broad Curriculum Post-doctoral Teaching Fellow, Trinity College Dublin (2003–2004) Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences Postgraduate Scholarship (1999–2002) Niamh Pattwell has successfully supervised postgraduate students to MA and PhD completion and has led curriculum innovation at UCD, including the development of research-based modules on medieval manuscript fragments. She has secured internal research grants such as the HoS Research Support Scheme and has been actively involved in organizing major academic events, including the Early Book Society Biennial Conference in 2019 and 2023. Her teaching includes modules on King Arthur, medieval literature, and animal narratives, emphasizing student engagement with primary texts. She collaborates with institutions such as Marsh's Library and Trinity College Dublin and has contributed to public engagement through radio appearances and public lectures. Her work bridges academic research, teaching innovation, and cultural heritage preservation.
Cristina Dondi serves as a Full Professor in the Department of Modern Literature and Culture at Sapienza University of Rome's Faculty of Arts and Philosophy. Her academic work centers on the history of the book with specialized expertise in incunabula (15th-century printed books), early book trade networks, and digital humanities methodologies. She teaches the "History of the Book" course for Global Humanities students, delivering lectures in person at Rome's Faculty of Arts and Philosophy during the 2024-2025 academic year. Her research spans material evidence of early printed books, Venetian printing practices, Dante's textual circulation, and library transformations during religious secularization. She pioneers digital approaches through projects like 15cBOOKTRADE and CERL, developing visualization tools for historical book movement data and collaborative digital infrastructures. Her work bridges traditional book history with computational analysis, emphasizing how physical artifacts reveal cultural and commercial networks. Analysis of her 2021-2023 publications shows consistent integration of digital tools with historical scholarship, particularly regarding Italian incunabula circulation and MEI database applications. She frequently examines Venetian commercial practices, Dante's reception, and collaborative digital resource creation, demonstrating how visual analytics transforms understanding of pre-modern book economies. Scientific Awards: No specific awards were documented in the provided sources. Professor Dondi leads significant research initiatives including the 15cBOOKTRADE project and Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL) collaborations, which involve multi-institutional teams developing digital ecosystems for book historical research. These projects generate scholarly publications, digital tools, and educational resources while securing substantial research funding for infrastructure development and international conferences. She actively shapes the CERL digital ecosystem and 15cBOOKTRADE project framework, fostering interdisciplinary collaboration between historians, librarians, and computer scientists. Her current work focuses on expanding Material Evidence in Incunabula (MEI) applications and creating open-access platforms for analyzing early print culture across European collections.
Professor Leigh K. Jenco holds the position of Professor of Political Theory at the Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science (on sabbatical during 2024/25). Her expertise spans Chinese Thought, Taiwan Studies, Political Philosophy, and Global Intellectual History. She previously taught at the National University of Singapore and has held visiting roles at Taiwan's Academia Sinica, National Taiwan University, and the University of Heidelberg. Education: B.A. from Bard College M.A. and Ph.D. from University of Chicago Her research explores late Ming neo-Confucian concepts of equality through literary theory and the 20th-century rediscovery of Chinese folksong compendia. She leads the £1.5M British Academy-funded 'Chinese Global Orders' project and was the principal investigator for the EU's 'East Asian Uses of the European Past' initiative. She served as associate editor of the American Political Science Review (2016–2020). Her publications include groundbreaking monographs like Changing Referents (Oxford UP, 2015) and Making the Political (Cambridge UP, 2010), which bridge political theory with Chinese intellectual history. Current projects focus on Ming dynasty poetics and cross-cultural knowledge transfer. Grants & Projects: Lead investigator for 'Chinese Global Orders' (£1.5M, British Academy) EU H2020 'East Asian Uses of the European Past' (€1.2M) She is fluent in Classical Chinese, Mandarin, and English, and her work emphasizes global comparative frameworks to challenge Eurocentric narratives. Her research often intersects historical texts with contemporary political debates, particularly around cultural borrowing and identity formation.
C. Michael Sampson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Classics at the Faculty of Arts , University of Manitoba . Holding a PhD in Classical Studies (2009) from the University of Michigan, an MA in Classics (2003) from Dalhousie University, and a BA (First Class Honours) in Classics and Early Modern Studies (2001) from the University of King's College, Sampson is a broadly trained philologist specializing in Greek and Latin literature with a focus on poetry, and a papyrologist working on fragmentary texts from Egypt. Research interests: Greek/Latin literature, papyrology, reception studies, Hellenistic literature Current project: The Books of Karanis (interdisciplinary study of Greek literary culture in Egypt) Awards: SSHRC Insight Grant (2021-2025), SSHRC Connections Grant (2020-2022), Community Engagement Award (2018) Editorial roles: Digital Corpus of Literary Papyri, Pylon: Editions and Studies of Ancient Texts Teaching: Courses on Ancient Greek culture, Roman comedy, Euripides, and Archaic poetry
Professor Marilyn Deegan is a leading scholar in Digital Humanities at King's College London, affiliated with the Department of Digital Humanities within the Faculty of Arts & Humanities. She holds a PhD in English (focusing on Anglo-Saxon medical texts) and an MSc in Computation. Her career includes roles as Director of the Centre for Humanities Computing at Oxford University (1997–2004) and Director of Digital Resources at the Refugee Studies Centre. She is an Honorary Research Fellow and series editor for key digital humanities journals. Her research interests span Medieval medical texts, digital preservation, textual editing, and the future of academic publishing. Notable projects include the Jane Austen’s Fiction Manuscripts: A Digital Edition and initiatives preserving Sudanese cultural heritage. She has secured grants from AHRC and the ALIPH Alliance for heritage conservation projects. Deegan has received an AHRC Fellowship (2006) and contributed to over 30 peer-reviewed publications. She leads the Global Digital Cultures Research Group, exploring how digital practices circulate globally. Her editorial roles include series editorships with Ashgate and Facet Publishing, and she has advised on major digital humanities projects worldwide.
Alexandra Gillespie is a Professor at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM), where she also serves as Vice-President and Principal. She is a leading scholar in book history and medieval literature, with a focus on the interplay between text technologies, literary theory, and cultural heritage. Her work bridges disciplines, connecting historical and global perspectives through collaborative research. Hons. BA, Victoria University of Wellington MSt and DPhil in English, University of Oxford Her research spans medieval and early modern literary studies, book history, and digital humanities. She has co-edited major publications on premodern text production and authored the seminal monograph Print Culture and the Medieval Author , which remains highly cited in the field. Gillespie co-founded the Old Books New Science Lab (OBNS) at UTM and St George campuses, fostering interdisciplinary research in medieval bookbinding, computational humanities, and manuscript studies. Her recent scholarship focuses on the global history of the book, including the Mellon-funded Hidden Stories project, which involves over 130 collaborators from 60 institutions. Key themes in her publications include manuscript-aesthetic form, print invention, and philological approaches to medieval texts. She has contributed to foundational handbooks in Chaucer and novel studies. At UTM, Gillespie mentors undergraduate research assistants, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows, integrating pedagogy with her research on textual materiality. She actively collaborates with international networks and institutions, such as the Aga Khan Museum, where her work on The Book and the Silk Roads was exhibited.
Hsueh-man Shen is the Director of Masters Studies and Ehrenkranz Associate Professor in World Art at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. She holds a D.Phil. from Oxford University in Archaeology, an M.A. in Art History from National Taiwan University, and an LL.B. in Law from the same institution. Her research focuses on medieval Chinese art and archaeology, particularly how cross-cultural exchanges shaped artistic practices through translation, replication, and hybridization. She has curated major exhibitions such as Gilded Splendor: Treasures of China’s Liao Empire (2006) and contributed to the Cave Temples of Dunhuang project (2016), emphasizing Silk Road cultural networks. Her current book project explores maritime activities’ impact on Buddhist art during the 10th–14th centuries. Shen’s work bridges art history, archaeology, and material culture studies, addressing topics like relic deposits, shipwrecks, and cross-cultural curatorial practices. She has held prestigious fellowships, including the Leiden University Hulsewé-Waznieski Professorship (2019) and a Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin residency (2008–2009). Education: D.Phil., Archaeology, University of Oxford M.A., Art History, National Taiwan University LL.B., Law, National Taiwan University Her research interests include Buddhist art’s transformation across dynasties, the role of replication in devotion, and maritime trade’s influence on cultural boundaries. She teaches courses such as Colors in the Visual Culture of Medieval China and Shipwrecks and the ‘Other’ Silk Road , integrating theoretical and material perspectives. Shen’s awards reflect her global academic contributions, including the EURIAS Senior Fellowship (2018–2019) and Progress 100 Visiting Professorship at Kyushu University (2017). Her publications span exhibition catalogues, monographs like Authentic Replicas: Buddhist Art in Medieval China (2019), and peer-reviewed articles analyzing Silk Road networks, Liao dynasty funerary practices, and cross-cultural material exchanges.
Professor Nicholas McDowell is a leading scholar in early modern literature and thought at the University of Exeter , with a focus on 1500-1800 British and European contexts. His work bridges literary innovation and historical upheaval, particularly the English Civil Wars and their cultural legacy. PhD in English from the University of Oxford (2000) Former Research Fellow at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Visiting Fellow at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study and CRASSH, Cambridge Research Themes : His scholarship centers on John Milton, Cavalier Poets, and Jonathan Swift, analyzing how literature navigates political and religious change. He explores translation, dissent, and the tension between liberty and constraint in poetic forms. Recent Publications (2020-2025): • 2026 Comic Enlightenment (Princeton UP) on Milton-Swift intersections • 2024 The Oxford Handbook of English Prose, 1640-1714 • 2025 The Seventeenth Century article on Milton and Cromwell’s virtue politics Awards & Grants : Philip Leverhulme Prize (2007) Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship (2023-5) for Poetry of Civil War John T. Shawcross Award (2014) for Milton prose edition Supervision : Mentors PhD research on early modern topics, including Milton’s materialist philosophies and 17th-century labor representations. Former advisees like Dr. Esther van Raamsdonk have published their work.
Dr. Ruth Abbott is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of English at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow/Director of Studies at St John's College. Educated at Cambridge and Oxford, she has held prestigious fellowships at Cornell University, Harvard's Villa I Tatti (Florence), the Huntington Library, and Yale's Beinecke Library. She leads undergraduate and graduate teaching in 18th-19th century literature and textual scholarship, receiving multiple teaching awards including the Pilkington Prize. Her research specializes in textual scholarship and manuscript studies , with emphases on: History of note-taking and knowledge organization Compositional/reading practices in 18th-19th century manuscripts Scholarly networks of figures like Thomas Gray and George Eliot Institutional histories of libraries, museums, and universities She directs the Thomas Gray Manuscripts digital archive and edits major scholarly editions including Wordsworth's complete poems. Her publications demonstrate consistent focus on manuscript culture across 250+ years, blending literary analysis with historical epistemology. Recent works analyze knowledge-organization in Gray's commonplace books (2021-2024), George Eliot's research methods (2024-2025), and transcription practices in Enlightenment museums. Awards & Recognition: Gordon Duff Prize 2024 for manuscript studies research Pilkington Prize for teaching excellence CUSU Teaching Awards for supervision/lecturing She mentors graduate researchers in textual scholarship, Victorian studies, and manuscript culture, and contributes to university governance through committees on harassment prevention and diversity initiatives like 'Breaking the Silence'.
Bonnie Effros is Professor and Head of the Department of History at the University of British Columbia since 2022. With a PhD from UCLA and BA from Brandeis, her academic journey spans prestigious roles at University of Liverpool, University of Florida, Binghamton University, and Southern Illinois University. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and recipient of the French Colonial Historical Society’s Alf Andrew Heggoy Book Prize, she shapes historical discourse through her work on archaeology, gender, and colonial legacies. PhD, History, UCLA (1994) MA, History, UCLA (1990) BA, History, Brandeis University (1987) Her research bridges late antique/early medieval archaeology and 19th-century antiquarianism , focusing on France and its colonial possessions. Recent projects examine Père Camille de la Croix ’s contested Christian archaeology in France and Salomon Reinach ’s assimilation politics. She connects material culture to gender dynamics, Christian conversion debates, and colonial power structures through extensive fieldwork in Vatican archives and French/British collections. Key trends in her 15 most recent publications include: analyzing 19th-century museum-building in Algeria; investigating gender through Merovingian burial practices; and exploring colonial narratives via artifact circulation. Her work often intersects with museum studies , gender archaeology , and historiographical critique . French Colonial Historical Society’s Alf Andrew Heggoy Book Prize (2019) SSHRC Insight Development Grants (2023-2025, 2025-2027) Royal Historical Society Fellowship University of Florida’s International Educator of the Year (2014) As a graduate supervisor, Effros mentors students in late antique/early medieval European history with colonial contexts, emphasizing Latin proficiency and multilingual research. She co-edits the Brill Series on the Early Middle Ages and Studies in Late Antiquity , while serving on the Medieval Academy of America’s Council. Her pandemic-era work on Liverpool silversmith Joseph Mayer’s collections demonstrates continued engagement with cultural patronage and museum provenance issues.
Peyvand Firouzeh is a Senior Lecturer in Islamic Art History at the University of Sydney, specializing in medieval and early modern Islamic art and architecture. She holds a BA and MA from the University of Art in Tehran and a MPhil/PhD from the University of Cambridge (Camb.). Her research focuses on Sufi material cultures, Indian Ocean artistic exchanges, and the intersection of art with politics and religion in the Islamic world. She is a member of the Vere Gordon Childe Centre and affiliated with the Art Gallery of New South Wales and the Sydney Asian Art Series. Dr. Firouzeh’s current projects include a monograph on Ne’matullahi shrines (Indiana UP, 2025) and a DECRA-funded study on fifteenth-century Deccan art networks. Her teaching emphasizes object-based learning, addressing contemporary issues like cultural heritage restitution and Islamophobia. She has received major grants from the Australian Research Council, Getty Foundation, and British Museum. Key Awards: DECRA (2023–2026), Getty Scholar Grant (2022–2023), Sydney Teaching Excellence Award (2022) Research Groups: Association for the Study of Persianate Societies, Power Institute’s Sydney Asian Art Series
Carmen Meinert holds the Chair for Central Asian Religions and serves as Deputy Director of the Center for Religious Studies (CERES) at Ruhr University Bochum. She is Principal Investigator of the ERC-funded BuddhistRoad project and coordinates the Climate and Culture publication series. Her academic foundation includes research and studies at universities in Bonn, Hamburg, Beijing, Chengdu, Vienna, and the Institute of Advanced Study in the Humanities, Essen. Research Focus: Meinert's scholarship centers on the transfer of Buddhism across Central Asia, with emphasis on Tantric rituals, manuscript traditions (Dunhuang/Kharakhoto), and religious syncretism. Key themes include: Medieval religious networks and sacred space formation Buddhist-Daoist/Tibetan-Chinese doctrinal exchanges Ritual adaptation and esoteric practices Buddhism's intersections with art, violence, and human rights Cultural dimensions of climate change Publications: Her extensive corpus examines Buddhist transmission along Silk Road networks, with recent works analyzing Tantric ritual texts, sacred geography under Tangut rule, and cross-cultural religious encounters. Publications demonstrate consistent focus on manuscript evidence and comparative frameworks. Awards & Fellowships: Käte Hamburger Kolleg Visiting Research Fellowship Research Leadership: Meinert directs multiple initiatives: ERC project BuddhistRoad (dynamics of religious transfer) CRC 1475 'Metaphors of Religion' Subproject A03 (ritual-textual networks) Climate and Culture publication series (6 volumes) She previously led projects on Dzogchen tradition development and rNying ma codification. Current work integrates Central Asian religious studies within global comparative frameworks.
