In the framework of the project "DigiByzSeal – Unlocking the value of seals: New Methodologies for Historical Research in Byzantine Studies" jointly funded by the ANR and the DFG, the CNRS invites applications for 2 postdoctoral researchers in Byzantine Studies and Digital Humanities to start on April 1st 2022 for 24 months.
This project, carried out in collaboration between the "Monde byzantin" component of the CNRS-UMR 8167 and the University of Cologne (Germany), aims to highlight a valuable but underexplored source for the knowledge of Byzantine history (4th-15th century), namely the seals used by members of civil, military and ecclesiastical institutions of Byzantium, as well as by private individuals, with their information of prosopographic, geographical, iconographic nature (among others). The full potential of these objects can only be leveraged through their accessible and transparent publication as well as through the increased interdisciplinary interlinking of the information they provide. The DigiByzSeal project will publish in digital form a number of important unpublished seal collections from France and Germany, as well as converting previously paper-published seal corpora. This will be done through SigiDoc 1.0, a digital publishing tool that has been very recently released and will be further developed during the course of the project.
The postdoctoral researchers will work with the French team of the project, within in the CNRS - UMR 8167, Orient et Méditerranée, équipe Monde Byzantin, based at the Collège de France (Paris, 5th arrondissement), under the supervision of Alessio Sopracasa (Sorbonne University/UMR 8167), scientific supervisor of the project and co-developer of SigiDoc 1.0. The other members of the French team are Vivien Prigent, research director at CNRS, and Jean-Claude Cheynet, professor emeritus at Sorbonne University.
The call for applications is intended for early career researchers, with less than 4 years of experience, but priority will be given to applicants having finished their PhD no longer than 2 years prior to the beginning of the contract.
Knowledge in Byzantine history, sigillography, epigraphy and/or numismatics as well as XML (particularly TEI and EpiDoc) and XSLT are preferable, but not mandatory.
There are two identical calls on the CNRS website (HERE and HERE), one for one for each vacancy. Applications can be submitted to either call.