A four-year PhD position in Syriac Studies, funded by Ghent University’s Special Research Fund (BOF), is available within Ghent University’s Department of History (Belgium). The position is funded by the research project ‘History and authority in Syriac excerpt collections and beyond’ (Prof. P. Van Nuffelen, Dr. M. Mazzola, Dr. A.Hilkens). Combining intellectual history with material philology, this project studies the authority attributed to histories in Syriac excerpt collections, with the aim of contributing to the study of Syriac identity formation, the history of historiography, and the study of late antique excerpt collections.
The PhD student will focus on a corpus of excerpt collections dating to the formative period of the Miaphysite church (6th-10thc.), with special attention to the material composition, the overall aim of the collection and its internal organization, the excerpts themselves (e.g. selection, reworking, positioning of the historical material).
The successful applicant will
- possess a good master’s degree in Oriental Studies, History, Classics, or another relevant discipline (or will possess one by 1/1/2020),
- have an interest in the political, cultural and religious history of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages,
- have an excellent knowledge of Syriac, or possess a good knowledge that you are willing to improve, and
- be able to work independently as well as in team.
Codicological competence and knowledge of Greek, Latin and/or Arabic are a plus.
The successful applicant will
- complete of a PhD within four years,
- co-organise of a conference,
- teach in limited amounts of teaching, and
- assist with other academic activities.
The successful candidate is expected to start on 1/1/2020 or soon thereafter. S/he shall have to live in Belgium.