Category: News

December was rich with academic events in Istanbul. On her second research week, Negar took advantage of the opportunity to attend various talks and meet scholars and researchers across disciplines. During this period, she attended one of the rare public talks by Emine Fetvacı at the ANAMED Library, which focused on an Ottoman manuscript, Kalīla… Continue reading ISTANBUL, December 2025, Part II

This December, Negar stays in Istanbul for a long research trip. She started a visit to the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, whose collection of around 600 manuscripts forms a small but highly valuable corpus in the city, beautifully situated beside the Bosphorus. There, she examined several works and had a brief yet fruitful conversation with the… Continue reading ISTANBUL, December 2025, Part I

The research continued in London, where Negar once again returned to the British Library—a place that had already become an anchor point for her. Her visit turned into an unexpectedly rich and deeply enjoyable experience. As someone who regularly works with Ottoman and Turkish materials across different collections, she arrived with a sense of familiarity.… Continue reading LONDON, November 2025, Part II

Silhouetted Paper on the Streets of London – Research Trip, Part I The first week of the team’s recent research trip to London proved both productive and inspiring. The city’s libraries and museums offered a wealth of material, and Negar, Theresa and Yih-chuen made great use of their time among its collections. While Yih-chuen spent… Continue reading LONDON, November 2025, Part I

A Visit to St Andrews: Studying the St Andrews Qur’an and Persian Manuscript Provenance In early November, Theresa travelled to St Andrews for a short but fruitful research visit. At first, she spend some time at the university’s conservation lab, where she had the opportunity to study the famous St Andrews Qur’an. Using a light… Continue reading ST ANDREWS, November 2025

Over the summer, Yih-chuen has been exploring project-related resources and delving into catalog research in libraries. Her recent trip took her to the Bodleian Library in Oxford in October 2025, where she continued to study catalogs that are not available in Germany. So far, she has consulted over 50 catalogs in total to prepare for… Continue reading OXFORD, October 2025

Decorated Paper 2.0 Workshop The GLOBAL DECO PAPER team gathered for a three-day workshop titled “Decorated Paper 2.0”with affiliated researcher Jake Benson. The event brought together hands-on database work, lively discussions on terminology and technique, and inspiring insights into the global history of decorated papers. Day One: Deep Dive into the Database Our workshop began… Continue reading MUNICH, October 2025

At this year’s Deutscher Orientalistentag (DOT) in Erlangen, one packed day showcased panels by PI Ilse Sturkenboom, bringing the students’ research into sharp, compelling focus. Centred on the arts of the book across Persian, Ottoman, and Mughal contexts—from the twelfth to the nineteenth centuries—the sessions also probed twentieth-century collecting, reminding us how later histories shape… Continue reading ERLANGEN, September 2025

The second week of the Leiden Summer School on Philology and Manuscripts from the Muslim World was quite productive as participants had to prepare a presentation based on their own research field. Apart from that,  one of the central highlights of this week was the introduction to the Leiden University Library catalogue and its special… Continue reading LEIDEN, August 2025, Part II

In August, Negar participated in the 7th Leiden Summer School on Philology and Manuscripts from the Muslim World 2025, a highly competitive program that accepts only 15 participants each year. Being selected was both an honor and a fortunate opportunity to study and do research in Leiden, where the courses brought together diverse topics, expert… Continue reading LEIDEN, August 2025, Part I