Cluster of Excellence EurAsian Transformations

▫️‚Konflikte im Grenzbereich des ostfränkisch-deutschen Kaiserreichs‘
~ Conflicts in the Borderlands of the East Frankish-German Empire

▪️When Faith divides Neighbours: The Struggle between Christian Rulers and ‚Pagan‘ Inhabitants from the Perspective of a Court Biographer

✍️ Florian Maizner, MA | PhD Researcher at the DK Entangled Antiquities | University of Innsbruck

📝 EURASIA-BLOG | DerStandard

▫️In his guest blog post, Florian Maizner, a doctoral researcher at the DK Entangled Antiquities at the University of Innsbruck, uses a specific example from the Middle Ages to explore how accounts of tensions between neighboring communities in expansive empires balance between serious historical scholarship and fake news.

🔗 Read the full blog entry here: https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000329517/konflikte-im-grenzbereich-des-ostfraenkisch-deutschen-kaiserreichs

Upcoming Workshop! 👀

‚Betreff Japan: Kollektiv Lesen‘

Japanese-Austrian Networking Workshop

🗓️ Tuesday, 18th of August, 2026
🕕 10.00-18.00
✏️ Organisation: PD Dr. Christine Frank | Mag. Dr. Isabelle Prochaska-Meyer
📍University of Vienna | Department of Comparative Literature | Sensengasse 3a | Seminar Room 8 (5th floor)

For more information:https://www.uibk.ac.at/media/filer_public/d8/4d/d84dffd8-9a5d-4e47-bbb0-8ae120950eb5/japanisch-oesterreichischer-workshop-20260818.pdf

Apply Now!

💫 Scientific Project Assistant (praedoc) 💫

📍University of Vienna

📋Application Deadline: 14 August 2026

Further information here: https://jobs.univie.ac.at/job/Scientific-project-assistant-predoctoral/1423096233/

📖New Blog-Entry

💫'Spätantike Persische Königin als Role Model für iranische Frauen'
Late Antique Persian Queen as a Role Model for Iranian Women
~ The Figure of Shirin as an Example of How Historical Narratives Can be Reinterpreted in Modernity💫

✒️In her guest blog post, historian Assoc. Prof. Dr. Irene Madreiter explores the significant historical and literary role of the Persian queen Shirin and explains why the lack of documented facts about her has allowed for a wide range of interpretations.

Read the whole blog entry here:https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000329503/spaetantike-persische-koenigin-als-role-model-fuer-iranische-frauen

❗️major opportunity for experts in the field!

💼Tenure-Track Professorship in Buddhist Studies

More information: https://jobs.univie.ac.at/job/Tenure-Track-Professorship-in-Buddhist-Studies/1417570133/

New Blog-Entry!📖

💫👑‘Det Schatten einer früheren Königin oder Geschichte als “Argument”’
The Shadow of a Former Queen, or History as an ‘Argument’👑💫

In his guest blog post, historian Ian Macgregor Morris of the University of Innsbruck explores the protagonist of the Book of Esther and the diverse interpretations of her role throughout history - depending on the perspective from which her story is told.

🔗Read the full article here: https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000328501/der-schatten-einer-frueheren-koenigin-oder-geschichte-als-argument

📢 Call for Papers

💫Continuity and Discontinuity in Ancient Eurasia: Empires and the Axial Ages of an Entangled World (1st Millennium BCE)💫

🔹Organized by Ass.-Prof. Dr. Julian Degen (Innsbruck), PD Dr. Nikolas Hächler (Zurich)

🔹In Cooperation with Univ.- Prof. Dr. Bernhard Palme (Vienna), Dr. Johannes Preiser-Kapeller (ÖAW), Dr. Florian Schwarz (ÖAW)

🔹Hosting Institution and Venue: University of Innsbruck, Department of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Austria

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❗️Submission Guidelines

♦️Deadline: October 1, 2026

♦️Notification of acceptance: October 7, 2026

♦️Submission: Please submit an abstract of 300 to 500 words (excluding references), specifying your chosen thematic cluster, along with a short bio of up to 150 words to: [email protected]

♦️Languages: English

♦️Format: in-person



❗️We invite submissions from members of the Cluster of Excellence for the upcoming conference in Innsbruck. Four papers will be selected for presentation. Accepted speakers will receive full coverage of travel and accommodation expenses.❗️

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🔹About the Conference

This conference reinterprets Reinhart Koselleck’s ‘Sattelzeit’ by linking phases of accelerated intellectual change, marked by continuity and rupture, to the concrete histories of ancient empires across Eurasia. In dialogue with and in contrast to Karl Jaspers’ ‘Achsenzeit,’ the conference emphasizes imperial ideologies and infrastructures as engines of entanglement that enabled ideas to circulate, contend, and transform. Two conferences are being organized as part of a series. The first, held in Innsbruck, will focus exclusively on the 1st millennium BCE, setting the foundation for the series. The second conference, taking place in Zurich, will shift the focus to the 1st millennium CE, offering a complementary perspective on the centuries that followed.



🔹Aims and Scope

1) Shifting attention from abstract synchronies to how imperial formations structured chronologies and enabled intellectual exchange through administrati

👝Visiting Professor

👤Adam Catt, PHD
📍Universität Wien

Adam Catt, PHD, will be teaching two courses at the University of Vienna from the 31st of August, 2026, until the 28th of January, 2027:

• Lecture: Introduction to Japanese Linguistics
• Seminar: Tocharian Abhodharma Literature