CSMCCentre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures

Great success for two of our researchers: the Indologist Suganya Anandakichenin and Márton Ver, a historian specialising in Central Asia, have each been awarded the prestigious five-year grant to carry out ambitious research projects.

During his recent trip to Nigeria, CSMC researcher Dmitry Bondarev visited the University of Maiduguri and the Centre for Kanuri Ajami and Qur’anic Studies to pave the way for future initiatives to enhance the conservation and study of written heritage in North East Nigeria.

The new volume of ‘Studies in Manuscript Cultures’ takes its readers to the places where large quantities of written artefacts are stored, organised, and preserved: archives. Their physical nature is the focus of this cross-cultural analysis.

A journey right into the heart of Mexico’s material writing culture: CSMC researchers Małgorzata Grzelec and Laura Gallardo Domínguez are back from a field trip during which they not only presented their recent work but also got to experience local papermaking and dye production traditions first-hand.

The CSMC researcher will move to the University of Music and Theatre Munich on 1 December, where she will take up the professorship in historical musicology with a focus on early music history.

Researchers from the Ajami Lab regularly travel across West Africa to catalogue and study manuscripts that contain African languages written in Arabic script. This month, the team was in Kaduna, Nigeria, to initiate new projects.

The latest volume of the ‘Studies in Manuscript Cultures’ book series aims to provide the complete history of Tibetan tsakali cards, unique ritual artefacts that remain little known outside specialist circles.

Congratulations to Duo Xu on defending her doctoral dissertation and completing her PhD in Sinology! The viva voce examination took place on 18 November 2025.