CSMCCentre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures

The CSMC Computer Scientist has won an Excellent Oral Presentation Award at the 12th IEEE International Conference on Soft Computing & Machine Intelligence (ISCMI) 2025, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

In the historiography of the Silk Road, Central Asian peoples such as the Uyghurs have so far played only a minor role. Wrongly so, argues historian Márton Vér. In his ERC project, he challenges Eurocentric and Sinocentric perspectives and turns the history of the complex supra-network on its head.

We are deeply saddened by the death of our colleague, Professor Dr Bruno Reudenbach (1952–2025). Bruno Reudenbach was one of the longest-standing members of the CSMC, having shaped and supported it since its very beginnings with great expertise, commitment, and passion.

‘Pearls and corals’ – the meaning of the Manipravalam language’s name is as poetic as the language itself is important to the history of South India. Still, it has hardly been researched. Suganya Anandakichenin has received a prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant to gain a better understanding of it.

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.