CSMC Invites Applications for its MA Programme

16 February 2026

Photo: UHH/vonWieding

The application period for our international Master’s programme ‘Manuscript Cultures’ has started and runs until 31 March. The programme begins in October and is now, for the first time, offered as a two-year course.

The MA ‘Manuscript Cultures’ provides a comprehensive and research-oriented introduction to the study of handwritten artefacts in a global perspective, with particular emphasis on Asia, Africa, and Europe. It covers a wide variety of manuscript traditions and materials, ranging from religious and literary manuscripts to scientific, administrative, and artistic documents. Students learn to analyse manuscripts as carriers of text, image, notation, and other forms of graphic information, and at the same time as material objects embedded in specific historical and social contexts. In its explicit combination of cultural, philological, analytical, and methodological perspectives on manuscripts, the programme offers a uniquely comprehensive education in the cross-disciplinary engagement with manuscripts from all epochs and regions of the world.

Building on the strong track record of the previous one-year format, the extended two-year programme offers students more time to develop their own research profile while maintaining its established focus on global written artefacts. The new curriculum integrates the programme’s established core areas with newly introduced modules, such as ‘Cultural Heritage and Ethics in Manuscript Research’, which places questions of ownership, provenance, access, and responsibility at the centre of critical reflection. In addition, the curriculum is complemented by new modules from the computer sciences, including courses on information systems and natural language processing as well as on computer-assisted analysis of manuscript visuals.

Throughout their studies at the CSMC, students can benefit from close contact with a dynamic, international research environment. The programme is taught entirely in English, and applicants are required to provide proof of adequate English language proficiency. No tuition fees are charged; students pay only the regular semester contribution of the University of Hamburg. Applications are submitted online through the university’s application portal during the period from 15 February to 31 March for admission in the following winter semester.

More information on the programme and how to apply is available here. If you have any questions about the application process, please get in touch with the Coordinator of the Graduate School, Merryl Rebello.