Ancient Religions in a Digital World

Organized by the Scuola Normale Superiore in collaboration with Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès and Collège de France, the School is funded by the PNRR through the MERITA, the network for talent project*.
 
Date: 26 May - 4 June 2026
Location:  Scuola Normale Superiore, Palazzo della Carovana, Pisa
Max participants: 15
Language: English
Application deadline: 30 January 2026, 11.59 pm (UTC+1)
Target audience: PhD students and postdoctoral researchers within the research fields of History/Anthropology/Sciences of Religions, Ancient History, Archaeology and Art History of Antiquity, Classical Literature and Philology.

The Summer School focuses on studying ancient religions, including divine names, cult spaces, and ritual practices, through the methods and resources of the Digital Humanities. Specifically, the goal is to explore how the study of ancient religions can be enriched by multimedia technologies to advance our understanding of historical and religious phenomena. 

The training for the Summer School will utilize a wide array of sources from the Mediterranean area, including inscriptions on various media, literary, numismatic, and papyrological evidence, as well as iconographic and archaeological material. 

The School is specifically designed to focus on employing diverse digital tools and resources to enable a more insightful and wide-ranging investigation into religious conceptions, representations, and practices. 

The courses will include thematic workshops on various approaches to gods, cultic spaces and actors, ritual practices, etc., in different contexts and from different angles; methodological workshops devoted to the application of digital tools and resources to the study of the history of ancient religions; lectures delivered by invited researchers; various visits to the main cultural and historical attractions of Pisa and outdoor excursions to archaeological sites, related to the Summer School’s broad historical and religious interests.

To support participants, tutoring sessions will be provided throughout the School to help them progressively engage with the tools and methods and apply them to their own research fields. On the final day, participants will present their personal work in a 15- or 20-minute presentation, which can be delivered individually or in pairs, followed by a collective discussion.

Application procedure
Applicants should submit a single PDF document including the registration form downloading on this page; a cover letter explaining the expectations towards the School (1 page); a CV (max. 4 pages); a summary of the PhD dissertation topic / postdoctoral project (250 words); a letter from the supervisor (for doctoral students), academic mentor (for postdoctoral researchers), or laboratory director, indicating that the candidate’s institution is committed to covering travel and, possibly, dinner expenses. If the host institution cannot commit to supporting the travel costs, an explanation must be attached to the applicant’s file. Additionally, we encourage candidates to ask their institution about any scholarship schemes supporting the mobility of PhD students.

The applications should be sent, no later than Friday, January 30, 2026 to the Organizing Committee (corinne.bonnet@sns.it, giuseppina.marano@sns.it; alessio.ranno@sns.it). 

​Participation in the School does not entail enrollment fees.
Admission to the School includes participation in the lectures, journey from Pisa airport to the city centre and back, accommodation, a welcome and a farewell dinner; lunch at the SNS mensa on a daily basis and entrance fees to sites and museums, as well as transport for outdoor excursions. 
Participants are scheduled to arrive in Pisa on Monday, May 25, 2026, where they will be invited to a welcome dinner that evening. The course itself runs from Tuesday, May 26, through Thursday, June 4. A farewell dinner will mark the conclusion on Thursday evening (June 4), with departures scheduled for Friday, June 5.

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* MERITA, the network for talent project is the result of a collaboration between five Italian academic institutions: the Scuola Normale Superiore, the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, the Collegio Superiore dell’Università di Bologna, the Scuola Galileiana di Studi Superiori dell’Università di Padova and the Scuola Superiore di Studi Avanzati della Sapienza Università di Roma.
The MERITA project is funded within the Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza (PNRR), Missione 4 – Istruzione e Ricerca, Componente 1, Investimento 3.4 "Didattica e competenze universitarie avanzate"- "Rafforzamento delle Scuole universitarie superiori". (National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), Mission 4 – Education and Research, Component 1, Investment 3.4 "Advanced university teaching and competences" - "Enhancement of the institutions for higher education").

Rielaborazione grafica di: Trionfo di Nettuno, Mosaico di Hadrumète, Musée archéologique de Sousse via wikicommons | CC BY-SA 3.0