ICS Training 2024-25

Held monthly for ICS-affiliated PhD researchers and Early Career Research Associates
Hybrid, in-person and online
Being a postgraduate or early career researcher can often feel alienating, or like a leap into the unknown. The LEAP Lab is an informal space to facilitate the sharing of ideas and experiences, gather feedback, develop networks, and contribute towards personal development. Meetings focus on publication processes and strategies; teaching techniques; developing funding and job applications; productive networking; and well-being in academia, among other topics.
 

The ICS is collaborating with the British School at Rome and British School at Athens to offer up to four Turing Scheme placements to students from the School of Advanced Study in the 2024–25 academic year. Placements and application details will be advertised here on the School of Advanced Study website from October 2024.

Online only

Dates: September 9–12, 2024
Tutors: Gabriel Bodard (London), Marta Fogagnolo (Bologna), Tamara Kalkhitashvili (Tbilisi), Polina Yordanova (Helsinki)
Cost: £80 / £40 unwaged and unfunded

We invite applications for a three-day online only, flipped training workshop in the use of EpiDoc (http://epidoc.sf.net/), the de facto standard for encoding ancient epigraphic and papyrological editions in TEI XML for online publication and interchange. The workshop will introduce the encoding of ancient texts in XML, and sources of information and support on EpiDoc. No technical knowledge is required, but participants are expected to be familiar with the transcription conventions for inscriptions and papyri (Leiden System and similar) and either Greek, Latin or other ancient languages.

The workshop will involve asynchronous training materials and exercises, and three hours of real-time support and discussion via video call, on the Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.

• Monday Sep 9, 15:00 BST
• Wednesday Sep 11, 15:00 BST
• Thursday Sep 12, 15:00 BST

Book here

Following the post-REF 2021 briefings held by the ICS and CUCD for the Classics subject community in summer 2022, the ICS hosted two online workshops in 2023-24 for authors of prospective REF 2029 impact case studies, as well as unit heads who are considering how best to support impact case study development in their institutions. In each of these, authors of case studies submitted for REF 2021 will reflect informally on what they did, including challenges they encountered, conveying hints and tips for those now preparing case studies. A third workshop will be held in 2024-25 as below.

This workshop will be discursive and will be held under ‘Chatham House rules’ to enable frank discussion of the challenges and successes of impact case studies. This means that it will not be recorded. Once more definitive REF criteria have been published, we intend to follow with a workshop on ‘What does REF mean for me?’, which will cover all sections of REF and will be aimed especially at early-career researchers and those participating in REF for the first time.

Showcase 3: Heritage protection, access, reuse in local and global contexts 

11:00 – 13:00, Thursday 19 September 2024 

Online via Zoom 

• Lindsay Allen (KCL) Return of a Wandering Guard 

• Stuart Campbell (Manchester) Cultural protection in post-conflict Iraq 

• Elena Isayev (Exeter) Using lessons of ancient mobility to empower communities and transform heritage, artistic and educational practice in contexts of displacement 

• Roberta Mazza (Bologna) The Circulation of Ancient Manuscripts on the Antiquities Market: Improving the Ethical and Regulatory Practices and Standards of Market Stakeholders 

Chair: Elton Barker (Open University) 

Register here.

In conversation with Lily MacMahon (Bloomsbury Academic), Michael Sharp (Cambridge University Press), Sam Agbamu (Reading), Amber Gartrell (UCL) and Leah Lazar (Oxford).

16.00–18.00, Tuesday 8 October 

Online via Zoom 

How does one approach a publisher for their first book? What is it like to rework your doctoral thesis into a monograph manuscript? What is the best way to select a publisher for your first book? This researcher training event will tackle these questions among others in the context of the current (and future) academic book publishing landscape. 

It takes the form of a conversation with commissioning editors from several publishers across the discipline of Classics, including Ancient History, Archaeology, Reception Studies and other adjacent areas of research, as well as researchers that have recently published their first monograph. It aims foremost to demystify and break down barriers between researchers, editors and publishing houses, as well as providing a toolkit of skills and advice to go about getting your first book published. Discussion will be of use not only to those looking to publish imminently but also to graduate, postgraduate, and more experienced researchers looking to publish in different spaces and new ways. 

The moderated conversation will be followed by a Q&A with attendees; there will also be an opportunity to submit questions to the panel in advance. 

Register here

14.00–15.00, Wednesday 23 October 

Online via Zoom 

If you are a new or continuing PhD student who is keen to find out more about how the ICS’s resources, library and activities can support you in your research, please join us for this short information session. It is intended for doctoral researchers across the UK, as well as internationally. 

Register here.

14.00–16.00, Wednesday 6 November 2024

Online via Zoom

This training event, held in collaboration with specialist staff from the Combined Classics Library at the ICS, will provide an introduction to essential resources for research in the broad fields of Classics, Archaeology and Ancient History, along with less well-known and underutilised specialist databases and collections. More details to follow shortly.

Date and time to be confirmed. 

This in-conversation event provides an opportunity to learn from a panel of Classics and Archaeology experts with lengthy experiences curating public profiles to engage the public with their research. A range of formats will be covered, including social media, traditional public media (tv, radio, print), and trade publications. 

Panellists and more details to come soon.

13.00-15.00, Wednesday 29 January 2025
Online via Zoom 

The British International Research Institutes (or BIRIs) play a vital role in supporting and sustaining Classics researchers and their work, along with offering opportunities to receive residential awards or grants, build collaborations and often house world-class archives and libraries. They are nine institutes based across the Mediterranean, Black Sea, southern Europe, Africa, Türkiye, and the Middle East, Iran and Central Asia. 

This training event focusses on four of the BIRIs: the British School at Rome (BSR), British School at Athens (BSA), British Institute at Ankara (BIAA), and British Institute for Libyan and North African Studies (BILNAS). Directors and staff from these institutes will provide information, advice and answer questions around topics such as applying for residential awards and grants, accessing and using resources and collections, building collaborative projects, and supporting personal research. By connecting researchers directly with the BIRI, this event aims to demystify what they are, what they offer and how they might support your research. It is open to researchers at all career stages, from graduates and postgraduates through to those senior and more experienced. 

Panellists to be confirmed closer to the event.

Book here

The 2024–25 SunoikisisDC Digital Approaches to Cultural Heritage programme will be available here in late 2024. The programme will be taught online from January to March 2025. 

The Sunoikisis Digital Classics training videos are widely used to Masters-level teaching worldwide and can also be used as supporting materials for other kinds of courses and workshops or in independent learning at any level. The sessions cover a mix of practical methods, theoretical discussion and research applications of digital approaches to ancient languages, texts and material heritage. 

SunoikisisDC is an international consortium of Digital Classics programs originally developed by the Alexander von Humboldt Chair of Digital Humanities at the University of Leipzig in collaboration with Harvard’s Center for Hellenic Studies and the Institute of Classical Studies, London. 

For more information, see the Sunoikisis website here.

Date and time to be confirmed. 

Online via Zoom. 

More information will be released shortly.

Date and time to be confirmed.

More information will be released shortly.

Spring 2025; dates and times to be confirmed. 

Online via Zoom 

The Institute of Classical Studies and the University of Oxford Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics will offer two free, online semi-intensive courses in Phoenician. One will be at beginners level, and a second at intermediate level. 

Classes will usually take place for two hours each day over one week, with daily homework. All materials will be provided by the tutor (Dr Vladimir Olivero), and for the beginners course no prior knowledge of the language will be assumed. 

These courses are aimed primarily at graduate students and more advanced researchers who will use the language for academic purposes (though not necessarily on dissertation work), but others are very welcome to apply.

7–11 April 2025 

In-person at the ICS, London 

This course will introduce participants to a range of 3D technologies, from photogrammetry to 3D design software, for the imaging, modelling and analysis of ancient artefacts and buildings. We offer a mix of practical and theoretical sessions, including advice on imaging both portable objects and outdoor monuments. Drawing on the expertise and partnerships of the Institute of Classical Studies and nearby cultural institutions, this course is suitable for students, archaeologists, teachers and anyone with a general interest in these topics. No previous technical experience is required.

Booking details to follow.

Spring 2025; date and time to be confirmed. 

This introductory training activity will be led by Gabriel Bodard, Christopher Ohge and Megan Bushnell, held in collaboration with the Institute of Classical Studies, Institute of English Studies, and Digital Humanities Research Hub at the School of Advanced Study. 

More information will be released shortly.

Date and time to be confirmed. 

More information will be released shortly.

May 2025; date and time to be confirmed. 

Led by Gabriel Bodard and Christopher Ohge, held in collaboration with the Institute of Classical Studies and Institute of English Studies. 

More information will be released shortly.

Summer 2025; dates to be confirmed in late 2024. 

Opportunities will be advertised for students and researchers at UK institutions to participate in and build their fieldwork skills during excavations at Falerii Novi, as part of the Falerii Novi Project’s 2025 season.