Georgios Chatzelis's Report

Presenting a communication at the 23rd International Congress of Byzantine Studies in Belgrade

This year, I had the pleasure of visiting Belgrade to participate in the 23rd International Congress of Byzantine studies which took place in August. I was lucky enough to receive a Royal Holloway Travel Award which covered all my travel and seven-day accommodation expenses.

I am studying the Sylloge Tacticorum, a tenth-century Byzantine military manual. One of the aspects my research is looking into is how Byzantine authors used and adapted classical sources in their military manuals and whether classical imitation allowed for innovations. The Travel Award gave me the opportunity to communicate my research to a scholarly audience, to make it known and to engage with their ideas and opinions.

The congress was very well organised and very widely attended. Over a thousand participants from almost fifty countries were present which made it ideal for networking. I had the chance to reconnect with scholars I already knew, some former teachers of mine, but also to meet new ones, some of whom very well established and with very similar research interests.

I presented a communication entitled Innovation in the Sylloge Tacticorum which was part of a very relevant session that discussed how Byzantium interacted with ancient literature. Apart from the very interesting discussion with the audience, I had the chance to meet all the other speakers in person and discuss their very relevant research problems, insights and different perspectives over coffee and lunch. From our discussion I also learned more about Byzantine studies in Serbia.

Except for my presentation, I was also able to attend numerous other sessions, either round tables, free communications or plenary sessions. Most of these featured very well established scholars who presented their cutting edge research which provided invaluable new insights and perspectives. All these are of vital importance to researchers and can provide the raw material to further broaden my own horizons.

The city of Belgrade is very vibrant and its Byzantine tradition and influence quite obvious in its landmarks. In the centre of the city one could additionally visit the Byzantine book fair which featured books from international and local publishers, as well as a very interesting exhibition that looked into the impact of Byzantine buildings on modern and contemporary architecture and acted as an inspiration for contemporary architects.

Overall, the whole experience was very fruitful for me. In the short run, I met with well-established scholars who share the same interests as me, I presented and communicated my findings to an academic audience and engaged with the ideas of specialists in my topic. In the long run, such international congresses are a very important step for turning a PhD student into a future professional academic. They enhance research impact and academic CVs, and they provide with invaluable opportunities for networking which is a very effective way of making yourself and your research known to the academia, especially at early stages. They are also very helpful for future academic collaborations and for securing an academic post in the future, either a post-doc or a lectureship.