Professor Sebastian Sobecki (Department of English and Centre for Medieval Studies) is leading two new research projects beginning this year.
He is the recipient of a University of Toronto–Université Paris Cité Joint Research Grant for the project Re-Orienting Female Mobility in the Early Global World, co-led with Professor Ladan Niayesh. The project will build a database of all known female travellers in medieval and early modern Eurasia. Funding includes $15,000 from the University of Toronto and €10,000 from the University of Paris Cité over a period of one and a half years.
Professor Sobecki has also been awarded a SSHRC Insight Grant for the project Communities of Practice: Scripts, Scribes, and the Production of Literature in London, 1377 to 1471, with funding close to $400,000 over five years. The project will use machine learning and AI alongside traditional palaeography to study medieval handwriting. It will include research assistant opportunities for MA and PhD students.