Research at LECTIO
Research Focus
LECTIO’s current research program, Challenging Traditions (2025–2028), explores how premodern European intellectual heritage can both shape and question established views. Traditions are not static inheritances but dynamic forces that inspire debate, transformation, and innovation. The program is structured around four research lines — shattering networks, chains of transmission, intercultural encounters, and beyond words — supported by two methodological areas: textual transmission and text editing, and computational methods.
LECTIO for you
Are you a member of LECTIO? Would you like to organise an event? Interested in connecting with researchers from other disciplines? Need more visibility for your work?
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Research Projects
LECTIO serves as a platform to establish new research collaborations and supports its members in acquiring project funding for large-scale interdisciplinary endeavours. The projects grow out of common interests and are aligned with the institute's vision on the future of interdisciplinary research in historical humanities. We are also always happy to share the news of individual research projects led by LECTIO members.
Working Groups
LECTIO Working Groups represent ad hoc collaborations of members with a variety of aims, e.g. to organize a conference, set up a research project, or build a network of expertise. They support bottom-up and interdisciplinary research initiatives and connect them to LECTIO’s general research program. Working Groups are open and flexible, and they are supported by LECTIO depending on their needs.
Junior Initiatives
LECTIO Junior Initiatives aim to provide a space for junior researchers to test ideas, seek feedback, and explore new directions. Each initiative can start from a question or problem encountered in your research, where perspectives from other LECTIO disciplines may prove valuable. The format is entirely flexible and shaped by your needs: you might present your research, analyze sources together, or even organize a mini-hackathon. This initiative is yours to define.
Visiting Fellowships
Every year, international researchers come to Leuven for a short-term visit as part of the LECTIO Visiting Fellowships funding scheme. They spend 4–6 weeks at the university and give a lecture or seminar for LECTIO, and often establish new collaborations with our members. Some of these fellowships are supported by our partners within and outside KU Leuven.