See https://www.arts.kuleuven.be/sph/ijsewijnlab
The 18th Jozef IJsewijn Lecture will take place on Thursday 21 May 2026, at 5pm, in the Justus Lipsius Room of the Erasmushuis (8th floor; Blijde Inkomststraat 21, 3000 Leuven), and will be delivered by Professor Marc Laureys (Universität Bonn), offering a quo vadis? view on Neo-Latin studies at the occasion of the sixtieth birthday of the Seminarium Philologiae Humanisticae. The lecture will be followed by a reception at 6pm in the big hall of the Erasmushuis on the ground floor. Attendance is completely free, but registration will be required.
The next day, on Friday 22 May 2026, the 4th IJsewijn Laboratorium will be held at the Colloquium (University Library, Mgr. Ladeuzeplein 21, 3000 Leuven). The Laboratorium will have a full-day program devoted to ongoing Neo-Latin research, and has two main aims: (1) showcasing state-of-the-art research in Neo-Latin studies, in terms of both subject and methodology, and (2) bringing together young scholars with established researchers, including the Jozef IJsewijn Lecturer. There is, in other words, no specific thematic focus, and everyone is encouraged to present work-in-progress, paying due attention to both successes and pitfalls in Neo-Latin research, and how to build on, or deal with, them. In the frame of the sixtieth birthday of the Seminarium, we do encourage participants to engage critically with the legacy of Jozef IJsewijn and the Seminarium within the discipline. The scientific committee will make a competitive selection of abstracts, as we have a maximum of 10 paper slots.
The Laboratorium aims to create an active exchange among the participants, in order to address and discuss promising research perspectives. All sessions will be plenary, including a research pitch by local Neo-Latin students. Each session will last one hour and include two presentations of 15’ each, followed by 30’ discussion time. Presenters will be asked to pre-circulate their materials and ideas in a way they see fit (e.g. a Neo-Latin text with translation and/or commentary, a short paper summarizing the main points of their work-in-progress, an advanced paper not yet submitted for publication, a poster file, …). The only prerequisite is that these materials contain two to three questions you want to see addressed during the discussions. The pre-circulated materials will be shared only with those registered for the workshop and will serve to encourage in-depth discussions. The main workshop language will be English. Abstracts are due 15 December and should be sent to Adriaan Demuynck (adriaan.demuynck[aet]kuleuven.be) and Raf Van Rooy (raf.vanrooy[aet]kuleuven.be).
The registration fee for the IJsewijn Laboratorium will be €35 to cover catering. (BA and MA students of KU Leuven are exempted from paying the Laboratorium’s fee.)
Organizing committee:
Marijke Crab (KU Leuven Libraries), Nicholas De Sutter (KU Leuven), Adriaan Demuynck (KU Leuven), Raf Van Rooy (KU Leuven)
Scientific committee:
Susanna de Beer (Leiden University), Gianmario Cattaneo (Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale), Marijke Crab (KU Leuven Libraries), Ingrid De Smet (University of Warwick), Nicholas De Sutter (KU Leuven), Martine Furno (Université Grenoble Alpes / ENS Lyon), Christian Laes (University of Manchester / University of Antwerp), Han Lamers (University of Oslo), Marc Laureys (Universität Bonn), Vasileios Pappas (University of Ioannina), Maxim Rigaux (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona / Ghent University), Florian Schaffenrath (Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für Neulateinische Studien, Innsbruck), Toon Van Houdt (KU Leuven), Raf Van Rooy (KU Leuven)