Successful workshop on Dead Sea Scrolls with AI, computer science, and philology
When asked about the mission of the Leiden Jewish Studies network, Jürgen Zangenberg, Professor of Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity at Leiden University, and one of the organizers of the event says: “We try to keep the network as broad as possible, and to attract as many people from the outside as possible. We want to inspire students to study things that are not usually on the agenda”.
This October, the network organized a visit by Mladen Popović, Professor of Old Testament and Ancient Judaism at the University of Groningen and a leading scholar of the Dead Sea Scrolls. He held a workshop in the Lipsius building on his latest ERC-funded project about the Dead Sea Scrolls and gave a public lecture in the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities.
Zangenberg recalls that over 30 students of various disciplines attended the afternoon workshop and made it a huge success. Given the multidisciplinary nature of Popović’s new research method, which includes the use of AI, computer science, and philology, we were happy to see so many engaged participants. That is especially important given the consequences of Mladen Popović’s research – it questions the traditional dating of many Dead Sea Scrolls, posing both a challenge and an opportunity for a new cohort of future scholars.
In the evening, the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities opened its doors for over 200 participants – the by now ninth Egeria Lecture titled “Waar AI, natuurwetenschappen en geesteswetenschappen samenkomen: Innovatie in manuscriptonderzoek naar de Dode Zeerollen”. As usual, attendees were not limited to those engaged in academia but also many members of the interested public who came to spend an inspiring evening listening to a fascinating lecture.
This year’s study day has already made an impact by gathering many interested and passionate individuals together to discuss multidisciplinary research approaches and the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves. Beyond that, it embodied the mission of the Leiden Jewish Studies Network – to connect academics of different fields, inspire the next generation of researchers and to open doors and horizons for the wider public.