Maroussia Bednarkiewicz

Maroussia’s research projects consist in developing algorithms for the study of large textual corpora, mainly in Classical Arabic, to bring new perspectives on how people derive authority from the past and build the ground for new cultural memories. On a broader scale she is interested in supporting digital studies of under-resourced and under-represented languages. Hence, she first co-founded the Islamicate Digital Humanities Network to organise international conferences online every year for scholars to share their latest research and methods in the study of Islam and its languages, such as Arabic, Persian, Ottoman Turkish and Turkish, or Urdu for instance. And following her fellowship at the Centre for Digital Humanities at Princeton, she became the co-chair of DARIAH Multilingual DH Working group.

Previously she studied German, Russian as well as Translation in Geneva, and worked as a professional translator for national and international organisations, authors and artists. In parallel, she did a Master in Islamic studies and History at Oxford and, in her doctoral thesis, delved into the origins of the Islamic call to prayer and the premises of Muslim cultural memory. She then contributed to the ERC project KITAB (Knowledge, Information, Technology and the Arabic Book) towards the development of the OpenITI corpus, the largest, open-source digital collection of Classical Arabic texts.

Academic Experience

• Assistant Professor, IE University, Spain, 2024 – Present

• Postdoc, University of Tübingen, Germany, 2020 – 2024 

• Postdoc, University of Innsbruck, Austria, 2019 – 2020

• Postdoc, Aga Khan University, United Kingdom, 2019

Academic Background

• DPhil in Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, 2018

• MPhil in Islamic Studies and History, University of Oxford, United Kingdom, 2014

• MA in Translations, University of Geneva, Switzerland, 2011

• BA in German and Russian Languages, Literatures and Civilisations, University of Geneva, Switzerland, 2008

Corporate Experience

• Translation manager (French), freespeechdebate.ord, United Kingdom, 2015 – 2019 

• Freelance translator, Switzerland and international, 2010 – 2018

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGs)

4 - Quality Education

11- Sustainable Cities and Communities

13 - Climate Action