Lecture Series: Nodes of Time. Historical Networks and Artificial Intelligence

FOVOG and the Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities are organising a joint lecture series starting on 14 October 2026. It intertwines historical network research with artificial intelligence methods. The lectures are aimed at historians, especially those specialising in medieval studies, as well as representatives from related disciplines such as the digital humanities, computational linguistics and many others.

The lecture series will be offered online. The first and final sessions will also be held in a hybrid format at the SAW in Leipzig.

Please contact the following email address to receive the access link:

Program

Wednesday 14 October 2026, 6:00 pm (CEST) – hybrid event at SAW and online
Welcome Address: Hans-Joachim Knölker (SAW Leipzig)
Lecture: Alexander Lasch (TU Dresden) - Structuring the Unstructured: Knowledge Graphs as a Tool
Moderated by: Uwe Kretschmer (SAW Leipzig)

Wednesday 28 October 2026, 6:00 pm (CET)
Lecture: Noah Kim-Baumann (HU Berlin) - From Timetables to Temporal Graphs: AI-Assisted Reconstruction and Analysis of Cold War Berlin's Public Transport Networks

Wednesday 11 November 2026, 6:00 pm (CET)
Lecture: Robert L. J. Shaw (Masaryk University Brno) - Automating the inquisition: network data extraction from medieval heresy trial records using LLMs

Wednesday 25 November 2026, 6:00 pm (CET)
Lecture: Katia Riccardo (Masaryk University Brno) - From Testimony to Structure: Social Network Analysis of the Apostolic Movement in Bologna, 1291–1310

Wednesday 9 December 2026, 6:00 pm (CET)
Lecture: Linus Ubl (Eutin State Library) - Towards a Digital Transmission History – Mechthild of Hackeborn’s Medieval Manuscripts as Case Study

Wednesday 13 January 2027, 6:00 pm (CET)
Lecture: Elaine Treharne (Stanford University) / Mateusz Jakub Fafinski (University of Erfurt) - Hidden relationships: Medieval Networks of Memory in Thirteenth-Century England

Wednesday 27 January 2027, 6:00 pm (CET)
Lecture: Marcella Tambuscio (University of Graz) - From Sources to Networks: AI-assisted Data Creation and Sustainable Modelling in Managing Maximilian

Wednesday 10 February 2027, 6:00 pm (CET) – hybrid event at SAW and online
Lecture: Katrin Rösler / Sandra Groß / Mirko Breitenstein (all SAW Leipzig / FOVOG Dresden) - More than just nodes and edges: The potential of AI in historical network analysis from the perspective of the project ‘St Mary at Helfta’
Moderated by: Franziska Naether (University of Leipzig)