With the addition of two new members, the ERC Consolidator Grant-funded project “Networks of Dissent: Computational Modelling of Dissident and Inquisitorial Cultures in Medieval Europe” (DISSINET, 2021-2026) has finished putting together its full team. Who’s joined?

We are delighted to announce that, after two highly competitive hiring processes, DISSINET has gained two new members: Gideon Kotzé (computational linguist) and Larissa de Freitas Lyth (historian).

Gideon Kotzé (PhD in Computational Linguistics, University of Groningen, Netherlands) joins as a postdoctoral research fellow. He will work across the project and bring cutting edge techniques from the field of computational linguistics to the study of medieval inquisition records.

Larissa de Freitas Lyth (MA in History, Universidade Federal do Paraná, Brazil) will undertake doctoral studies within the DISSINET project at the Department for the Study of Religions (Faculty of Arts). Her research will focus on early witchcraft trials in fifteenth century Europe.

Their arrival means that the ERC DISSINET team is now complete. Its 10 members come from a wide diversity of backgrounds and specialism across medieval history, social science, geography, and linguistics. Together, they aim to reconfigure the study of medieval dissidence and inquisition through an innovative and interdisciplinary blend of traditional and computational techniques.

The project, the Centre for the Digital Research of Religion, the Department for the Study of Religions, and the whole Masaryk University are proud to present the full team:

• Larissa de Freitas Lyth, historian, PhD candidate in the study of religions;
• José Luis Estévez, sociologist – SNA specialist;
• Tomáš Hampejs, computational social scientist;
• Gideon Kotzé, computational linguist;
• Jolana Navrátilová, managing assistant;
• Katia Riccardo, historian, PhD candidate in the study of religions;
• Davor Salihović, historian;
• Robert L. J. Shaw, historian, deputy PI;
• Kaarel Sikk, geospatial data analyst;
• David Zbíral, historian of religions, PI.

You can find out more about us on the Team page.