We are grateful for all of our 2026 Confound the Time presenters.
Daniel Astorga-Poblete is a Professor of Literature at the University of La Serena (Chile) and an Associate Researcher at Duke University (USA). His areas of expertise include Colonial Mexico, the Cartography of New Spain, and the relationship between the conquest of Mexico and the Habsburg Empire.
Dominique Bauer is a Professor of Cultural History at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium. She works on spatio-temporal images in literature, arts and philosophical discourse in the Long Nineteenth Century. Some of her research focusses on cross-temporal continuities and discontinuities concerning modern and premodern temporalities, such as regarding the emergence of the early museum.
Suleyman Bolukbas is a 4th-year dual-title PhD candidate in Comparative Literature and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at The Pennsylvania State University, with a graduate minor in English. Originally from Turkey, his research focuses on comparative analysis of Turkish literature, gender and sexuality studies in literature and culture, and queer and gothic studies. His research particularly revolves around the global circulation of gothic narratives in relation to local identities, cultures, nations and how gothic’s queerness is reshaped by them.
Andrea Di Carlo has a PhD in political philosophy from University College Cork and is now adjunct research assistant at the Department of Philology, Literature and Linguistics, University of Pisa. His main areas of specialization are continental philosophy (Foucault), early modern philosophy, and early modern history.
Adrianna Chmielewska is a second-year PhD student at Royal Holloway, University of London. Her project focuses on adaptation of literature into 18th century opera, specifically operas after the Italian tradition composed for non-Italian audiences. Her research is funded by the Techne AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership.
Dr. María Cecilia Colombani received her PhD in Philosophy from the University of Morón in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She currently serves as Professor of Philosophical Problems and Philosophical Anthropology at the University of Morón and Professor of Ancient Philosophy and Special Problems in Ancient Philosophy at the National University of Mar del Plata. She is the author of Hesiod: A Critical Introduction (2005), Homer: A Critical Introduction (2005), Foucault and the Political (2009), and Hesiod: Discourse and Lineage: An Archaeological Approach (2016). Her latest book, co-authored with Juan Rubén and Juan Manuel Gerardi, is Diaphora: Intersections and Dialogues on Classical Antiquity (2024).
Alexia Francis Peter Demari holds a BA in History from the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel–Brazil, RS) and is currently pursuing a MA in History, also at UFPel. Her research focuses mainly on medieval imagery, women, gender, and media reception.
Carolina Ferraro is a PhD Candidate at the Polish Academy of Sciences building on a summa cum laude MA in Philosophical Sciences. Her research investigates the long-term reception of classical ideas, from Tacitism in Spanish reason of state to Rousseau’s classical models in Considerations on the Government of Poland.
Andrea Fernández García holds degrees in History and Gender and Diversity. She is currently a FPU predoctoral fellow at the University of Oviedo (Spain).
With a BA in History from the University of Minho, Tiago Moura Gonçalves is currently pursuing a MA degree in Early Modern History at the University of Coimbra (Portugal).
Raed Halak is a PhD candidate specializing in medieval military fortifications in Syria. His research traces the evolution of defensive architecture, analyzing the function of spaces within castles and their transformations in response to shifting military and social demands.
Beril Huri recently completed an MA in English Studies: Language, Literature, and Culture at Freie Universität Berlin. Her research interests include poetics and poetry, temporal studies, affect theory, and literary reception with a particular focus on late medieval and early modern literature.
Harpreet Kaur has a MA in History from the University of St. Thomas (Texas). She currently serves as an adjunct professor in the History Department at St. Thomas, where she teaches courses in Asian History, specifically Iranian History, and material culture.
Maryam Zare Khosheghbal is a MA student of Persian Literature at Kharazmi University of Tehran.
Blaire Krakowitz is a PhD candidate specializing in early modern drama and Shakespeare studies. Her research emphasizes the importance of performance in dramatic criticism, performance-as-criticism, and Shakespearean adaptation and appropriation. Currently, she is focusing on the comedic portrayal of villains in early modern plays and their adaptations. Other scholarly interests include the Gothic, absurdist literature, and theory of the uncanny and grotesque.
Tetiana Krupa is a Ukrainian archaeologist and historian who, since 2019, has headed the International Laboratory for the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage “UMAI” at the Institute of Archaeological Research, A. Margulan Pavlodar Pedagogical University (Kazakhstan). She specializes in archaeological textiles and conservation of cultural heritage.
Z. I. Mahmud is a voyageur of magical realism and fantasy fiction after finishing honours semester’s examination undergraduate years as a foreign fulbrighter. Existentialist struggler in view of a thriving survivalhood, entrenched in the cusps between domestic working opportunities and postgraduate masters, and teaching research fellowship residency abroad. His research and creative writing—including “Ariel Fish and the Lampian Quest”, “Sylvan Elves and the Cherubic Fountain” and “The Golden Antlers of a Bengali Pelican’s Homecoming Harvest”—can be accessed via Academia and specimen self-publications.
Irina-Maria Manea has a PhD in history from the University of Bucharest (2017) and is currently an instructor for Viking studies at Signum University New Hampshire and a research affiliate at the University of Chester. Her main research interests are Old Norse religion, death and burial and receptions of heathenism in saga literature. She also runs a public history project on YouTube and Substack (Shield of Skuld).
Amanda Martin-Parras is the Curatorial Assistant of European Paintings, Sculpture, and Drawings at the Cincinnati Art Museum and received an MA from The Courtauld Institute of Art, where she studied Early Modern European art history within military contexts. Her research specializes in drawings produced by Swiss mercenary artists and cross-cultural exchange in sixteenth century Northern Europe.
C. J. McGillivray is an interdisciplinary artist, professional actor and emerging scholar studying at the University of British Columbia. Her research interests include early modern literature, queer futurity, moral philosophy and queer ecology. She is incredibly passionate about inclusive research and community building, having previously founded both the UBC Undergraduate Shakespeare Conference and the UBC Student Journal Community of Practice.
Arielle McKee is a visiting assistant professor at Wake Forest University, and her primary research investigates the effects of fairy-wrought chaos on human forms and systems. Arielle serves on the editorial team for The So What, Arthuriana’s public humanities project, and she absolutely intended every double entendre in this paper (even the accidental ones).
R. A. Miller is completing his MA in Biblical and Theological Studies at Belhaven University. His research focuses on Puritan theology and history. He teaches theology and ethics to high schoolers in Brandon, Florida.
Javiera Morales-Reyes is a PhD candidate in English at The Pennsylvania State University.
Kourosh Nejad is a PhD candidate in Interdisciplinary Arts at Ohio University. As a scholar and artist, his expertise lies in Persian miniature painting, with a focus on Safavid illuminated manuscripts, particularly muraqqas.
Recent MA graduate in European and American Languages and Literature at the University of Padua, Italy, Martina Rizzini Ongarato specializes in the field of Medieval manuscript studies. Her focus are the Old English and the Old Norse textual traditions and their contacts. Her master’s thesis, titled “Reconstructing Runes: The Icelandic Rune Poem in AM 687 d 4to” offers a valuable instrument for the literary and philological study of the Icelandic Rune Poem. She has also contributed to the Italian translation of the Old English poem The Dream of the Rood, preserved in the Vercelli Codex CXVII, that is now awaiting publication.
Anna Opryszko is a PhD student in English at Simon Fraser University. She holds an MA in American Studies from Columbia University and an MLIS in Archives and Special Collections from St Catherine University. Anna’s research focuses on European book history and print culture pre-1850.
Jayme Peacock is an Assistant Professor of English at Quincy University (Illinois).
Mgr. Veronika Pichaničová, Ph.D., is currently an assistant professor at the Department of Art History, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. In her research, she focuses on medieval art and its reception, as well as on the use and meaning of precious and reflective materials in liturgical objects such as reliquaries, crosses, or bejeweled book covers.
Stella Rentoumi is a postdoctoral researcher and guest lecturer for the Department of Italian Language and Literature at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, where she received her PhD in European History. Her research focuses on the social, political and cultural history of Western Europe, history of art, as well as the political ideologies of 19th and 20th century. Her monograph, Nationalism and Art in the Risorgimento Italy through the essays of Giuseppe Mazzini and the artistic production of that era, was published by Herodotos Publications in 2023, and her book Fascism/Nazism and Art is forthcoming.
Iris Freitas Rodrigues holds a degree in History from the Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro (UFTM) and is a MA student in History at the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel), in Brazil. Her research interests include fairy tales, medievalism, gender studies, and critical theory.
Davide Salmoiraghi holds a PhD in Old Norse and Medieval Latin from the University of Cambridge (2024). He has published extensively on the ecclesiastical history of Medieval Scandinavia, Old Norse hagiography and chivalric literature. He is currently Academic Associate at Pembroke College (Cambridge), where he supervises students in Classics, Old Norse, and Scandinavian history.
Mervi Maarit Salo is a graduate student in the joint GENI program at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada and University of Tromsø-The Arctic University of Norway. Her research explores Indigenous and Northern studies, decolonization, and circumpolar histories.
Anders Schiller is a PhD student at The Pennsylvania State University. He is an early modernist whose interests include Shakespeare, Milton, and religious conflict.
Alexandra Sears is a recent graduate of King’s College London with an MA in Early Modern Literature. She is an early career scholar of Medieval and Early Modern Literature with a focus on Robin Hood Studies.
Karen Dulaney Smith holds a MA in English Literature from Texas State University (San Marcos, Texas) and is an Advanced Placement English teacher at Hutto High School. The author wishes to thank Dr. Susan Signe Morrison for her inspirational teaching that reimagines the Medieval world with humor and heart and makes it highly relevant to the 21st century.
Lunna Sant’Anna Souza has a degree in History from the Federal University of Espírito Santo (2025), Brazil. During undergraduate studies developed Scientific Research on the topic Nationalism in Turkey. She has also published an article about Ibn Khaldūn and another about the Travels of Rabban Bar Sawma.
Xyh Tamura is a Filipino-Japanese transdisciplinary artist, musician, and researcher with an undergraduate degree in Physics, currently pursuing a MA in Creative Writing at the University of the Philippines. Their research includes media studies, philosophy, & social development. In their practice, They explore intermedia poetics, affect theory, posthuman relations, and the intersections of science, technology, cultures, and ecology.
Dawid Ansgar Walorski is a graduate student of Viking and Medieval Norse Studies at Háskoli Íslands (University of Iceland). His main topic of interest is the use and misuse of Viking Age heritage from the 19th to the 21st century. He has previously written on neopaganism in Sweden and Iceland, Viking-themed festivals, and 19th-century pan-Nordic movements, focusing on conceptual and ideological connotations as well as interactions between the expert and the public.
Miloš Živković was born in Belgrade, Serbia. He completed his dissertation in 2023, titled “The Serbian Alexander Romance and the Byzantine Redactions of the Alexander Romance (α and ε versions).” Since 2015, he has been employed at the Institute of Literature and Arts in Belgrade, where he currently works as a research associate. His fields of research include medieval comparative literature and video game studies.
We are grateful to our keynote speaker and invited lecturer.
Jonathan F. Correa-Reyes is an Assistant Professor of English at Clemson University. His research focuses on constructions of collective identity in the medieval literary archive. He is especially interested in premodern articulations of race and understandings of the Human. Although mainly working on the medieval literary traditions of the British Isles, Jonathan also studies the textual cultures of medieval Iberia and Scandinavia. His work has been supported by the Ford Foundation.
Jim Buckingham is the translator of The Runic Beowulf, a bilingual verse translation that complies closely to the original half-lines. The Runic Beowulf is groundbreaking, as the original manuscript is finally unriddled as to its spacing, the letter runes and the echo marks, which all together finally reveal the full treasures hidden in Beowulf for over 1,000 years.
Confound the Time 