Five StoryPharm fellows will present their current research at the Colloquium in Byzantine and Medieval Studies at the University of Cyprus. The session explores the intersections of medicine, religion, gender, and cultural practices from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages, featuring case studies ranging from Byzantine folk medicine and medieval medical texts to Manichaeism and illicit desire. The event will take place on Wednesday, 12 March 2026, at 18:00 EET, in LRC 019 and online (registration required).

Το ερευνητικό έργο της διακεκριμένης πανεπιστημιακού Ελένης Γλύκατζη-Αρβελέρ, η οποία απεβίωσε τη Δευτέρα σε ηλικία 99 ετών, αναμόρφωσε ριζικά τον τρόπο με τον οποίο κατανοούμε το Βυζάντιο, αναφέρει στο ΚΥΠΕ η Σταυρούλα Κωνσταντίνου, Καθηγήτρια Βυζαντινολογίας και Διευθύντρια της Ερευνητικής Μονάδας για Μεσαιωνικές Τέχνες και Τελετουργίες (ΕΜοΜεΤ), του Πανεπιστημίου Κύπρου.

How can creative writing enhance academic rigor rather than undermine it? In this online seminar, StoryPharm doctoral candidates Elena Schoretsaniti and Pablo Martin Crovetto explore how metaphor, symbolism, and narrative techniques can support scholarly writing in the humanities. Using the figures of the dragon and the amulet as tools for reflection, the session invites participants to rethink academic challenges, writing practices, and creativity as integral to intellectual work.

Is Valentine’s Day really a timeless celebration of love? This article traces how an obscure saint’s feast was transformed by medieval poetry, global markets and modern media into today’s highly commercialised ritual. Drawing on insights from Professor Stavroula Constantinou (CeMAR, University of Cyprus), it explores how the day was never rooted in Orthodox tradition, how Chaucer helped “invent” the romantic Valentine, and how Cyprus navigates a hybrid landscape where global imagery meets local understandings of love shaped by faith, family and community.

New Interdepartmental MA & PhD Programme in Byzantine Studies and the Latin East at the University of Cyprus. Applications are now open for a limited number of places. The programme offers a contemporary, interdisciplinary approach, with a strong focus on Cyprus as a historical crossroads, combining history, philology, art history, and archaeology with field-based learning, active research, and international academic engagement.