ITSERR

Seminar "Arabic Multimodal Language Modeling"
2025-05-14 11:00 - 12:00 (Europe/Brussels) | ISTI CNR, G. Moruzzi 1, Pisa
On May 14, the Faedo Lecture Hall at ISTI-CNR will host the seminar “Arabic Multimodal Language Modeling”, presented by Hawau Olamide Toyin, a PhD student in Natural Language Processing at the Mohammed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI).
Hawau Olamide Toyin is a visiting scholar at ISTI-CNR thanks to a TNA (Transnational Access) grant, awarded within the framework of ITSERR – Italian Strengthening of ESFRI RI Resilience, a project funded by the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). Her research stay is part of the international mobility initiatives aimed at promoting access to cutting-edge research infrastructures in the field of humanities and social sciences.
During the seminar, she will present ArTST, a pre-trained transformer model for Arabic speech and text, which extends the unified SpeechT5 architecture originally developed for English. ArTST enables joint learning of speech and text representations and can be fine-tuned for a variety of tasks, including speech recognition, speech synthesis, speech enhancement, speaker identification, and dialect classification.
The seminar also addresses a key research question: Can a single model be trained to handle multiple cross-modal speech-text tasks? The results obtained so far—both in high-resource (English) and low-resource (Arabic) settings—are promising.
This seminar is part of the ITSERR research activities in artificial intelligence, language technologies, and digital infrastructures for the humanities.
Remote access link.

Seminar “Online Social Dynamics. Between Fake News and Historical Interpretation”
2025-05-16 12:00 - 14:00 | Università degli Studi di Palermo, Piazza Marina, 61, Palermo, Italy
As part of the activities of the Laboratory of Bibliography and Online Historical Research, the Master’s Degree Programme in Historical, Anthropological and Geographical Studies, and the ITSERR Research Project, a seminar will be held by Walter Quattrociocchi (University of Rome “La Sapienza”) on the topic: Online Social Dynamics. Between Fake News and Historical Interpretation.
The seminar will address the circulation of disinformation in digital environments and the challenges it poses to historical interpretation and critical thinking.
Speakers will include Rosella Cancila (University of Palermo), Coordinator of the Master’s Programme, and Fabrizio D’Avenia (University of Palermo), Scientific Coordinator of the ITSERR Project.The seminar will be introduced by Ilaria Sabbatini (University of Palermo), course instructor of the Laboratory.
The event will also be accessible online.
presso l’Aula 3.3 dell’Edificio 14 al Campus di viale delle Scienze,

Seminar "Interrogare o ordinare il caos? Testi, biblioteche, archivi nell’era dell’AI"
2025-05-19 09:00 - 13:30 | University of Bologna, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2, Bologna, Italy
An opportunity for interdisciplinary exchange on the role of artificial intelligence in the study of texts, libraries, and archives. The seminar brings together scholars working in the fields of Digital Humanities, philosophy of language, and history of ideas. With a focus on the activities of uBIQUity – WP8 of the PNRR ITSERR project, the event aims to explore both theoretical and experimental perspectives related to semiotic processes, creativity, and the digital transformation of textual heritage.
The morning will alternate between presentations and open discussions, with the participation of researchers from various Italian and international institutions.

AI and Religious Studies: New Perspectives and Applications for the Study of the Talmud Bavli and the Corpus Iuris Canonici
2025-06-10 09:30 - 23:30 | Fondazione per le scienze religiose, Via San Vitale 114, Bologna
As part of the National Open Access (NOA) mobility program of the ITSERR project, the seminar titled “AI and Religious Studies: New Perspectives and Applications for the Study of Talmud Bavli and the Corpus Iuris Canonici” will be held on 10 June 2025 at FSCIRE – Fondazione per le Scienze Religiose, in Bologna.
The event will be introduced and chaired by Federico Alpi (FSCIRE – University of Florence) and will feature presentations by Arianna Pavone, Andrea Ravasco, and Vincenzo Roberto Imperia (University of Palermo), who will present the preliminary results of the research project carried out within the ITSERR framework.
The research group has developed GNORM, an experimental software for the automatic analysis and categorization of printed religious normative sources, using data mining techniques and 3D visualization.
The study focuses on two key normative texts from the religious tradition: the Corpus Iuris Canonici and the Babylonian Talmud, opening up new avenues of research through the integration of religious studies and digital technologies.

7th ITSERR In-house Training on Open Access and Analysis Models for Religious Studies
2025-06-12 - 2025-06-13 | Dipartimento di Ingegneria “Enzo Ferrari” UniMORE, Via P. Vivarelli, 10, Modena
On June 12–13, the “Enzo Ferrari” Department of Engineering at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia will host the seventh in-house training of the PNRR-funded ITSERR project – Italian Strengthening of the ESFRI RI RESILIENCE. This training event will offer a moment of shared learning and dialogue, focusing on the results achieved in the final phase of the project and the outlook for the future.
The programme, delivered in hybrid mode, includes seminar-style lectures and presentations of project results, designed to reflect on the achievements and future directions of ITSERR.
The opening session will feature institutional greetings from Prof. Francesco Leali, Director of the “E. Ferrari” Department of Engineering, Prof. Emerita Sonia Bergamaschi, and Prof. RitamCucchiara, Professor of Computer Engineering at UniMORE.
Key contributions will include talks by Prof. Carlo Bianchini (University of Pavia) on Linked Open Data for research, Dr. Fabrizio Sebastiani (CNR-ISTI Pisa) on experimental content analysis models, and Prof. Sonia Bergamaschi with her team, who will present preliminary results and future prospects of the Digital Maktaba project.
The event marks an important moment of reflection and relaunch, aimed at strengthening the connection between Religious Studies and technological innovation, and at consolidating cooperation among project partners.
Programma ITSERR 7th TIH Modena 12 e 13 giugno 2025

International Medieval Conference (IMC) 2025
2025-07-07 - 2025-07-10 | University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
Amina El Ganadi (Giuseppe Dossetti Library – Foundation for Religious Sciences Giovanni XXIII, Bologna / Department of Cultures and Society, University of Palermo), member of the research team of the ITSERR – Italian Strengthening of the ESFRI RI RESILIENCE project, presented the paper “Divine Diplomacy: Religion and Power in Mongol-Muslim Relations during the Yuan Dynasty” at the International Medieval Conference (IMC) 2025.
She also co-organised and chaired the panel “The Rebirth of Culture under the Mongols: From the Persian World to Yuan China”.
For more information, see the IMC 2025 website.

ITSERR at the 2025 EuARe Annual Conference
2025-07-08 - 2025-07-12 | University of Vienna, Universitätsring 1, Vienna, Austria
ITSERR took part in the 2025 Annual Conference of the European Academy of Religion (EuARe), held in Vienna, with the panel “Technology and the Transformation of Scholarship: Software and Tools for the Study of Religions”.
The panel highlighted the growing impact of digital technologies and artificial intelligence on research in religious studies, presenting innovative tools and methodological approaches developed within the field of Digital Humanities.
The following papers were presented:
Marianna Napolitano, “New Developments and Research Limitations in the Semantic Analysis of Pre-Modern Slavic Texts: The Case of the Symbol of Faith.”
Irfan Ali and Igor Spanò, “W.H. Mill’s Sanskrit Translation of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Symbol: The Application of LLMs to the Construction of a Dataset of Sanskrit Texts and the First Results of the Comparison with Some Key Terms from the Sanskrit Creed.”
Amina El Ganadi, “Grounding Large Language Models in Authoritative Islamic Texts: Evaluative Strategies Using Sahih al-Bukhari.”
The panel provided an opportunity to discuss how computational methods and AI-based tools are opening new perspectives for the analysis of religious texts and traditions across different languages and historical contexts.
The full conference programme is available here

ITSERR at #EuARe2025: Panel on Digital Tools and Technologies for the Study of Religions
2025-07-09 | University of Vienna, Universitätsring 1, Vienna, Austria
On July 9, 2025, ITSERR – Italian Strengthening of the ESFRI RI RESILIENCE – will take part in the European Academy of Religion annual conference (#EuARe2025) in Vienna with the panel:
Technology and the Transformation of Scholarship: Software and Tools for the Study of Religions
The panel will present the outcomes of ITSERR’s interdisciplinary work in Religious Studies and Information Technologies. It will explore how digital tools and new technologies are transforming the study of religion, responding to the needs of scholars across disciplines and research traditions.
The panel includes an introduction and four thematic sessions:

Digital Humanities and non-Latin scripts
Understanding the meaning, identifying the tool
(Re)Composing datasets
Artificial Intelligence and Religious Studies

The initiative reflects ITSERR’s mission to support research innovation in the study of religions through cutting-edge digital infrastructure.
📄 View the full panel programme

Summer School “AI for Religious Studies: Unlocking Knowledge”
2025-09-08 08:00 - 2025-09-12 17:00 | Università degli Studi di Palermo e Biblioteca e Centro di ricerca “Giorgio La Pira”, PALERMO, PALERMO (PA)
The PNRR ITSERR – Italian Strengthening of the ESFRI RI RESILIENCE project promotes, from 8 to 12 September 2025, the Summer School AI for Religious Studies: Unlocking Knowledge, designed for the doctoral students of the DREST – National PhD Program in Religious Studies, and hosted by the “Giorgio La Pira” Research Library (FSCIRE) and the University of Palermo.
The Summer School is a key moment for ITSERR: an opportunity to showcase and test the potential of the digital tools and services developed by the project, while fostering interdisciplinary dialogue on religious studies in the era of Digital Humanities.
View the detailed: Programma Summer School
📩For information and organizational details: summerschoolitserr2025@itserr.it

8th ITSERR Training in-house “AI for Religious Studies: Unlocking Knowledge”
2025-09-11 08:00 - 2025-09-12 18:30 | Università degli Studi di Palermo, Piazza Marina, 61, Palermo, Italy
On 11–12 September 2025, the event will take place at the Complesso Monumentale dello Steri of the University of Palermo.
The ITSERR project, funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR) under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) with resources from NextGenerationEU, enhances the European Research Infrastructure RESILIENCE by developing innovative digital tools and services for Religious Studies. During the event, it will showcase how research infrastructures can advance the study and understanding of religions in Europe through digital technologies and AI.
The conference, titled “ITSERR: A Project of Technological and Digital Innovation for Religious Studies,” opens on 11 September with institutional greetings and continues with sessions presenting ITSERR’s scientific results, including a keynote lecture by Alberto Melloni, with participation from international institutions and stakeholders, such as Barbara McGillivray from King’s College London, Eric Atwell from Leeds University, and Valentina Vavassori from the British Library.
Friday, 12 September, will be dedicated to workshops and hands-on training sessions led by national and international experts in the fields of Digital Humanities and Religious Studies.
All project partners – the National Research Council, University of Turin, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, and University of Naples “L’Orientale” – will join, alongside directors of European research infrastructures in the humanities and RESILIENCE member research centres.
View the detailed: Programma TIH ITSERR. Un progetto d’innovazione tecnologica e digitale per le Scienze religiose
For further information: summerschoolitserr2025@itserr.it
Read here the English translation of the lecture: Prof. Melloni’s Lecture

Seminar – From Classics to Circuits: Building and Explaining Multilingual Language Models
2025-09-19 10:00 - 12:00 | ISTI – Area della Ricerca CNR, Via G. Moruzzi 1, Pisa
On 19 September 2025, the Area della Ricerca CNR di Pisa will host a seminar by Friederick Riemenschneider (University of Heidelberg), currently in Pisa as a visiting scholar under a Transnational Access (TNA) grant within the ITSERR – Italian Strengthening of the ESFRI RI RESILIENCE project.
The seminar will explore how multilingual language models generalize across languages. Starting from a purpose-built trilingual model zoo (Ancient Greek, Latin, English), the discussion will extend to large-scale models such as BLOOM, offering valuable insights for multilingual and historical language research. By bridging Classics and AI, the talk will highlight new perspectives at the intersection of the humanities and computational linguistics.
Referent: Giovanni Puccetti
Remote participation is available at the following link

29th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries (TPDL 2025)
2025-09-23 - 2025-09-26 | Tampere University, Tampere, Finland
From 23 to 26 September 2025, Davide Caffagni (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia), researcher in the ITSERR project, took part in the 29th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Digital Libraries (TPDL 2025) in Tampere, Finland.
He presented the paper “Generating Synthetic Data with Large Language Models for Low-Resource Sentence Retrieval”, which investigates the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) to enhance sentence similarity search in low-resource domains such as ancient texts.
The study is part of WP8 of the ITSERR project and collects the most recent results from the research activities carried out within WP8.
Download the conference programme.

uBIQUity at the 11th CISSR Annual Meeting
2025-09-25 | University Residential Centre of Bertinoro, Via Frangipane, 6, Bertinoro, Forlì-Cesena
uBIQUity (ITSERR WP8) presented at the 11th CISSR – Annual Meeting on Christian Origins in Bertinoro, within the session Jewish History, Hellenistic Judaism, and Septuagint Studies, co-directed by Anna Mambelli (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia / FSCIRE), scientific coordinator and product owner of the project.
The paper, entitled “Scriptural Continuities in the Alexandrian Tradition: A Computational Approach to the Septuagint in Philo and Clement”, was delivered by Laura Bigoni (University of Bologna) and Isabella Pignocco (University of Bari).
The presentation highlighted how uBIQUity provides innovative tools to investigate the Septuagint and its quotations in the Alexandrian tradition, with special reference to the textual heritage of Philo of Alexandria and Clement of Alexandria, and on the interplay between Judaism and early Christianity. This work also benefits from the classification of witnesses developed within the PRIN project “Resilient Septuagint”, directed by Davide Dainese (University of Bologna).

DIALOGHI CON LA STORIA DEL DIRITTO
2025-09-25 10:00 | Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza – Università degli Studi di Palermo, Piazza Bologni, 8, Palermo
On 25th September 2025, the Department of Law at the University of Palermo will host the event “DIALOGHI CON LA STORIA DEL DIRITTO”
The program will open with contributions from Prof. Beatrice Pasciuta and Prof. Fabrizio D’Avenia (University of Palermo), followed by a lecture by Dr. Ignazio Alessi (University of Cambridge) entitled “Medieval Papal Legates and Normative Authority: a Digital Approach to the Corpus Iuris Canonici.”
The event will conclude with a roundtable discussion featuring Dr. Alessi and Dr. Vincenzo Roberto Imperia and Dr. Arianna Pavone (University of Palermo), researchers within the ITSERR project.
The presence of Dr. Alessi in Palermo is made possible by a Transnational Access (TNA) grant, within the framework of the ITSERR – Italian Strengthening of the ESFRI RI RESILIENCE project. His research combines historical expertise with digital tools, offering innovative perspectives on the study of medieval canon law.

ITSERR research presented at the 44th Course of the International School of Ius Commune
2025-10-21 08:00 - 17:00
From 19 to 23 October 2025, the 44th Course of the International School of Ius Commune took place in Erice, Sicily, under the title “Legal, cultural and religious pluralism: aspects and problems in the tradition of the ‘ius commune’.”
During the event, Roberto Imperia (University of Palermo), ITSERR researcher, presented his latest study:
Il “Corpus Iuris Canonici” nell’età digitale: anticipazioni sul software di ricerca GNORM.
Developed within the ITSERR project, the GNORM software is one of the outcomes of ITSERR’s research in the field of digital tools for historical and religious studies.The platform offers innovative methods for exploring and analyzing the Corpus Iuris Canonici, one of the foundational legal corpora of the European Middle Ages.
The course was organized by the Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture as part of the long-standing International School of Ius Commune.
🔗 The programme

IQSA 2025 Annual Meeting
2025-11-13 - 2025-11-16 | Loyola Marymount University, 1 Loyola Marymount University Drive, Los Angeles, CA, 90045, United States
Amina El Ganadi (Fondazione per le Scienze Religiose Giovanni XXIII, Bologna / University of Palermo / University of Modena and Reggio Emilia), member of the research team of the ITSERR – Italian Strengthening of the ESFRI RI RESILIENCE project, presented the paper “Hallucinating tafsīr? Evaluating LLM QA on al-Ṭabarī’s Texts” at the IQSA 2025 Annual Meeting (International Qur’anic Studies Association).
Her contribution explores the potential and limitations of large language models in engaging with classical Islamic exegesis, evaluating their performance on al-Ṭabarī’s tafsīr on Sūrat Yūsuf and highlighting, in particular, cases of accurate answers versus hallucinations, that is, content not supported by the source text. For more information about the conference, please refer to the IQSA website and the page dedicated to the 2025 Annual Meeting.
For further details, see here.
