The ReIReS School in March was attended by a number young scholars. Among them was Agata Starownik of the University of Warsaw. She has followed the School with great enthusiasm and now shares her experiences with us in a short interview.
Who is Agata Starownik?
I am a PhD student of International PhD Program „Nature – Culture” at Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, University of Warsaw. Now, I research astronomical imaging in Polish Renaissance poetry.
Why did you attend this ReIReS School, Agata?
I wanted to improve my skills in working with documents and using databases. Moreover, the main subject of the session was connected to Religious Studies, which are an important context in my literary research.
Can you share with us an important insight you gained these days?
It is amazing how inspiring the philological, codicological and palaeographic research of different traditions is. Sharing experience on exploration very various topics broadens knowledge, as well as stimulates important methodological considerations and collating the methods. Especially, I appreciated the application of phylogenetic methods to research on the transmission of Quran texts.
Once again, I realized how important the interdisciplinary exchange is – in this case, it was correspondence between biology and philology. I think it can be adapted not only to following variants of the texts but also to describing wandering of themes, quotes and references.
How will it support you in your research, you think?
I improved my philological abilities and got to know many valuable bibliological tools, solutions and databases. I think that the most important sources for me are these referring to the councils because, in my research, I am primarily interested in Christian literary contexts.
I also learned some simple tricks really useful in searching databases. Moreover, I could see how the remarkable experts prepare sources for critical editions which is a basic academic’s skill – and at the same time one of the most difficult.
Thank you very much for this interview, Agata!
Visual: Agata Starownik
