AIEB
The International Association of Byzantine Studies (AIEB) was established in 1948, shortly after World War II. Its foundation emerged from the Byzantine congresses taking place at that time.
The International Bureau, consisting of representatives of all member national committees, constitutes the permanent executive body of the AIEB (see Statutes).
From its initial stage the AIEB, under the presidency of Paul Lemerle and following the proposal of Dionysios Zakythinos, took a decision to publish the Bulletin d’Information et de Coordination aiming at promoting Byzantine studies at an international level.
The first issue of the Bulletin appeared in 1964. Its function has now been taken over by the aiebnet.gr. Following a decision taken by the Inter-Congrès executive meeting in Andros (2003), information is from now on to be disseminated electronically. Thus, we are calling on all colleagues to provide relevant information for this website concerning scholarly work in the field of Byzantine studies by institutions and individuals electronically. The site will be updated every six months.
In November 2017 appeared the Newsletter of the AIEB. The main aim of the AIEB Newsletter “Byzantine News” is to facilitate information exchange among Byzantine scholars worldwide. It hopes to fulfill this aim by functioning as an information hub, i.e. by receiving and distributing news and information about activities and events that may be of interest to Byzantine scholars throughout the world. In particular, it seeks to collect and distribute calls for papers; announcements of forthcoming congresses, conferences and similar events (presentations of volumes, seminars, public lectures, etc.); and news about exhibitions and museum events. The Newsletter does not publish announcements of recent publications. Additionally, by established tradition obituaries are not published by the AIEB, but by the National Committee that represented the deceased member.” A special section entitled “Opportunities” lists job postings, scholarships, and other funding opportunities for scholars at all levels, junior through senior.
One of the most important activities of the AIEB is to organize international congresses which take place in a different country each time. Twenty-three such congresses have been convened to this day, the last being in Belgrade in 2016. These congresses offer participants the possibility to remain abreast of research in progress conducted by scholars of various countries and to get acquainted with their colleagues in person.
The next Congress will take place in Venice-Padua, in 2022.