Avi Lifschitz

EVENT | Shmuel Feiner will be discussing his volume, The emotional experience of Jewish secularisation, in this Enlightenment workshop. 📆 29th October 🕜️ 5pm-6:30pm 📍 Clarendon Institute, Oxford More info here ⬇️ bit.ly/ShmuelFeiner...

📣 Oxford University Voltaire continues to grow. Launched earlier this year with Voltaire's complete works and correspondence, OV's first major update has arrived, bringing Voltaire's marginalia and more than a dozen new items of correspondence to the resource. Read more on the blog: bit.ly/4dHYBK3

📣Postdoctoral position📣 Arab Enlightenment Research Fellow We seek a Research Fellow for a 2-year role who will pursue their own two-year research project in the general area of the relationship between the European Enlightenment and the Arabic and Islamic worlds. More info: tinyurl.com/3f3vefty

In Oxford next week 👇

'Enlightenment Decentred': moving on from the centre-periphery paradigm and national Enlightenments to focus on connections and multi-directional transfer. Join us in Oxford, 30 Sep - 2 Oct: intellectualhistory.web.ox.ac.uk/event/enligh...

NEW | Brissot and books by Robert Darnton is available now! By close study of the relations between a French author and a Swiss publisher, this book gives an inside view of how French books were produced and distributed in the literary underground. Discover more here ⬇️ bit.ly/BrissotandBo...

New on the blog! Read all about digitising Voltaire's marginalia, the technical challenges, and the solutions worked out together with @opencreative.bsky.social for our digital edition OV. And what has the French Ambassador to the UK to do with it? voltairefoundation.wordpress.com/2026/09/15/o...

Three-year postdocs at Magdalen College, Oxford, for early-career researchers and shorter visiting fellowships for senior academics: find out all about them via the link below, and apply to become our colleagues! www.magd.ox.ac.uk/job-vacancies/

Why and how 18th-century prize competitions may have anticipated blind peer review: liverpooluniversitypress.blog/2026/09/10/w...

Splendid opportunities for postdocs, ecrs, and visiting researchers at @magdalenoxford.bsky.social (Thanks for sharing, @diderotesque.bsky.social) #academicsky #skystorians www.magd.ox.ac.uk/job-vacancies/

Farewell to our brilliant Director, Prof. Nicholas Cronk, after 29 years 👋 The venue couldn’t be more fitting: Voltaire’s Genevan home, Les Délices. Thanks to our friends at the Bibliothèque de Genève for the hospitality!

Our colleagues at IZEA, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle, are recruiting for five doctoral research positions in the research group 'Politik der Aufklärung'/'Politics of Enlightenment'! voltaire.ox.ac.uk/news-item/op...

'Enlightenment Decentred': moving on from the centre-periphery paradigm and national Enlightenments to focus on connections and multi-directional transfer. Join us in Oxford, 30 Sep - 2 Oct: intellectualhistory.web.ox.ac.uk/event/enligh...

Call for Papers! Especially welcome are proposals (in French) from doctoral students and Early Career Researchers working on Voltaire or Diderot. voltaire.ox.ac.uk/news-item/ca...

Hierarchy is not always about who holds power What can French anthropologist Louis Dumont's work on the Indian caste system teach us about the relationship between sacred and secular authority in the West? Watch Prof David d'Avray's lecture "Church, State, and Hierarchy" now on our YouTube channel

CFP: Oxford Spinoza Conference 2027 – The Global Spinoza 13 May 2027, Pembroke College, Oxford To mark the 350th anniversary of Spinoza's death, we're inviting abstracts on the global reception of Spinoza's thought. Submit by 17 Nov 2026: osc@pmb.ox.ac.uk #Spinoza #Philosophy #Oxford

Our annual Garden Party was the perfect finale to three wonderful days celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Maison Française d'Oxford. Special thanks to Jimmy Symonds for capturing the occasion so beautifully. mfo.web.ox.ac.uk/article/gard... Here's to the next chapter!

Forthcoming this month | 'Essay competitions in the long eighteenth century' edited by Avi S. Lifschitz and Martin Urmann. Find out more, and purchase directly for 20% off RRP: bit.ly/C18-Essay-Competitions #c18 #academicsky📖 @voltaire.ox.ac.uk

20 June 1789, Tennis Court Oath: Members of the Third Estate, meeting in Versailles, declare themselves the National Assembly, vowing "not to separate, & to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution...is established"

Submissions for the 2026 R. Gapper Undergraduate Essay Prize are now open. The closing date is 17 July 2026. For more information about the prize and how your institution can submit entries, see the link below: www.sfs.ac.uk/prizes/r-gap...

An excellent postdoc opportunity at the venerable @wiko-berlin.bsky.social for humanities and social science researchers: apply by 1 September. www.wiko-berlin.de/en/becoming-...

Appel à propositions | Le monde des révolutions. Jacques-Pierre Brissot: Circulations, réseaux et mobilisations politiques des années 1780 à nos jours Colloque international et interdisciplinaire, Université de Caen-Normandie (France), mars 2027. oraprdnt.uqtr.uquebec.ca/portail/gscw...

All Souls College, Oxford, is seeking 5 Postdoctoral Research Fellows in - Asian and Middle Eastern Studies - History of Art/History of Music - Law - Life Science - Theoretical Computer Science These are 5-year appointments starting autumn 2027. Deadline: 4 Sep 2026 www.asc.ox.ac.uk/post-doctora...

Join us on Wednesday 10 June at 5:30pm for Jamie Gemmell (KCL) speaking on 'John Satia and the 1731 ban on Black apprenticeship'. Free and open to the public in person at the IHR in Bloomsbury or online on Zoom. Please register (link below). #Skystorians

This week we are pleased to host the "Beaumarchais et l'Angleterre : littérature, finances et politique" conference 📍 4 June: All Souls College 📍 5 June: Maison Française d'Oxford Organised by Catriona Seth and Linda Gil. mfo.web.ox.ac.uk/event/journe...

Why was the 18th century the heyday of prize contests on virtually everything? Many answers in this new book, now available with a discount from @livunipress.bsky.social: mailchi.mp/e854e1290516...

With our very own Cameron Bowman and Ross Moncrieff!

Enlightenment and (In)equality 17th International Congress for Eighteenth-Century Studies Zaragoza, Spain 12-16 July 2027 The submission period for for thematic sessions and roundtables is now open! All the information is available on the Congress website: www.isecs-zaragoza2027.net/en/

IT'S TIME! The #CFP for #BSECS2027 has been released! This year's theme is 'Artifice and Authenticity'. The deadline for submissions is the 15 September 2026. The conference will by the 6-8 January 2027 @pembrokeoxford.bsky.social #18thC #skystorians 🗃️ www.bsecs.org.uk/conferences/...

What place has religion in politics? Join us as Prof Mark Goldie reconsiders the thought of John Locke, challenging familiar assumptions about religion, toleration, and public life. 17:00 Wed 10th June Room 00.063 Schwarzman Centre Followed by a drinks reception. Registration: khc.web.ox.ac.uk

JOB ALERT - Curator: Modern Archives and Manuscripts (1601-1950) at the British Library - full-time, permanent www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRR461/c...

Change of venue! This Saturday! The opera will now take place at the Royal Academy of Music. The time remains the same. voltaire.ox.ac.uk/event/opera-...

Many congrats to Tom Wynn on this excellent appointment! Looking forward to working together @ox.ac.uk and promoting Enlightenment studies.

CANCELLED Unfortunately, we have to cancel this session of the Enlightenment Workshop, tomorrow, 20 May. But to come to Patrick Spero's talk on 28 May! www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk/event/patric...

We have several exciting events this month! In order: This week Wednesday, 20 May, 5pm, our Enlightenment Workshop welcomes Jessica Patterson (Trinity College, Cambridge), who speaks on Empire and the Idea of the Constitution in Enlightenment Political Thought www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk/event/enligh...

TODAY, 5pm @magdalenoxford.bsky.social. All welcome!

TODAY, 5pm, New College: Keith Michael Baker (Stanford) discusses his magisterial biography of Marat (press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...). Commentators: Charles Walton (Warwick) and Sofía Sanabria de Felipe (Oxford). All welcome!

Workshop “Utopianism and Early Modern Scientific Collaboration” this week at the Maison Française d’Oxford, organised by Niall Dilucia (NOTCOM). Scholars will explore utopian dimensions of early modern knowledge production and collaborative scientific institutions mfo.web.ox.ac.uk/event/worksh...

The University of Oxford is advertising a 1-year Departmental Lectureship in Economic and Social History to be held in the Faculty of History from 1 Oct 2026 to 30 Sep 2027. Applications close 27 May 2026. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRL580/d...

Next Wednesday (13 May), 5pm @magdalenoxford.bsky.social! All welcome.

We’re very pleased to share news of this research fellowship position, working with our wonderful CECS / English Literature colleague Prof Mary Fairclough @maryfairclough.bsky.social on the collected works of Mary Wollstonecraft: 🔗 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DRL782/r...

ISECS Conference / Colloque de la SIEDS Reframing the Enlightenment. Intellectual and political disputes today / Le défi des Lumières. Enjeux intellectuels et politiques Deutsches Historisches Institut Paris 10–12 June / juin 2026 oraprdnt.uqtr.uquebec.ca/portail/gscw...

Next Wednesday (13 May), 5pm @magdalenoxford.bsky.social! All welcome.

“Where men are the most sure and arrogant, they are commonly the most mistaken...” David Hume, Scottish empiricist philosopher, whose work influenced cognitive science & economic theory, born #OTD 1711. Portrait by Allan Ramsay 1754, National Galleries of Scotland

Don’t miss this term‘s programme of our Enlightenment Workshop! Info here: www.voltaire.ox.ac.uk/home/researc...

Just published with @universitypress.cambridge.org ‘Digital Scholarly Editing in Practice: Making Oxford University Voltaire’ - free to read and download for the next few weeks! cup.org/3Qw6YQp @voltaire.ox.ac.uk

Terrific piece by Gillian Pink on her wonderful new study of Voltaire's writing practices. I read her book yesterday, and loved it. @voltaire.ox.ac.uk voltairefoundation.wordpress.com/2026/04/23/r...

Deeply grateful to my hosts at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) for an engaging series of conversations and a revelatory visit in Seoul! Special thanks to Minchul Kim and the Global Intellectual History Unit at SKKU. gihu.page/2026/03/25/h...