Research Centre for European Philological Tradition
The name RECEPTIO, an acronym for Research Centre for European Philological Tradition, comes from the Latin word rĕceptĭo (classical pronunciation: reˈkep.ti.o; ecclesiastical reˈt͡ʃep.t͡si.o, rɛˈt͡ʃɛpt̪͡s̪iɔ), i.e. a philological term indicating the reception and assimilation of a cultural element, the fortune of an artistic or literary work among a specific public. In line with the Swiss Federal Act on the Promotion of Research and Innovation (RIPA), and with its own Statutes and Regulations, RECEPTIO is an independent, non-commercial research centre under private law, based in Lugano, Zurich, and Rome.
One-year Fragmentology specialisation course
RECEPTIO offers a unique course to teach how to reconstruct dismembered manuscripts starting from a single leaf (a technique called WayBack Recovery Method). The best students will then be chosen as our centre's scientific collaborators, with a regular contract to work on the Biblioclasm & Digital Reconstruction project
Three-year postgraduate specialisation course
RECEPTIO is the only centre in Europe that combines codicological and philological research with the labour market, training codicologists to work for auction houses and antiquarian bookshops. Every semester we launch a competition for six scholarships to attend it.
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Research at RECEPTIO
Every year, in November, on the occasion of the Tag der Lehre at the University of Zurich, the RECEPTIO scientific committee participates in the dialogue on excellence in teaching in the morning, organising various events, and in the afternoon it meets for a brainstorming session on the new annual projects, to which doctoral students and postdocs, as well as university professors, are invited to participate by call. This habit of reflecting on the close connection that, at academic level, there should always be between higher education at doctoral and post-doctoral level, with specific courses and active research, has resulted in 20 ongoing and completed international projects in six years of activity.
Appraisals of Medieval manuscripts, leaves, bindings and documents
Wonder how much a Medieval manuscript or document might be worth and how to buy or sell it? Have you decided to invest in the purchase of Medieval manuscripts online? Do you need extra advice before buying an antique book at auction?
Would you like to get your ancient books appraised for donation, insurance, tax, inheritance, purchase, or other purposes? That is something RECEPTIO can help you with. Our appraisers are professionals who determine the value or authenticity of a Medieval manuscript, of single (illuminated) manuscript leaves, or of fine and historic bindings.
Study, Internship & Training Stage at RECEPTIO
2023-24 APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN
APPLY TO OUR POST-DOC AND CODICOLOGICAL SPECIALISATION PROGRAMMES
Admission decisions are based on the quality of the overall application file. Our selection committees give priority consideration to academic achievement and motivation. Academic achievement is documented using transcripts and recommendations. Motivation factors should be clarified in the cover letter/statement of purpose.
About us
The name RECEPTIO, an acronym for Research Centre for European Philological Tradition, comes from the Latin word rĕceptĭo (classical pronunciation: reˈkep.ti.o, ecclesiastical /reˈt͡ʃep.t͡si.o/, [rɛˈt͡ʃɛpt̪͡s̪iɔ), i.e. a philological term indicating the reception and assimilation of a cultural element, the fortune of an artistic or literary work among a specific public.
Established in 2016, in the picturesque city of Lugano (in Switzerland's southernmost Italian-speaking canton), in line with the Swiss Federal Act on the Promotion of Research and Innovation (RIPA), and with its own Statutes and Regulations, RECEPTIO is an independent, research centre under private law, whose members do not receive any pecuniary benefit from their research activities. RECEPTIO hires scientific staff that carries out research in the field of Fragmentology.
The centre, now based in Zurich, is committed to research in the field of Philology and Codicology. The level and quality of RECEPTIO's projects is comparable to that of research carried out by higher education research centres.
RECEPTIO
a. encourages scientific research;
b. encourages science-based innovation;
c. promotes, coordinates and manages a number of national and international projects, at academic level, which are described on the Projects page
d. supports the analysis and exploitation of research results;
e. ensures cooperation between national and international research bodies;
f. is recognised by the European Commission and registered as Legal Entity (PIC 893550712). It has its operational headquarters in Switzerland, UK and Italy.
Receptio offers post-doctoral specialisation courses. The Research Centre for European Philological Tradition belongs to the Honors Center of International Universities (H2Cu), promoting a variety of international programs for scholars in collaboration with US Universities (such as the MIT-Massachusetts Institute of Technology, NYU-New York University, PACE University, NY, Columbia University, NY, Florida International University, University of Miami, Georgia Institute of Technology, Fordham University, Jesuit University of New York). Our centre defines itself through a series of interlocking core projects that are designed to traverse different disciplines and foster theoretical and critical interventions of cultural inquiry.
From an operational and scientific point of view, the Research Centre has been part of the International Philological Society, based in Switzerland, and since 2016 it has had its own publishing house, RECEPTIO Academic Press Ltd, based in London.
RECEPTIO strengths the research skills of scholars working in Europe in the field of historical, codicological and philological studies. In a small country like Switzerland, a country with a philological tradition of the highest value, but where many professorships of philology have been suppressed in recent years, no single institution has the critical mass needed to coordinate teams of philologists and codicologists for large-scale joint international research programs.
Mission
In line with the Federal Act on the Promotion of Research and Innovation (RIPA), and with its own Statutes, when planning funded activities, RECEPTIO takes the following into account:
a. the freedom of research, the scientific quality of research and innovation, and the variety of scientific opinions and methods;
b. the freedom of teaching and the close relationship between teaching and research;
c. scientific integrity and good scientific practice.
RECEPTIO encourages:
a. the career development of promising young researchers;
b. equal opportunities and true gender equality between men and women.
Since 2016 RECEPTIO has provided a base from which strengthen interdisciplinary philological, codicological, art-historical projects, in particular it focused on the Biblioclasm and digital reconstruction project, which envisages to digitally reconstruct dismembered manuscripts from around Europe, whose scattered leaves have been sold on the antiquarian book market during the last two centuries.
Eleven of the ongoing reconstructions are presented in the special issue of Theory and Criticism of Literature & Arts, freely accessible in Open Access. The WayBack Recovery Method (WBRM) is a procedure devised by Prof. Carla Rossi, based on a philological approach to fragmentology, that can restitute, in a new digital format, manuscripts thought to have been lost forever.
On the basis of these premises, the Centre conceives, promotes and supports (also financially) initiatives for the development of scientific research in the fields of its own interest and for the dissemination of humanistic culture, also through socio-cultural exchanges in Switzerland and abroad. RECEPTIO is involved in philological, historical, artistic, codicological, linguistic, applied and targeted research projects at international, national, regional and local level.
In accordance with its memorandum of association, and in line with its name, the Centre specifically proposes to carry out and implement on its own, with its own financial resources, and/or with the support of public and/or private bodies, specific research projects on the historical, artistic, codicological and linguistic philological tradition, carrying out any initiative related to this purpose. By way of example, it proposes to study the application of philological methods to various fields of knowledge and everyday life (such as the analysis of news disseminated via the web).
In order to pursue the above-mentioned aims, the Centre is be able to:
1. organise research teams, made up of professors active at various universities in Switzerland and abroad, including emeriti, who collaborate with each other, forming senior teams, or with young post-doc researchers, forming mixed teams;
2. organise projects
3. organise conferences;
4. interact with cultural institutions and/or study groups;
5. publish - in traditional or digital form - monographs, volumes, databases, journals, blogs, bulletins, conference proceedings, audio and video