The 13th International Congress of Coptic Studies was officially inaugurated today in the Aula Magna of the University of Göttingen, bringing together nearly 300 scholars from more than thirty countries for the world’s leading international gathering dedicated to the study of Christian Egypt.
Opening the ceremony, Frank Feder, chair of the local organizing committee, reflected on the remarkable development of Coptology since the first congress in Cairo in 1976. While digital resources have transformed research and made manuscripts more accessible than ever before, he emphasized that Coptic studies also has a broader mission. In a world increasingly marked by conflict and polarization, the humanities – and especially smaller disciplines – play a vital role by fostering historically informed and nuanced perspectives. Feder also highlighted the Göttingen Academy’s commitment to open-access scholarship and the training of a new generation of researchers, many of whom will present their work during the congress.
One of the highlights of the opening ceremony was the presentation of the IACS Award of Academic Excellence 2026, led by President-Elect Tonio Sebastian Richter. The Master’s Prize was awarded to Kieran Meinhardt (Free University Berlin) for his innovative study of Greek loanwords in Coptic. The doctoral prize was exceptionally shared between Élodie Mazy (Université libre de Bruxelles), whose dissertation offers the first comprehensive study of festivals in Coptic Egypt, and Vincent Walter (Free University Berlin), whose work sheds new light on late Coptic documentary texts and the transition from papyrus to paper.
The ceremony also featured a particularly moving moment when Stephen Emmel was appointed Honorary President of the International Association for Coptic Studies, in recognition of more than four decades of service to the Association. Emmel reminded the audience that his work had always been driven by “the love of Egypt” and the pursuit of human knowledge. He remains the only participant to have attended every International Congress since the inaugural meeting in Cairo in December 1976.
In her presidential address, Paola Buzi offered an assessment of the current state of Coptic studies. She emphasized the increasingly collaborative nature of the discipline, the growing importance of digital scholarly resources as research outputs in their own right, and the flourishing of Coptic Studies in Egypt through new academic programmes, archaeological discoveries, and international collaborations.
The opening ceremony also included a speech by Heike Behlmer on Göttingen’s more than 250-year tradition in Egyptology and Coptic Studies. Greetings were delivered by His Eminence Metropolitan Damian, conveying the blessing of Pope Tawadros II; Professor Sameh Soror, Cultural Counselor of the Embassy of Egypt; Professor Axel Schölmerich, President of the University of Göttingen; Professor Daniel Göske, President of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities, in a recorded video message; and Professor Ulrike Egelhaaf-Gaiser, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Humanities.
The opening ceremony set the tone for a week of lectures, discussions, and discoveries.