Migration and religion are deeply entangled phenomena, shaping both ancient and contemporary societies in profound ways. Religion can serve as a catalyst for migration, while migration in turn reshapes religious identities, reconfigures sacred landscapes, and mediates processes of social integration.

Scholars of (late) Antiquity and the early Middle Ages working at this intersection face particular structural challenges. Disciplinary fragmentation fosters isolation rather than connecting specialists. Theoretical frameworks, where they exist at all, remain unevenly developed, and methodological sophistication depends largely on the degree to which individual fields have engaged with and adapted the so-called mobility turn.

The inaugural Migration, Mobility and Religion in Long Antiquity (MigRel.Net) conference seeks to address these challenges by bringing together researchers working across this emerging interdisciplinary field. Cross-disciplinary dialogue — including direct engagement with invited specialists in contemporary migration studies — aims to foster methodological advance. Our broader aim is to build a scholarly community and to establish a sustained international research network.

The conference will take place between 4-7 Novemeber 2026 at the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, Turkey.

Program

Please click here for the program and here for the abstracts.

Venue

Please click here for more information to the venue and accessibility.

Zoom streaming

All thematic sessions will be streamed via Zoom. You can find the daily links in the printed program. Please also note that the programme times are given in Istanbul time (TRT) which is two hours ahead of Central European Time (CET) in the winter.

Organisers

Dr. András Handl and Dr. Olof Heilo.

Acknowledgements

The inaugural MigRel.Net Conference received generous financial support from swissuniversities, from the Walter-Benjamin-Kolleg and from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF).