'The Faculty is delighted to announce the election of Professor Stratis Papaioannou to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Bywater and Sotheby Professorship of Byzantine and Modern Greek Language and Literature. The Chair, in association with a fellowship at Exeter College, was established in 1915 and its full endowment was secured by the generous contributions of many donors including most recently the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. The professorship has been held by a series of distinguished scholars of whom the most recent are Professor Cyril Mango, Professor Elizabeth Jeffreys and Professor Marc Lauxtermann.
Professor Papaioannou joins the Faculty from the National Hellenic Research Foundation in Athens, where he is Director of Research. He is also Senior Fellow in Byzantine Studies, at Dumbarton Oaks, Harvard. His research interests include: Byzantine literary and cultural history; Byzantine and Early Modern Greek book and letter-writing cultures; literary aesthetics, and concepts of gender, self, and desire.
Jonathan Thacker, Chair of the Faculty Board said: “We are delighted to share the news of the election of Prof Papaioannou to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Bywater and Sotheby Professorship of Byzantine and Modern Greek Language and Literature. As a world-leading expert in his field, Prof Papaioannou, will bring wide experience and vitality to this prestigious role. I speak on behalf of all of my colleagues in the Faculty (and indeed Faculties) to which Prof Papaioannou will contribute his expertise as teacher and researcher in offering him the warmest of welcomes to Oxford.”
Professor Papaioannou added: "This appointment is most thrilling to me. One can envisage no better environment than the Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages, the Oxford Centre for Byzantine Research, and Exeter College in which to pursue work on all things Byzantine and Early Modern Greek, alongside colleagues and students of the highest calibre."
He takes up the post from 1 April 2026.
