UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI L'ORIENTALE

Their core work

Università degli Studi di Napoli L'Orientale (known as UNO) is Italy's leading university for Oriental and Asian studies, specializing in the languages, religions, and cultural history of South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the ancient Near East. Their H2020 work centers on large-scale humanities research — decoding how religious traditions (Hindu, Islamic) spread across regions, analyzing manuscript cultures, and applying digital humanities methods to ancient texts in Sanskrit, Tamil, Arabic, and other classical languages. They train early-stage researchers through structured doctoral programs that blend traditional philology with modern digital tools and cross-sector career skills.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their early H2020 period (2017-2018), UNO focused on structured doctoral training (T4C) and South Asian religious traditions rooted in Sanskrit and Dravidian philology (SHIVADHARMA), alongside Southeast Asian regional studies (CRISEA). From 2019 onward, their work expanded decisively into Islamic textual scholarship (EuQu on the European Qur'an), manuscript culture, and ancient Near Eastern archaeology (ELAMortuary on Elamite civilization). The trajectory shows a broadening from a South Asia-centric focus to a wider Eurasian cultural history scope, with growing emphasis on cross-civilizational religious exchanges and digital approaches to ancient texts.

UNO is expanding from its traditional South Asian base toward broader Eurasian religious and cultural history, making them an increasingly versatile partner for large-scale humanities projects that span multiple civilizations and text traditions.

How they like to work

UNO operates as both a project leader and a specialist contributor. They coordinated 2 of their 6 projects (SHIVADHARMA and ELAMortuary — both ERC grants reflecting individual research excellence) while participating as a valued partner in major multi-institution consortia like EuQu and DHARMA. With 57 unique partners across 18 countries, they maintain a broad international network rather than relying on a small circle, which signals openness to new collaborations and strong reputation across the humanities research community.

UNO has built a wide network of 57 partners across 18 countries, reflecting the inherently international nature of Oriental studies — their collaborators span from Western European universities to research institutions in South and Southeast Asia. The geographic breadth is notable for a humanities-focused institution of moderate H2020 activity.

What sets them apart

UNO occupies a rare niche as Italy's premier university for Oriental studies, combining deep philological expertise in classical Asian and Middle Eastern languages with modern digital humanities methods. Unlike general-purpose humanities departments, they bring genuine multilingual competence spanning Sanskrit, Tamil, Arabic, Old Javanese, and Khmer — making them an irreplaceable partner for any project requiring textual analysis across these traditions. Their ability to bridge South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Islamic studies under one roof is uncommon in European academia and particularly valuable for large ERC-scale projects studying transregional religious and cultural exchanges.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EuQu
  Largest funding in their portfolio (EUR 2M) — an ERC Synergy Grant studying how the Qur'an shaped European culture over seven centuries, an ambitious cross-civilizational scope.
• SHIVADHARMA
  UNO-coordinated ERC Starting Grant investigating how Hindu religious traditions spread across premodern South Asia — demonstrates their capacity to lead major independent research.
• DHARMA
  Covers an exceptional range of classical languages (Sanskrit, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Old Javanese, Khmer) with digital epigraphy — showcases their unique multilingual depth.