The Centre for Classical and Humanistic Studies (CECH) is a Research & Development Unit of the University of Coimbra, located at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities (FLUC). Deeply anchored in Classical Studies as humanity’s cultural heritage, it reflects on the permanence of the classical matrix in time. Dedicated to Greek, Latin, Medieval and Renaissance studies, with a strong focus on the Portuguese-speaking world, CECH’s research activities span Classical and Portuguese cultural heritage, focusing particularly on the fields of Reception Studies, Food Heritage and Musical Collections. Literature, Philosophy, Ancient History, and Archaeology complement this whole Humanities research repertoire.

 

In 2010, to promote a space for debate where young researchers could discuss their studies’ progress, CECH created Opera in Fieri. Despite being primarily dedicated to Classical Studies’ researchers, its goal was to promote cross-disciplinary discussions, welcoming individuals from other study fields, as long as the main subject area fitted the historical and conceptual domains of the so-called “Ancient world”. The last edition took place in 2017, as a partnership between CECH and Origem da Comédia, the youth section of the Portuguese Association for Classical Studies.

 

In 2022 the 1st Student Forum on Classical and Humanistic Studies will recapture the spirit that led to the creation of the Opera in Fieri. There will be two days, animated by two artistic moments that are an expression of Immaterial Cultural Heritages and have great significance to our identity: the Fado of Coimbra (the Fado Section of the Academic Association of Coimbra) and Classical Drama (23rd International Classical Drama Festival).

 

The forum’s Executive Committee is composed by PhD students in Classical Studies from FLUC who are, simultaneously, its first promoters. As students and researchers, much of our intellectual work consists of discovering “things”, come up with ideas and connect them into logical and solid discourses. In fact, we create hypotheses explaining what we are observing. Each of us has our own “theses” to argue before teachers and peers. Before reaching the 3rd cycle of studies, we already had other experiences on creating “theses”, during master’s, as well as in more ambitious work developed during graduation. This is why our student forum aims to be an inclusive space, designed to bring together theses from various levels of training and research!