New grant for research into Dead Sea Scrolls

Mladen Popović, Professor at the Faculty of Religion, Culture and Society and interim Dean of the Faculty of Arts, has received an Advanced Grant for the Tracing Scribes and Scrolls project. This grant carries a sum of 2.5 million euros for further research into the provenance of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The goal of Tracing Scribes and Scrolls is to investigate the origin and creation of the Dead Sea Scrolls using analytical chemistry, artificial intelligence, and paleography (the study of handwriting). In this way, Popović and his team aim to determine where the scrolls were created and written. This could shed new light on the historical and cultural context of the scrolls. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of manuscripts that form the basis for the Old Testament, among other things.

Popović has worked at the University of Groningen for nearly twenty years and served as Dean of the Faculty of Religion, Culture and Society from 2017 to 2025. Over the past year, he enjoyed his sabbatical, giving him time for research again. Since May 1, he has held the position of interim Dean at the Faculty of Arts.

With the new grant, Popović and his team can get to work over the next five years conducting further research in the laboratory into the origins of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Click here for more information about the scholarship and the research into the Dead Sea Scrolls.