Dr Zoe Screti

Dr Zoe Screti

Research Fellow


Dr Zoe Screti is an early modern historian interested in the history of science, manuscript studies, digital humanities approaches, social network analysis, and the Reformation. She is the Astra Foundation Research Fellow in Manuscript Studies at the Voltaire Foundation where she is creating a digital catalogue of Voltaire manuscripts and joined Harris Manchester as a Research Fellow in 2023. Her work at the Voltaire Foundation involves establishing the data model for the catalogue, identifying fields for inclusion, locating manuscripts in global repositories, and producing metadata from close analysis of archival materials. Zoe is particularly interested in signs of use (e.g. marginalia) and her forthcoming publications consider the ways in which including such information in catalogue entries can introduce new voices into the historical record.

 

She has a BA in History, an MA in Early Modern History, and a PhD in History from the University of Birmingham. Her doctoral thesis explored the relationship between religious reform and alchemy in early modern England, questioning what the collation, circulation, and use of alchemical manuscripts can reveal about the ways in which alchemy was shaped by the Reformation. She was awarded the Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry's New Scholar Award in 2020 in recognition of the value of her research, a Three Minute Thesis Development Grant in 2021, and a research grant from the Scientific Instruments Society in 2023. Whilst at Birmingham, she taught on the global history of the early modern period and worked as the Centre for Reformation and Early Modern Studies' Communications Officer.

 

Dr Screti is currently the Postgraduate Officer for the British Society for the History of Science, developing initiatives to support the needs of postgraduate and early career members of the Society. She also assists with the running of Bodleian Student Editions Workshops and volunteers as a transcriber on the Davy Notebooks Project.