Alexander Fidora (Offenbach 1975) is an ICREA Research Professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), where he has directed two ERC projects. He obtained his PhD in 2003 at Frankfurt University (summa cum laude) with a study of Dominicus Gundissalinus’s theory of science. From 2003 to 2006, A. Fidora was Assistant Professor of Philosophy and project leader at Frankfurt University, since 2006 he is Research Professor in the Department of Ancient and Medieval Studies of the UAB, where he served as Executive Director of the Institute of Medieval Studies from 2012 to 2019.

Fidora is an internationally acknowledged expert in the field of medieval studies and the history of inter-religious exchanges and polemics who has authored and edited more than 50 books on the history of philosophy and religion during the Middle Ages, along with some 170 articles in international high-impact journals and collective volumes. He has given more than 150 lectures in China, Europe, Israel, Latin America and the USA. He has been a visiting professor at universities in Erlangen-Nuremberg, Frankfurt a.M., Mexico City, Philadelphia, Vitória (Brazil) and Saint Louis.

With his research on intellectual networks in medieval Europe, Fidora has challenged accounts of traditional historiography, such as the perception of the Jewish intellectual tradition in Europe as ‘extraterritorial’, i.e., depending exclusively on Oriental sources. At the same time, he has brought to light the importance of the Arabic philosophical and religious tradition for Latin scholasticism, with a particular focus on intellectual developments in the Iberian Peninsula (e.g. Ramon Llull’s thought). Moreover, he has established another, very productive line of research, namely the study of the Christian approach to the Talmud and Rabbinic Judaism in the 13th century. The critical edition of the Latin translation of the Talmud from 1245 – published in two volumes in the prestigious Corpus Christianorum-series by Fidora and his team (CCCM 291 and 291A) – has recently been described as follows: “The production of the ‘Extractiones’ set a landmark in the medieval Christian study of the Talmud. The publication of its critical edition may very well set a landmark in the modern study of Jewish-Christian intellectual relations” (Y. Yisraeli in REFIME 29/2 (2022), p. 163).

Through his research on both Jewish-Christian and Christian-Islamic intellectual encounters along with their social and cultural implications, Fidora has made a lasting contribution to the interdisciplinary study of the Middle Ages as a foundational period of European culture and history, in which the intellectual and religious frontiers of knowledge underwent significant change. Lately, Fidora has received the Alexander von Humboldt Research Award, which is the highest distinction in Germany for non-German based scientists and scholars in recognition of their lifetime's research achievements.

Editorships and Editorial Boards

Editor/co-editor of the following book series:

- Prognostication in History, Leiden: Brill

- Transcultural Medieval Studies, Turnhout: Brepols

- Herders Bibliothek der Philosophie des Mittelalters, Freiburg i. Br.: Herder

- Political Philosophy and Theory of Law, Stuttgart: Frommann-Holzboog

- Bibliotheca Philosophorum Medii Aevi Cataloniae, Santa Coloma de Queralt: OE

- Colección Benito Arías Montano, Madrid: Ed. Sindéresis

- Katalanische Literatur des Mittelalters, Münster: LIT

Fidora is co-editor of the ‘Revista Española de Filosofía Medieval’ and sits on editorial boards of more than 15 international journals.

Participation in Research Evaluation

Since 2021, Alexander Fidora is a panel member of the ERC StG programme. Currently, he is also a member of the permanent review panel of the Czech Science Foundation (Prague) and the FWO Review College (Brussels). He has reviewed projects for more than 15 international research agencies.

PhD Students Supervised

Among the PhD students supervised by A. Fidora, six have obtained positions in academia so far: Julia-Constance Dissel (Frankfurt a.M.), Celia López Alcalde (Granada), Ekaterina Novokhatko (Dresden), Nicola Polloni (Leuven), Luciano Vianna (Petrolina/Brazil) and Susana B. Violante (Buenos Aires).

Awards and Distinctions

- Alexander von Humboldt Research Award 2022.

- Member of Academia Europaea, since 2017.

- Vice-President of the Société Internationale pour l’Étude de la Philosophie Médiévale, 2017-2022.

- President of the Sociedad de Filosofía Medieval, 2012-2016.

- Premio Samuel Toledano, Jerusalem, 04/11/2012.

- Advanced Research Accreditation (Full professor), AQU, Barcelona, 19/07/2011.

- Premi Internacional Catalònia, Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, 28/04/2011.

- Magister of the Maioricensis Schola Lullistica, since 2007.

- Corresponding member of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes y Ciencias Históricas de Toledo, since 2006.

- Positive assessment as lecturer in public and private universities by ANECA, Madrid, 2005.