Karen Radner


Karen Radner is an Austrian Assyriologist, the Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Ancient History at the University of Munich.

Early life and education

Karen Radner started her studies at the University of Vienna in 1990 in Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Archaeology. She graduated in 1994 with an MA and 1997 with a PhD. Her doctoral work was titled Die neuassyrischen Privatrechtsurkunden als Quelle für Mensch und Umwelt. This study was published in 1997 as part of the State Archives of Assyria Studies Series based at the University of Helsinki.
Following her doctoral studies, Radner spent two years in the University of Helsinki as a junior research fellow and one year at the University of Tübingen as a research fellow. In 1999, Radner moved to the University of Munich as a research assistant and started her Habilitation, which was completed in 2004 and is entitled "Die Macht des Namens. Altorientalische Strategien zur Selbsterhaltung". This was published in 2005. From 2005-2015, Radner worked at University College London as a lecturer, reader, and then professor in Ancient Near Eastern History. During this time, she was also a guest professor at the University of Verona, the University of Innsbruck, UCL Qatar, Doha, and Koç University, Istanbul.

Humboldt Professorship

In 2015, Radner won an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Award in Classical and Ancient Studies. As part of this award, she received a professorship at the University of Munich, where she is the Alexander von Humboldt-Professur für die Alte Geschichte des Nahen und Mittleren Ostens as part of the program. She is also a member of the .

Project leadership

Radner has led several projects, including ( and .

Other honors and awards

In 2016, Radner was elected to the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Since 2015, Radner has also been an Honorary Professor of Ancient Near Eastern History at University College London.

Publications