Dr. Sonsoles Costero-Quiroga

2024-2026  –  Juan de la Cierva Scholarship (Postdoc) at Complutense University of Madrid (Spain)

2023-2024  –  Residential Fellowship (Postdoc Stipendien) at the DFG-Kolleg-Forschungsgruppe 2496, Centre for Advanced Studies “Migration and Mobility in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages"

Since 2023 – Spanish Habilitation as Profesora Ayudante Doctora by ANECA

2022-2023 – Research associate (Postdoc) at the CRC 923 "Threatened Orders" (Project G01)

Since 2022 – Doctor in Philosophy and Language Sciences at the Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain) Thesis title: Providence and Fate in Proclus. An in-depth study on Providence, Fate, and Neoplatonic ethic in "On Providence" by Proclus (Supervisors: Prof. Dr. José María Zamora Calvo (UAM) and Prof. Dr. David Hernández de la Fuente (UCM))

2021-2022 – MA in Teacher Training for Secondary Education, High School, Vocational Training and Languages, specializing in Social Sciences at the University of Juan Carlos King (Spain)

2018-2020 – PhD candidate/researcher in the project “The Neo-Platonic School of Athens (4th-6th century) in its historical and philosophical context: A study on the "divine man" of late paganism and the Neoplatonic theory of the immortality of the soul”. IP: David Hernández de la Fuente (Complutense University of Madrid)

2017-2019 – PhD candidate/researcher in the project “Towards a social history of the late antique pagan holy man” (EUIN2017-85631), funded by the Ministry of Education and Science. IP: David Hernández de la Fuente (Complutense University of Madrid)

2009-2015 – Degree in Philosophy at the Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain) and Erasmus at the Università degli Studi di Padova (Italy)

2009-2010 – MA Sciences and Languages of Antiquity at the Autonomous University of Madrid and Complutense University (Spain)  

Doctor Summa Cum Laude in Philosophy and Language Sciences (2014-2022), with an International Mention, with a thesis directed by Prof. Dr. José María Zamora Calvo (UAM) and Prof. Dr. David Hernández de la Fuente (UCM), entitled Providence and Fate in Proclus. An in-depth study on Providence, Fate, and Neoplatonic ethic in "On Providence" by Proclus. It has been awarded with the Honorary Award for best doctoral thesis in Humanities and Arts by the Royal Academy of Doctors in Spain (Premio Nacional RADE, 2022) and the Extraordinary Doctorate Award by Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Currently, she has obtained habilitation in Spain as Profesora Ayudante Doctora (PD, 2023).

Degree in Philosophy (UAM), with a Master of History and Sciences of Antiquity (UAM-UCM); as well as a Master of Teacher Training for Secondary Education, High School, Vocational Training and Languages, specializing in Social Sciences (URJC), with the award of Academic Achievement.

Specializing in Ancient Philosophy, she combines transdisciplinary studies of Cultural History of Late Antiquity, Philology and Philosophy. Her main research lines are Neoplatonism, Social and Cultural History of Late Antiquity, History of Philosophy, Female Figures in History and Classical Reception Studies.

She is a postdoctoral researcher Juan de la Cierva at Complutense University of Madrid (Spain) under the sponsorship of Prof. Dr. Villacañas Berlanga. She has previously a residential Fellowship (Stipendien) in the DFG-Kolleg-Forschungsgruppe 2496 "Migration und Mobilität in Spätantike und Frühmittelalter" and a postdoc position (Wissenschaftliche Angestellte) at the Universität Tübingen in the CRC 923, Project G01 (SFB 923 Bedrohte Ordnungen - Threatened Orders).

She has gained research experience as a visiting scholar abroad in prestigious universities such as University of Oxford (2010, supervised by Profs. Drs. Michael Griffin and Tom Moore), Seoul National University-서울대학교 (2012-2013, International Programme), Boston College (2014, under the direction of Prof. Dr. Gary M. Gurtler) and Università degli Studi Roma-Trè (2019-2020, supervised by Prof. Dr. Ricardo Chiaradonna).

Before joining as a pre-doctoral researcher (PIF) in the Department of Philosophy at the Autonomous University of Madrid, she already received a grant for the Erasmus program, where she did her third year of the degree at the Università degli Study di Padova (2007-2008, supervised by Prof. Dr. Franco Volpi). She has also obtained a grant for collaborative work thanks to an assistantship from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport, as a teaching assistant (2008-2009) as well as European Mobility Project Leonardo Da Vinci Grant (2011) in Padova, Italy.

In total, she has obtained 13 honours in her degree and master's degrees. She has participated in the organisation of 19 congresses, conference cycles and seminars at national and international level, in different functions (academic secretary, central organisation or coordination work).

She was a member of the research project 'School of Athens' in UCM, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science (2017-2019). In this project she has gained experience as a coordinator for an ERC proposal and as a researcher. Also, she has founded and works as a content creator on the website https://escuelastardoantiguas.com derived from this project.

She is also a member of the research project ‘HUM153: Equipo de Filosofía de la Cultura’, in the Philosophy, Logic and Philosophy of Science Department, University of Sevilla (2022-nowadays).

She is currently an active member in the Barbaricum Association, belonging to UCM. Additionally, she is a member of the International Society of Neoplatonic Studies (ISNS), the world's leading specialist society in her field (http://www.isns.us/). Also she is the content creator of the ISNS' website. Furthermore, she is a member of the Ibero-American Network of Studies in Ancient Philosophy (RIEFA) and an honorary member of the Thought and Culture of Antiquity Student Association (APCA-UAM) of the Autonomous University of Madrid.

Finally, she speaks 8 languages: Spanish, English (C2), Italian (C2), French (C1), Japanese (B2), Korean (B1), German (B1), and Portuguese (A2).

Articles in scientific journals and book chapters in scientific eds with peer review.

1. Book Chapter. Costero-Quiroga, S. 2024. Introducción, in J. Igal (trad.) and S. Costero-Quiroga, Plotino. Enéadas I. Libros I-II. Gredos, pp. 5-27.
2. Book Chapter. Costero-Quiroga, S and Hächler, N. (in press). Establishing imperial holiness in liminal places: Heraclius' transformation to saviour of Byzantium during his Persian campaigns mirrored in the panegyrical writing by George of Pisidia, in J. Doroszewska & M. Kusio (Eds.), Boundaries of Holiness, Frontiers of Sanctity. Negotiating the Image of the Christian Holy Figures and Saints in Late Antiquity and Beyond (Fabulae Serie). Brepols.
3. Book Chapter. Costero-Quiroga, S. (in press). A Global Philosophical World: Academic Schools in Late Antiquity Through the Cases of Proclus and Olympiodorus, in M. Cobb & R. Haeussler (Eds.), Re-Thinking Globalisation. ArcheoPress.
4. Book Chapter. Costero-Quiroga, S. 2022. “Very Dear to the Gods”: The Role Model of Neoplatonism or Proclus as a Holy Man, in D. Hernández de la Fuente & M. Alviz Fernández (Eds.), Shaping the θεῖος ἀνήρ. Holiness, Charisma and Leadership in Late Antiquity (Studies in Platonism, Neoplatonism, and the Platonic Tradition). Franz Steiner Verlag.
5. Paper. Costero-Quiroga, S. 2016. «La Cadena Dorada en los Neoplatónicos: una mirada a Platón». Hermes, Revista del Mundo Clásico. 22, pp.12-20. ISSN 1989-7197.
6. Book review. Costero-Quiroga, S. 2016. «Timeo. Platón. José María Zamora Calvo (Ed.) (Trad.), Luces Brisson (Notas y anexos)», in Bajo Palabra, Revista de Filosofía. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. 9, pp.353-356. ISSN 1576-3935.

Conferences and seminars (a brief selection. Title, conference, place, year)

1. From Diotima to Hypatia. The role of the female philosophers: a threatened order? Workshop Narrating Women: Changes in Greek Literary Texts (200-600 AD). Complutense University of Madrid. 2023. Spain.
2. Can the Soul obtain Knowledge? 42. Metageitnia. Universität Basel. 2023. Switzerland 
3. Why Good Things Happen to Bad People, a proclaimed approach. International Society of Neoplatonic Studies. 19th Annual Conference 2022. The American College of Greece. 2022. Greece.
4. On personal successes and failures. Social psychology in the 5th century. IV International Congress of Greek Philosophy. Complutense University of Madrid. 2022. Spain.
5. The philosopher and his life: Neoplatonism as a key influence for 5th century A.D. Athens. I Methodological Congress of Research on the Classical World: Sources, methods and techniques for the study of the World. University of Cordoba. 2019.
6. Scala virtutum in Proclus and Olympiodorus. Two Different Views about Grades of Knowledge in Late Neoplatonism. Olympiodorus of Alexandria: exegete, teacher, philosopher. National Research School in Classical Studies, The Netherlands. 2017. Netherlands.
7. The relation of the bipartite division in the Tria Opuscula of Proclus. The 14th Annual Conference of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies (ISNS). Gonzaga University. 2016. United States of America.

Member in projects or lines of research

1. SFB 923 Bedrohte Ordnungen - Threatened Orders (CRC 923, Project G01: Platonism and Christianity in Late Antiquity: literary strategies of threat communication in Porphyry and Eusebius of Caesarea. IPs: Volker Henning Drecoll and Irmgard Männlein-Robert (Universität Tübingen). Postdoc Wissenschaftliche Angestellte. 2022-2023.
2. Research group HUM153: Equipo de Filosofía de la Cultura, in the department of Philosophy, Logic and Philosophy of Science, at the University of Seville (Spain). 2022-nowadays
3. The Neo-Platonic School of Athens (4th-6th century) in its historical and philosophical context: A study on the "divine man" of late paganism and the Neoplatonic theory of the immortality of the soul. IP: David Hernández de la Fuente (Complutense University of Madrid). 2018-2020.
4. Towards a social history of the late antique pagan holy man (EUIN2017-85631). Ministry of Education and Science. IP: David Hernández de la Fuente (Complutense University of Madrid). 2017-2019.

Association Memberships

• Fellow at DFG-Kolleg-Forschungsgruppe 2496 "Migration und Mobilität in Spätantike und Frühmittelalter" (Centre for Advanced Studies "Migration and Mobility in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages"), Residential Fellowship (Stipendium)
• Member of the International Society of Neoplatonic Studies and webmisstress (ISNS) http://www.isns.us/
• Member in the Barbaricum Association, belonging to the Complutense University of Madrid http://asociacionbarbaricvm.blogspot.com.es/
• Honorary member of the Thought and Culture of Antiquity Student Association of the Autonomous University of Madrid (APCA-UAM), since 2015: https://apccuam.wordpress.com
• Member of Ibero-American Network of Studies in Ancient Philosophy of the University Complutense of Madrid (RIEFA), since 2019: https://www.riefa.org/miembros

Research interest

• Proclus
• Platonism in the Imperial Age and Late Antiquity
• Social and cultural history of Late Antiquity
• History of Philosophy

Teaching and research abroad

• 2022-2024 Postdoc researcher at the Universität Tübingen
• 2019-2020 Visiting scholar at Università degli Studi Roma Tre
• 2014          Visiting scholar at Boston College
• 2012-1013 International Programme at Seoul National University
• 2010          Visiting scholar at Oxford University
• 2007-2008 Erasmus program at the Università degli Study di Padova

Scholarships

• 2023-2024      Residential Fellowship at University of Tübingen, Germany (Postdoc)
• 2012-2013      International program scholarship at the Seoul National University, South Korea (PhD Candidate)
• 2011                Leonardo Da Vinci scholarship (Padova, Italy)
• 2009-2011      Graduate scholarship (Inicio de estudios de postgrado)
• 2008−2009     Undergraduate scholarship (Beca de colaboración)