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As the semester starts again, members of the DFG-funded Kollegforschungsgruppe (KFG) were active during the past months in a range of ways.  Asuman Lätzer-Lasar was a visiting fellow at UC Irvine, California, and guest of Andromache Karanika, who is an expert on gender and performance in ancient Greek literature. Topics of discussion included the role and agency of Greek women in religious networks, for example in Homer. Emiliano Urciuoli was a visiting research scholar at the University of Turin. As part of the stay, he gave a presentation on his 2018 book Servire due padroni: Una genealogia dell’uomo politico cristiano (50–313 e.v.).  Members of the KFG have also been active in organising workshops and conferences as well as participating in events themselves. Emiliano Urciuoli organised an international conference on Christian origins (see here for the programme), while Martin Christ gave papers at the annual meeting of the German History Society in London and at a workshop on "Rethinking Objects: New Directions for Pre-modern Materiality Studies", held at Newcastle University. Jörg Rüpke presented papers in London, Greece and Japan. Our fellow Pralay Kanungo was a panel chair and discussant in ICAS 11 (International Convention of Asian Scholars) held in Leiden in July. He also presented a paper on "the Rise of Hindu Nationalism in Odisha: An Analysis of the 2019 Parliament Elections" in Paris in June. Elisa Iori delivered a paper "Indo-Greeks in Swat. The political program of Menander and his successors" in Bologna in September. Susanne Rau gave a keynote address and helped to lead a study week in Trento on "Migration and the European City. Social and Cultural Perspectives from Early Modernity to the Present". We were pleased to promote the work of the KFG during these events and to talk to colleagues and the public about overlap with their interests and work. As ever, if you want to know more about aspects of our work or would like to talk about potential collaborations, please feel free to get in touch. Furthering these connections, we were also happy to welcome our new fellows: Qudsiya Contractor, Kristine Iara, David Garbin, Saskia Abrahms-Kavunenko and Marian Burchardt.  Susanne Rau, Jörg Rüpke and Emiliano Urciuoli continued organising the KFG's annual conference on "Urban Heterarchies: Changing Religious Authority and Social Power in Cities". This international and interdisciplinary conference takes place in Erfurt from 11 to 13 December 2019. If you are interested in attending or for further information, please contact Emiliano. Our fellow Rana Behal has co-organised the XIIIth International Conference on Labour History, held at the V.V Giri National Labour Institute, NOIDA, India from 12 to 14 March 2020. Members of the KFG are also in the process of organising two sessions for the annual conference for the European Assocaition for Urban History, held in Antwerp from 2 to 5 September 2020. The call for papers for this conference has been extended, so you can still submit an application. Sara Keller is in the early stages of organising a workshop on "Accessing Water in the South Asian City", which is provisionally scheduled for 20-21 May 2021.  Our activities for public engagement and outreach have also continued. On November 8, the KFG will take part in the "Long Night of Scholarship" ("Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften") where we will present aspects of our work to the public. Additionally, Sara Keller and others have been busy planning the next version of the KFG's "City Walks", an initiative that discusses Religion and Urbanity in Erfurt. For reports on the first two versions, see the blog entries. And for some reflections on "Erfurt-ness" linked to the walks, see here.     Work on the KFG's main publication, a Handbook of Religion and Urbanity, continues and members have published aspects of their research as well. Martin Christ, for example, has published a chapter on "Conflict and Coexistence: The Case of Early Modern Upper Lusatia" in the volume Rethinking Europe: War and Peace in the Early Modern German Lands (ed. by Gerhild Scholz Williams, Sigrun Haude, Christian Schneider).Members of the KFG have also used the summer period for research trips, archival visits and fieldwork. Asuman Lätzer-Lasar visited Rome in order to meet the main excavators of the Mater Magna temple and surrounding area (Patrizio Pensabene and Fulvio Coletti), as well as the excavator of the Basilica Hilariana (Carlo Pavolini). Martin Christ undertook research in London's Metropolitan Archives and the National Archives in Kew. Susanne Rau continued her ongoing research on Lyon, which she wrote about in a recent post, and Simone Wagner visited archives for her doctoral dissertation, leading to some interesting (and entertaining) reflections. Elisa Iori travelled to the Swat District, Pakistan, for archaeological work. She will report on her experiences and work in the next blog post... 