Professor Frankopan specialises in the history of the Byzantine Empire in the 11th century, and in the history of Asia Minor, Russia and the Balkans. He works on medieval Greek literature and rhetoric, and on diplomatic and cultural exchange between Constantinople and the Islamic world, western Europe and the principalities of southern Russia.

Expertise: The Byzantine Empire, The Crusades, The Middle Ages, Russia, The Middle East, The Islamic World, Central Asia and the Silk Roads.

Selected publications: The Silk Roads: A New History of the World (2015); The First Crusade: The Call from the East (2012);

Media experience: Professor Frankopan has extensive media experience including BBC TV documentaries with Simon Sebag-Montefiore and Bettany Hughes; TV documentaries on Ivan the Terrible and on the Vikings; and radio, including BBC Radio 4's Today.

Recent media work: President Xi Jinping’s global vision for China; What price culture?; New Silk Roads tell the story of Asia; Why a Russian city is planning to erect a statue to Ivan the Terrible; 200,000 wiped from face of the Earth by Stalin

Languages: English, French, Italian, Swedish, Croatian, Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Dutch