Chiara Barbati specializes in Ancient and Middle Iranian languages. In September 2009 she defended her PhD dissertation at University of Rome La Sapienza. She joined the Institute of Iranian Studies in August 2010. Her main fields of research are Sogdian language and literature with particular regard to the Christian Sogdian texts in relation to their Syriac sources, history of eastern Christianity through primary sources (Syriac) as well as secondary sources (Sogdian, Middle Persian, New Persian) and Iranian dialectology.