The TraSIS team made their way to the charming city of Vienna last week for the 29^th annual congress of the DAVO (German Middle East Studies Association), held in conjunction with the fourth annual Turkologentag (European Convention on Turkic, Ottoman and Turkish Studies). Some 800 delegates were in attendance. The congress featured a fascinating mix of papers by Middle Easternists and Turkologists, with a compelling keynote by Professor Edhem Eldem that addressed the progress of the last few decades—as well as the very stark challenges confronting researchers—in the latter field. The TraSIS panel, chaired by Prof. Dr Serena Tolino, was comprised of three papers and a response by Dr Magdalena Moorthy Kloss of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. Omar Anchassi presented on sexual hospitality in early Islamic law, with a focus on how a cross-sectarian reading of the sources illuminates early doctrinal development. Laura Emunds read a paper on mukātaba, which explored the dynamics of the relationship between masters and enslaved persons at three key moments in their relationship: entry to and exit from the kitāba, and the intervening period, with a focus on the mukātab/ a’s labour. Laura Rowitz then addressed kafāla, exploring the transformation of the institution from a form of surety to a mechanism for labour migration control. The panel was very well attended, and the audience posed a number of excellent questions to the panellists. The next day, the TraSIS team and other conference delegates were taken on a historical tour of the city, retracting the steps of the famous Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi (d. after 1096/1685). The DAVO congress was a great success overall, and the TraSIS panel was well received.