On Friday, 6 March 2026, Marie Jeannot-Tirole defended her PhD thesis at the University of Strasbourg. Her thesis is an annotated edition of the Sylva epistolaris seu barba by the Alsatian humanist Johannes Sapidus (1490–1561), a colourful text that includes, among other things, a paradoxical praise of the beard. Florian Schaffenrath was a member of the ‘jury de thèse’ and congratulates the new doctor warmly.