Digital Humanities Research Hub (DHRH), London

Description

The Digital Humanities Research Hub (DHRH) at SAS is a leading centre for digital research in the School of Advanced Study. Its interdisciplinary team comprises academics from various disciplines, including Classics, English, History, and Modern Languages and Cultures, as well as practitioners and researchers with technical expertise. The Hub combines its disciplinary foundation with digital methods and tools to make a unique contribution to research.

The DHRH supports the School of Advanced Study's mission to promote digitally-enabled research across disciplines. It promotes the use of digital techniques in humanities scholarship in the UK and provides infrastructure and support to the national and international digital humanities community. As a Hub, it collaborates with partners worldwide, undertakes its own interdisciplinary research, offers training in digital methods, and supports national projects and initiatives. Additionally, it actively promotes the digital humanities within the University of London, working closely with colleagues from the School of Advanced Study, Senate House Library, and the Institute libraries.

The DHRH staff work on diverse projects spanning various disciplines and methods. They welcome colleagues and potential collaborators to reach out for discussions related to research areas of interest, including training, advice, consultancy, collaboration, and joint funding applications. The team also focuses on pedagogical research, particularly on how digital technologies can enhance learning in the Digital Humanities at postgraduate levels and beyond. They prioritise providing training in fundamental digital literacy, including software and library carpentry. 

Research areas at the DHRH include:

• Text Encoding, Analysis and Editing: Projects related to text encoding, digital scholarly editing, and text mining.
• Linked Data: Sustained interest in linked open data and library resource management.
• Community: Facilitating community building and scholarly infrastructure projects.
• Language: Focus on approaches and tools for multilingual digital research, including ancient and modern languages.
• Born-digital Archives and Culture: Research on born-digital materials, with a focus on web archives and internet/social media research.
• Digital Methods and Policy: Research that employs novel digital and humanities approaches to inform policy-making.
• Material Culture: Exploring digital approaches to studying material culture.

The DHRH aligns with the School's mission of promoting and facilitating research nationwide. Its academic staff, grounded in Humanities disciplines, communicate and train in cutting-edge digital methods for their respective fields. The Hub's strategy also includes hosting visiting fellowships, innovation in postgraduate training through short courses and workshops, developing research bids, and organising internationally focused events.

DHRH Key Values are:

• Inclusivity: The DHRH fosters an inclusive understanding of Digital Humanities, welcoming newcomers and embracing diverse approaches and perspectives. It supports researchers across the Humanities in developing knowledge and skills to contribute to digital research initiatives. Interdisciplinary collaboration is highly valued, along with engagement with digital research practices and projects in different national and cultural contexts.
• Openness: The Hub promotes openness and transparency in Digital Humanities. It encourages practitioners to publish in open access venues, use open standards and open-source tools, produce data in open formats, and document methods and recommendations. The Hub also supports digital and scholarly communication initiatives, including open access publications.
• Cultural Heritage: The DHRH recognises the value of Cultural Heritage, encompassing material and intangible heritage. It emphasises legal, ethical, and sensitive concerns related to the study, reproduction, and dissemination of cultural materials. Representation, respect for cultural norms, and debates around restitution and repatriation of heritage objects are important considerations.
• Responsible and Low-Impact Technology: The Hub promotes responsible and low-impact technology, aligning with green computing, minimal computing, and agile/collaborative computing. It actively develops and supports low- impact and minimum viable product-oriented solutions for digital research. The Hub acknowledges that the internet consumes substantial resources, including labour, electricity, and infrastructure costs. It recognises the environmental impact and accessibility issues caused by carbon emissions and data transfer. To address these concerns, the Hub advocates for low-impact solutions that reduce data transfer by up to 70% compared to regular websites. This approach involves identifying only the essential components necessary for effective research communication online. By embracing minimal computing, the Hub aims to reduce barriers to access, engagement, and critical nuance in digital research.

Postgraduate teaching encompasses modules in digital classics as part of the intercollegiate MA in Classics and modules in digital editing as part of the Institute of English Studies' MA in the History of the Book. Additionally, the Hub offers short courses and summer schools in 3D imaging and modelling, digital epigraphy and papyrology, and digital scholarly editing.

Offers funding

No, this infrastructure does not provide funding.

Founding year

2020

Contact details

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University affiliation(s)

University of London
Senate House
Malet St
London
WC1E 7HU

University of London
Senate House
Malet St
London
WC1E 7HU

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