Author: Joan Murphy

Postdoc position with Sonraí [Deadline: 27th Jan]

Postdoc position with Sonraí [Deadline: 27th Jan]

The Post-Doctoral Researcher role will coordinate a number of tasks to further the development of the Sonraí network, including the development and launch of a micro-credential in data stewardship; the establishment of a data champions programme; communications and events to further establish the network.

For further info and to apply go to: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/401262 

The role will involve communication with a range of audiences (users, partners, collaborators, lecturers, support staff, funders and so on), and lots of collaboration with colleagues from across the Irish academic sector, in particular our project affiliates in the TROPIC (TRaining for OPen research in an Irish Context) project in Maynooth University, and the Responsible Use of Research Metrics (RURM) project in UCD. This is an opportunity to develop your academic profile and build relationships with colleagues, peers, and more broadly. You will assist the Sonraí project partners to establish the Sonraí Data Champions programme, highlighting data stewardship excellence across the Irish research landscape and various fields, and driving the recruitment of new members to the Sonraí network. Open Research is an active growth area in the academic, public and private sectors in Ireland and worldwide, and this role will be a great opportunity to develop expertise in this emerging space. You will have lots of opportunities to publish on this topic, via blog posts, articles, and by co-authoring at least one academic journal publication.

This 12-month consortium project is led by HEAnet (www.heanet.ie), and partnered by University College Cork (www.ucc.ie) and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (www.rcsi.com). The Post-Doctoral role will be hosted at RCSI Library at the St Stephen’s Green campus in Dublin, with an option for hybrid working. The role will be supervised by Ruth Geraghty, Research Data Coordinator at RCSI Library, while working closely with the project partners in Dublin and Cork.

Specifically, the duties of the post are:

§  Research and co-develop a comparative report on sustainability models for professional networks, and provide recommendations to Sonraí (WP1)

§  Co-develop, curate and edit educational content for the ‘Introduction to Data Stewardship’ micro-credential, based on the curriculum that has been developed by our Task & Finish group (WP2)

§  Organise one in-person event for participants in the Sonraí Data Stewardship micro-credential, to include guest speakers and networking opportunities (WP2)

§  Design and carry out an evaluation of the impact of the micro-credential with first cohort of learners on this course (WP2)

§  Co-develop a disciplinary data stewardship module curriculum in Health Sciences, through engagement with the Health Sciences research community (WP2)

§  Support the project partners with the rollout of our ‘Data Champions’ programme (WP3)

§  Support the project partners to develop our Sonraí mailing list, LinkedIn page and website (datastewards.ie/), to raise awareness and drive engagement with Sonraí (WP4).

§  Co-author one publication (journal article) on the work of the project, contributing to the global advancement of data stewardship

§  Assist with progress reporting to project funders, the Sonraí Committee and Steering Group, and participate in monthly project partner meetings.

AIRON Event: AI and Research Evaluation [Jan 22, online, 16:00 GMT]

AIRON Event: AI, Research Evaluation, and REF 2029 — What We Need to Understand Now
🗓 22 January 2026 | 🕓 4pm GMT


🔗 Event link: (3) AI, Research Evaluation, and REF 2029: What We Need to Understand Now | LinkedIn

In this session, Mike Thelwall will present recent evidence on how both public models (e.g., ChatGPT) and smaller private models perform when assessing research quality. The discussion draws on REF-evaluated journal articles and also considers where AI may be applied across outputs, impact case studies, environment statements, and pre-publication peer review.

We will also explore a practical, responsible stance: LLMs can be persuasive and still wrong, but when used carefully they may provide supporting insights — for example by averaging multiple outputs and using rankings rather than absolute scores — to support, not replace, expert judgement.

This event is part one of a two-part series. We will continue the conversation in February with a follow-up panel featuring Mike Thelwall, Elizabeth Gadd, and Helen Young.

If you can’t attend live, you can still stay connected:
📩 AIRON newsletter (summary + Q&A): Newsletter sign up page
🔗 AIRON LinkedIn community: (4) AI in Research Operations Network (AIRON) | Groups | LinkedIn

Global Survey Findings on 3D Digitisation in Cultural Heritage [Jan 22, online, 13:00 CET]

Global Survey Findings on 3D Digitisation in Cultural Heritage [Jan 22, online, 13:00 CET]

In cooperation with Heritage Malta, the IIIF and the EU eArchiving Initiative, the newly established Research Center MNEMOSYNE at the UNESCO Chair on Digital Cultural Heritage present the final results of the 2025 Worldwide Survey on 3D Data Acquisition and Digitisation in Cultural Heritage. This event, offered free of charge, provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art in a field of critical importance to Humanity, focusing on the documentation, protection, preservation, and use and reuse of cultural heritage data, medatata and paradata. 

It further offers a critical assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of this domain, clearly articulating the necessity of digitising the past.

The results demonstrate how cultural heritage digitisation contributes to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), while simultaneously advancing scientific knowledge, supporting evidence-based heritage management, and creating long-term value for future generations. 

Moreover, the event seeks to reassess current knowledge and to articulate a clear framework for interdisciplinary collaboration, highlighting how diverse professional communities must work together to ensure the effective safeguarding and sustainable management of the material and immaterial legacy of our past.

Free of Charge Registration:
https://unescochair-dch.net/Webinar-about-Survey-on-Digital-Heritage-Results

ACDH Lecture: From Punch Cards to Prompt Engineering [Jan 20, online, 16:45 CET]

ACDH Lecture: “From Punch Cards to Prompt Engineering: The MHDBD and the Future of Semantic Annotation with LLMs” with Katharina Zeppezauer-Wachauer & Julia Hintersteiner (both Universität Salzburg)


📅 Tuesday, January 20th, 2026
⏰ 16:45 – 18:15


The invited speakers will present the complete technological redesign of the Mittelhochdeutsche Begriffsdatenbank (hashtag#MHDBDB): After decades of development in relational and RDF-based environments, the project has moved to a TEI-first architecture designed to support LLM-driven research.

The speakers address the key reasons for this shift:
i) the need for structured, AI-readable data;
ii) the practical limits of high-complexity standoff models; and
iii) the excessive resource demands of large-scale RDF infrastructures.

In this context, Large Language Models are reshaping annotation, search, and interpretation. TEI-XML emerges as a sustainable framework for transparent, semantically robust, and interoperable Expert-in-the-Loop workflows, balancing philological rigor with AI scalability.
The talk offers a focused perspective on the evolving technical foundations of text research in the humanities.

More detailed information,

https://www.oeaw.ac.at/acdh/newsevents/event-series/acdh-lecture-121

This lecture is jointly organised in close collaboration with the Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities (ACDH) and the University of Vienna and is part of the University’s Digital Humanities Lecture Circuit (WS 2025).

Authority, Hierarchies and Games: An overview of multilingual language practices in Final Fantasy, Minecraft and PUBG in Twitch and live gaming scenarios [Jan 19, online, @17:15 UTC+1]

Authority, Hierarchies and Games. An overview of multilingual language practices in Final Fantasy, Minecraft and PUBG in Twitch and live gaming scenarios

We are pleased to invite you to the next talk in the lecture series Digital Humanities in Focus, organized by RosDH, the Digital Humanities Working Group at the University of Rostock.

On Monday, January 19, 2026 at 17:15 (UTC+1), Laura Vawter, PhD Candidate at the Institute of English and American Studies (Rostock), will give a talk titled:

“Authority, Hierarchies and Games. An overview of multilingual language practices in Final Fantasy, Minecraft and PUBG in Twitch and live gaming scenarios”

Abstract:

Cultural and linguistic analysis of language in digital environments and gaming scenarios is a global and interdisciplinary field that encompasses linguistics, digitalization, education, and computer science. Digital Humanities (DH) too is an interdisciplinary field that explores the relationship between philosophy, cultural studies, social sciences, and digitalization.

The exploration of digital games not only has profound implications for the transformational nature of these intersecting fields but is key to unlocking a digital culture that is central to the lives of current, younger, and future generations. Just as language is how we, as individuals, create meaning, games and participation in gaming culture are how individuals create meaning in the digital world.
This lecture discusses linguistic patterns in gaming scenarios, how players establish and shape hierarchies within gaming communities using gaming language, and its implications for future research in DH.

The event will take place online. Access to the Zoom link and further information can be found here.

Everyone interested is welcome to attend. We look forward to seeing you there!

Measuring Narrative Space: A Computational Study of German and English Prose Fiction [Jan 13, online, 10-12 CET]

Measuring Narrative Space: A Computational Study of German and English Prose Fiction [Jan 13, online, 10-12 CET]

The lecture is public and can be attended only via zoom. The talk will not be recorded.

Dr. Katrin Rohrbacher (Nürnberg/Erlangen):

Measuring Narrative Space: A Computational Study of German and English Prose Fiction

In this talk, I will present ongoing work on measuring the notion of narrative space using machine learning methods, specifically by fine-tuning BERT-based classification models and applying them to a large collection of German and English historical prose fiction, including both canonical works and non-fiction. Moving from theorization and conceptualization to dataset creation, modeling, analysis, and interpretation, I will outline the steps involved in conducting a computational study of this kind. We will examine results that show how the concepts of “setting” and “lived space” have been used in fiction over time and discuss their implications for “experientiality” and embodiment more broadly, including cross-linguistic perspectives between German and English. The talk also introduces a methodological model for iterative, interpretive “computational reading” that bridges qualitative and quantitative approaches.

When: January 13, 2026, 10-12 hs

Where:  Zoom 

Zoom link:  https://uni-bielefeld.zoom-x.de/j/67280092106?pwd=Zlzqqy980r2N7I1wTktAbbV33tCBaj.1

Technical Writing in the Humanities: a facilitated writing sprint [Dec 15, online, 13:30-15:00 GMT]

Technical Writing in the Humanities: a facilitated writing sprint

The Digital Skills in Arts and Humanities Network (DISKAH) is organising a webinar on “Technical Writing in the Humanities: a facilitated writing sprint” in collaboration with the Programming Historian to support interested colleagues in developing a publication targeted to this journal, and more widely in communicating your technical workflows within Digital Humanities research to relevant audiences.

Webinar date and time: Monday 15 December, 13:30-15:00 (GMT)

Please register here for the webinar: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/diskah-webinar-technical-writing-in-the-humanities-tickets-1976718137160

Further information about the webinar: https://culturedigitalskills.org/webinar-diskah-programming-historian/

When Machines Read Manuscripts: Tools and Challenges in Handwritten Text Recognition [Dec 16, online, @16:45 CET]

When Machines Read Manuscripts: Tools and Challenges in Handwritten Text Recognition

The FSP Digital Humanities at the University of Vienna is very pleased to announce the third of the Digital Humanities Invited Lecture Series for the winter semester 2025/26. All lectures will be streamed via the following link: 

https://ustream.univie.ac.at/live/4b4961fd-6b8d-4be7-a222-62912c0dada0

16 December, 16:45 CET –  Dr. Jan Odstrčilík, Austrian Academy of Sciences

When Machines Read Manuscripts: Tools and Challenges in Handwritten Text Recognition

Comparing, Classifying, Clustering: Palaeographic Analysis of Inscriptions from Ancient Sicily [Dec 10, online, @17:00 CET]

Comparing, Classifying, Clustering: Palaeographic Analysis of Inscriptions from Ancient Sicily

The Venice Centre for Digital and Public Humanities (VeDPH, Dept. of Humanities, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice) is pleased to announce the final seminar in its Winter 2025 series.

On 10 December 2025 at 5 p.m. CET, Simona Stoyanova (University of Oxford) will give a talk entitled Comparing, Classifying, Clustering: Palaeographic Analysis of Inscriptions from Ancient Sicily. The seminar is co-organised by Valentina Mignosa (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice) as part of the project TES: Tracing Eastern Sicily’s networks (11th-5th centuries BCE).

The event will take place at the VeDPH Lab and online via Zoom. Online participation is possible upon registration. More information and the registration link are available here:
https://www.unive.it/data/33113/2/106868. 

Recordings of the seminars in the 2025 series will be made available on the VeDPH YouTube channel.

iFrame Project – workshop exploring research data management [Dec 5, in person, HEAnet Dublin]

Join the iFrame project for a workshop exploring research data management in Irish Higher Education Organisations (HEOs) and Research Performing Organisations (RPOs).


📍HEAnet 93/94 North Wall Quay, Dublin
📅 5 December 2025, 11am-4pm

The iFrame project is a NORF-funded investigation into the support for research data management in Irish HEOs and RPOs, which will conclude with the production of a National Framework for supporting RMD in Ireland.

At this workshop, iFrame will present the collated findings from the individual investigations of RDM support conducted in several Irish HEOs so far.

Drawing on examples of good (and best) practice, they will discuss how to learn from one another across institutions and how to improve RDM support in all institutions and on a national level. The ideas and thoughts generated and discussed in this workshop will inform the development of the framework document.

Register for the workshop online: https://ul.libcal.com/event/4460199