• Susan Fitzmaurice (Professor) University of Sheffield,
• Fred Truyen (Professor) KU Leuven

Digital Humanities has often been framed as a space of innovation: a field associated with experimental methods, collaborative research, public engagement, digital archives, new publication models and partnerships beyond the university. Yet the higher education landscape in which DH operates is changing rapidly. Universities are facing financial pressure, unstable recruitment, restructuring and growing expectations around impact, employability and measurable value. At the same time, DH depends on forms of technical and infrastructural labour that remain unevenly recognised.

This roundtable asks what Digital Humanities is for in this changing environment. Is DH primarily a research field, a teaching offer, a technical service, a public-engagement strategy, a route to employability or a form of research infrastructure? How should DH centres, projects and practitioners make the case for their value when universities are under pressure to prioritise income, efficiency and demonstrable outcomes? And in what ways does the changing environment shape or maybe drive a wedge between how traditional disciplines and digital humanities are perceived and treated in HE?

The discussion will bring together perspectives from key individuals in research, teaching, research software engineering and institutional leadership to ask how DH can respond critically and constructively to the changing conditions of higher education.

Panel members 

Michael Pidd (chair) 

Susan Fitzmaurice (University of Sheffield)

Frederick Truyen (KU Leuven)