The Digital Humanities Institute brings together expertise in humanities scholarship, computational methods, and digital design. Our work combines traditional humanities research with advanced digital technologies to create new ways of studying culture, history, language, and society.
Our projects range from digital scholarly editions and cultural archives to large-scale data analysis, immersive environments, and public engagement platforms.
Digital Scholarly Editing
We create scholarly digital editions of manuscripts, correspondence, literary works, and historical documents. These projects combine traditional editorial scholarship with digital encoding standards such as TEI/XML to support advanced search, annotation, and analysis. Digital editions allow researchers and the public to explore complex textual traditions, including variant versions, editorial commentary, and historical context.
We have a particular research interest in scholarly editing practices that use machine-assisted approaches, including AI, to uncover the fluid and plural nature of texts and to challenge traditional assumptions about their construction and transmission. We are also interested in the practical and conceptual challenges of editing born-digital content such as social media.
Example Projects
AI, genAI and Large Language Models
Digital humanities increasingly uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to analyse large cultural datasets. We apply methods such as natural language processing, large language models, and computer vision to analyse patterns in texts, images, and other cultural materials.
Our research focuses on interpretive AI: exploring how large language models and other machine learning methods can support human interpretation and critical thinking, and help uncover meaning and ambiguity in cultural and historical sources.
Example Projects
Computational Linguistics and Text Analysis
Language is one of the most important sources of evidence in the humanities. We apply computational and linguistic methods to study written and spoken language across large text collections. Our research draws on computational linguistics, corpus linguistics, stylometry, and translation studies to investigate language variation, authorship, discourse, and historical change. Projects may involve analysing large corpora of books, newspapers, or social media using methods such as corpus analysis, authorship attribution, discourse analysis, and statistical modelling of language.
Example Projects
Cultural Data Modelling and Knowledge Graphs
Digital humanities research often requires modelling complex relationships between people, texts, places, and historical events. We design databases, metadata standards, ontologies, and linked data systems that allow cultural collections to be explored in new ways. These approaches support large research infrastructures and enable connections between archives, libraries, and museums.
We have particular expertise in developing algorithms and research workbenches that analyse and infer biographical relationships from information distributed across multiple large-scale document collections (nominal record linkage). We also specialise in data ontologies, using them model knowledge domains and enable consistent interrogation of mixed data types.
Example Projects
Spatial Humanities and Historical Mapping
Mapping technologies allow researchers to explore how culture and history unfold across space as well as time. We use historical GIS, spatial analysis, and map-based digital storytelling to study topics such as travel, migration, urban history, and cultural networks. These methods also support public engagement through interactive maps and location-based applications.
Example Projects
Network Analysis and Data Visualisation
Many humanities questions involve complex relationships between people, texts, institutions, and ideas. We use network analysis and data visualisation techniques to explore these connections and reveal patterns that may not be visible through traditional research methods. Visualisations such as network diagrams, timelines, and interactive dashboards help researchers and the public understand large and complex datasets.
Example Projects
Digital Heritage and Public Humanities
Digital humanities projects often work closely with libraries, archives, museums, and community organisations. We develop digital exhibitions, public research resources, and interactive platforms that make cultural collections accessible to wider audiences. Our work includes virtual exhibitions, digital archives, mobile applications, and immersive environments that allow users to explore cultural heritage in new ways.
We have specific research interests in 3D virtual environments as tools for immersive education and experiential learning, and in critical approaches to digital archives and archival collecting practices, particularly as they inform questions of representation, repatriation, and the restitution of colonial archives.
Example Projects