Both the use and non-use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) are the subjects of ongoing debate, within academia and beyond. When and how should we use GenAI in research and education? And how can we use it responsibly and effectively? The Centre for Digital Humanities (CDH) has formulated a vision on the use of GenAI in the humanities.
Ani Encheva en Karin van Es, with the input and feedback from the CDH management team, programme team, and ambassadors, have formulated the document Centre for Digital Humanities: on Generative AI in the Humanities. This is a living document: the CDH and Faculty of Humanities will continue to reflect on and revise its vision.
The CDH believes that the use of GenAI should always be guided by the purpose of the activity. Choosing not to use GenAI can be a legitimate scholarly, pedagogical or professional decision. When using GenAI, we should take responsibility for how we use it, develop a realistic understanding of its capabilities and limitations, and make well-founded judgements about it.
TASK, a new educational planning tool developed for the Faculty of Humanities, is now live. Since 1 September, the tool has been in use across the entire faculty and was officially introduced at the opening of the 2026-2027 academic year on 7 September.
Every year, the Faculty of Humanities faces the complex challenge of matching around 5,000 teaching assignments with suitable teachers and put together teaching portfolios for 600 staff members. Until recently, this process relied on a combination of Excel spreadsheets, Access databases, and an endless stream of emails.
Over the past few years, a team of CDH developers (Xander Vertegaal, Evania Fasya, Tyler Mees, Tijmen Baarda and Edo Storm) has contributed to the development of TASK, helping to bring the faculty’s educational planning together in one central tool.
Simplifying educational planning
TASK gives teaching staff and operational coordinators real-time insight into teaching duties, including which courses and theses are scheduled and who is teaching or supervising them. The tool is intuitive and easy to navigate and offers reporting features that provide clear insights for management.
Xander Vertegaal
Evania Fasya, CDH developer
‘Organising hundreds of lecturers and thousands of course tasks across dozens of sections, along with all the related arrangements, is no easy task! In the past, each department in our faculty used its own complicated workflow, sharing huge spreadsheets via email and merging them by hand.’ ‘With TASK, we unify and simplify this workflow. Using just a few main pages, coordinators and managers can organise the faculty’s teaching activities in one single place. Lecturers can see their scheduled teaching activities in real time.’
The Centre for Digital Humanities (CDH) regularly receives requests for NVivo workshops and one-on-one advice. To expand our support in this area, we are looking for a colleague with research experience using NVivo who would be interested in providing workshops and individual support.
This role would involve one or two three-hour workshops per year, supplemented by consultations on request from colleagues and the occasional student.
A workshop could build on our previous NVivo workshop, while leaving plenty of room for your own approach and input. We also have an existing NVivo tutorial series that can be used as a resource.
You will be compensated for your time and expertise; the exact arrangements can be discussed and agreed upon.
Do you have research experience with NVivo, enjoy sharing your knowledge with colleagues, and are you a staff member at Utrecht University? We would love to hear from you! Please get in touch via cdh@uu.nl.
The Centre for Digital Humanities (CDH) is looking for a Student Assistant (0.2 FTE) to help conducting a survey study on the use of GenAI tools among Utrecht University employees.
In order to support its employees (e.g.: researchers, lecturers, support staff) in the responsible use of GenAI tools, Utrecht University will investigate their perceptions, experiences, and considerations regarding GenAI usage.
If you are interested in researching the use of GenAI in an (academic) organization with a focus on practical implications and have experience conducting survey studies, then this student-assistant position might be for you!
What will you do?
Think along for the set-up of a survey on the use and values regarding GenAI;
Implement the survey in LimeSurvey;
Keep track of survey responses of Utrecht University employees;
Support data analysis of survey responses.
Who are we looking for?
You are a third-year Bachelor’s student or (R)MA student at a University in the Netherlands;
You are a proactive person who is interested in the use of GenAI in organizational contexts;
You have experience with basic quantitative data analysis and survey design;
You can work independently, reliably meet deadlines, and communicate professionally;
Proficiency in Dutch is a plus.
Practical information
Appointment: paid student assistant position (0.2 FTE, equivalent to 8 hours per week; gross salary on full time basis is between €3230,- and €3288,- per month) for a period of five months;
Start date: 15 October 2026;
Work location: flexible workspace at the CDH office on the Drift, or from home.
Interested?
Send your CV and a short motivation letter (circa 400 words) to both Dr. Dennis Nguyen (D.Nguyen1@uu.nl) and Dr. Florian Kunneman (f.a.kunneman@uu.nl) by 13 September 2026. We will review applications on a rolling basis and encourage candidates to apply early.
Are you a humanities student (3rd-year BA, MA, or PhD) using digital methods in your research or thesis? And would you like to present your work to fellow students? The Digital Humanities Dialogue for Students is back!
We – Finn Pietrass and Thomas Rozendaal, student ambassadors at the Centre for Digital Humanities at Utrecht University – are organising the second edition of The Digital Humanities Dialogue for Students. After a successful first edition in June, we’re excited to bring it back.
The event is designed to give students insight into how digital methods can be applied across different humanities disciplines, and to inspire students to explore these approaches themselves.
We are looking for 2 to 3 student speakers from the Faculties of Humanities who are interested in sharing their experiences with digital methods in their studies or a research project. Presentations will be short (approximately 15 minutes) and aimed at a broad student audience. No prior presentation experience is required.
Why participate?
Present your research in a supportive, low-pressure environment
Gain experience as a speaker in an academic context
Discuss and exchange ideas with like-minded individuals
Sign up
Interested in participating or want to learn more? Get in touch via cdh@uu.nl. The deadline to sign up as a speaker is 15 September. We’d be happy to hear from you!
Working with quantitative data in your humanities research? Have a question about your methodology, analysis, or data visualisation? Or simply want to brainstorm an idea?
Meet Kirsten Schutter, the Faculty of Humanities’ statistics advisor. She is happy to talk through your ideas, whether you’re just getting started or have already run a into a methodological challenge. Her door is always open.
Kirsten can help you with:
Quantitative research methodology
Statistical analysis
Quantitative data visualization
Kirsten supports researchers throughout the entire research process, from refining research questions and selecting an appropriate study design to analysing, visualising, interpreting, and reporting quantitative data.
She enjoys making complex methodological and statistical concepts accessible and helping researchers make informed choices that strengthen the quality and impact of their research.
Kirsten is happy to discuss the advantages and limitations of different approaches. Her aim is to help you make well-informed methodological decisions that best fit your research question.
Get in touch
Have something you’d like to discuss? Just send an email at K.Schutter@uu.nl to set up a time to talk.
The process of bringing more CDH teams together at Drift 10 is steadily taking shape. In recent weeks, Data School and the Data Management & Privacy team have begun settling into their new offices. Data School is moving to room 2.01 at Drift 10, while the Data Management & Privacy team will be based in room 3.10. Several members of ArtLab will also have workspaces at Drift 10.
The ILS Labs are also in the process of relocating to Drift 10. Once their move from Janskerkhof 13 is completed, the basement, ground floor, and first floor of Drift 10 will house two biolabs, two eye-tracking labs, three phonetics/general-purpose labs, an interaction lab, and a head-turn-preference lab.
The CDH is delighted that this development will bring more of its units together under one roof. While collaboration between the teams is already well established, sharing the same location will create even more opportunities for informal exchange and knowledge sharing.
With these moves, a long-held dream of the CDH is becoming a reality: bringing together most of its teams in a single location.
Do you have a question related to digital humanities? The final Digital Humanities (DH) Walk-in Hour of Spring 2026 will take place on Thursday, 25 June, 2026. These weekly consultation sessions will resume on 17 September.
During the walk-in hour, our digital humanities specialist can advise you on topics such as data analysis using R or Python, creating datasets, the technical component of your research (funding) proposal, finding suitable existing research software, and optimising your self-written code, among others.
All teachers, researchers, staff and students at the Faculty of Humanities of Utrecht University are welcome to drop by. No appointment is needed.
When?
Every Thursday, 14:00 – 15:00. Final Spring session: 25 June First Autumn session:17 September
Location
Room 0.32, University Library City Centre, Drift 27, Utrecht.
We look forward to assisting you with your DH needs!
The Research Software Lab and the Portal Development team welcome developer Evania Fasya to their team. With her background in psychology and human-computer interaction, she brings fresh perspectives to the CDH.
Fasya holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Information Systems and Human-Media Interaction at the University of Indonesia and University of Twente. Through these studies, she gained experience in creating computer systems that support organisations, as well as designing technology that improves interaction between people and digital systems.
Recently, she defended her PhD thesis at the University of Twente, in collaboration with Leiden University. Her research focused on the social effects of behaviors conveyed in social interaction between humans and virtual humans. This research provided experience in experimental research, including data analysis and journal publications.
Gaat jouw hart sneller kloppen van de combinatie van historisch onderzoek en digitalisering? En wil je bijdragen aan transparante verkiezingen? De Kiesraad (Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koningsrelaties) zoekt een WO-student die wil meewerken aan de verdere ontwikkeling van de Databank verkiezingsuitslagen.
De Kiesraad ontwikkelt en beheert de Databank Verkiezingsuitslagen, waarmee verkiezingsuitslagen voor iedereen toegankelijk worden gemaakt. Tijdens deze stage ga je ontbrekende uitslagen uit het verleden verzamelen, digitaliseren en toevoegen aan de databank. Daarnaast onderzoek je hoe de databank gebruiksvriendelijker kan worden gemaakt en geef je hierover advies aan de Kiesraad.
De Kiesraad zoekt een WO-student in de laatste fase van de master, bij voorkeur met een achtergrond in Digital Humanities of Data Science. Het betreft een onderzoeksstage van 32 tot 40 uur per week in de tweede helft van 2026. De stagevergoeding bedraagt 800 euro per maand op basis van een 40-urige werkweek. Reageren kan tot en met 30 juni 2026.
The Centre for Digital Humanities (CDH) is pleased to present its Autumn 2026 Training Programme. Join us this semester for a series of free workshops and lectures on digital methods, tools, and critical perspectives in the humanities.
For anyone looking to create a good-looking thesis, article, or dissertation without spending hours on formatting, Xander Vertegaal returns with his Introduction to LaTeX workshop on 6 October.
We are also delighted to welcome back Hugo Schnack with Machine learning – principles and practices on 14 October. This workshop is now divided into two sessions that can be attended together or separately: an introductory session in the morning and a more in-depth session in the afternoon.
Of course, our evergreen workshop Entry-level Python in four days is back on the menu. Hosted by the CDH Research Software Lab and starting on 18 November, it continues to be one of our most popular offerings.
We will conclude the programme on 20 November with a special workshop presented by the UU ArtLab: Capturing objects in 3D – Photogrammetry in heritage research. During this hands-on session, Sjors Nab and Sanne Frequin will guide participants through the process of transforming ordinary images into high-quality digital 3D representations of objects.
For whom?
All staff members and students of the Faculty of Humanities at Utrecht University (UU) are warmly invited to register for all our events. UU staff from other faculties are also welcome to participate in most activities. Parts of our programme – particularly the lecture series – are open to all who are interested. Please check the event-specific details in the training calendar to see what applies to each activity.
We look forward to welcoming you to one or more of our events!
We are pleased to introduce three new CDH ambassadors, who will serve as liaisons between the Centre for Digital Humanities (CDH) and their respective departments. Starting in September 2026, they will join Annette Markham (Department of Media and Culture Studies) to form the new CDH Ambassador team.
With their combined expertise in digital humanities, the ambassador team is well equipped to support staff and students across the Faculty of Humanities with answers, ideas, or opportunities for collaborations. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with them!
Hein Duijf
Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies (F&R) “I am looking forward to acting as a bridge between the F&R department and the CDH, exploring projects that enrich digital competencies and critical reflection on digital humanities and AI. Besides promoting digital humanities approaches in – often interdisciplinary – research, I look forward to addressing workload (‘regeldruk’) by identifying administrative burdens that can be responsibly automated using simple, open-source tools.”
Department of History and Art History (GKG) “I aim to promote the use of digital humanities methods and tools within GKG, for instance by organising workshops and promoting AI literacy through educational games. My CDH project will address the ‘too much information’ challenge often experienced by historians. My project, related to magic and rituals, will show how a topic can be structured under one digital umbrella, which can greatly support historians in their research.”
“GenAI offers opportunities to better cater language and communication interfaces to both the general public and dedicated target groups – for example through automated text simplification in our in-house readability tool LiNT, or flexible formulations in a voice assistant. As CDH ambassador, I am excited to explore how to support research and education by gathering input, organising workshops and working on the technical infrastructure, with a focus on a secure and effective deployment of genAI.”
Are you a humanities student (3rd-year BA, MA, or PhD) using digital methods in your research or thesis? And would you like to present you work to fellow students? We’d love to hear from you!
We – Finn Pietrass and Thomas Rozendaal, student ambassadors at the Centre for Digital Humanities at Utrecht University – are organising a student colloquium: The Digital Humanities Dialogue for Students (date TBA). This event is designed to give students insight into how digital methods can be applied across different humanities disciplines, and to inspire students to explore these approaches themselves.
We are looking for 2 to 3 student speakers from the Faculties of Humanities who are interested in sharing their experiences with digital methods in their studies or a research project. Presentations will be short (approximately 15 minutes) and aimed at a broad student audience. No prior presentation experience is required.
Why participate?
Present your research in a supportive, low-pressure environment
Gain experience as a speaker in an academic context
Discuss and exchange ideas with like-minded individuals
Sign up
Interested in participating or want to learn more? Get in touch via cdh@uu.nl. The deadline to sign up as a speaker is 12 April. We’d be happy to hear from you!
Construction of the brand-new research facilities for the ILS Labs at Drift 10 is now in full swing. Renovations are progressing rapidly and the soundproof booths that will house the labs are currently being installed. The technical installation of the first labs is expected to start in April.
The labs of the Institute for Language Sciences (ILS) are used to study language development in babies and language processing and production in adults. Much of this research involves the use of sound stimuli, which makes soundproof laboratories essential.
Drift 10: View from the outside. Delivery of materials (photo: Desiree Capel)
Ventilation hole drilled in wall. (photo: Desiree Capel)
Several parts of Drift 10 are currently being renovated and upgraded to accommodate the new facilities. The floors of both the ground floor and first floor are being fortified to support the booths and the ventilation system is being expanded. Once completed, the basement, ground floor, and first floor will house two biolabs, two eye-tracking labs, three phonetics/general-purpose labs, an interaction lab, and a head-turn-preference lab.
Frame installment of the baby eye-tracking lab (photo: Desiree Capel)
Cabin placed of the baby eye-tracking lab (photo: Desiree Capel)
Although the move is only a short distance – from Janskerkhof 13 to Drift 10 – it is a major logistical project. To ensure that ongoing research can continue with minimal disruption, the labs will be relocated one at a time. Moving each lab will take several weeks, and the full relocation is expected to be completed by the end of 2026 or beginning of 2027.
Take a look at the construction photos and the installation of the soundproof booths.
Researchers from Utrecht University’s ArtLab are literally getting up close to art history. In the Grote Kerk in Alkmaar, they are using aerial work platforms to take thousands of photographs of the painted church vault.
Using advanced technology, the images will be combined into a detailed 3D model, allowing both researchers and visitors to explore the sixteenth-century artwork up close.
Read more about this ArtLab project with researchers Daantje Meuwissen, Sanne Frequin, and Sjors Nab in the article published by NH Nieuws on 5 March 2026 (in Dutch).
The Department of Digital Humanities in the Faculty of Humanities at Brock University is inviting applications from internationally recognized scholars for the Canada Impact+ Research Chair in Artificial Intelligence and Social Change, a senior academic position based in Ontario.
The role is part of the Canadian government’s Canada Impact+ Research Chairs program, a $1 billion initiative designed to attract leading researchers from around the world to address major societal challenges. The selected candidate will develop a research programme exploring how AI is designed, governed, and experienced in real-world social contexts.
Als wetenschappelijk ontwikkelaar (0,8-1,0 fte) bij het Centre for Digital Humanities draag je bij aan het ontwerp, de (door)ontwikkeling en het beheer van software oplossingen ter ondersteuning van geesteswetenschappelijk onderzoek en onderwijs. Deadline om te reageren: 29 maart 2026.
Are you a humanities or social sciences researcher who has started coding, but feels ready to move beyond Jupyter Notebooks? The Research Software Summer School: Going Beyond Notebooks (29 June-3 July, Utrecht) offers you the chance to take your programming skills to the next level and integrate software into your own research. Registration is now open.
This five-day on-site programme is aimed at researchers that have coded before, but want to develop broader programming skills. By the end of the course, you will not only be able to create your own software solutions to research problems, but also understand and build upon existing tools developed by others.
During the summer school, you will learn for example how to:
Wield the command-line terminal using Bash
Use Git for version control and collaboration
Move beyond Notebooks into full-fledged Python applications
Find, use, and adapt open-source code
Write good documentation
Work on your own project
Participants are asked to bring their own research project so that they can work on their own research questions while developing their programming skills. This does not need to be a fully developed research idea; it could be a pilot project or even just a research question and a dataset.
Who can apply?
The summer school is open to researchers affiliated with any Dutch university or research institute, from PhD candidates to professors. Small groups are encouraged to apply together to work on a shared project. There are 34 places available. Secure your place by registering in time. Deadline to apply is 15 June 2026.
This event is part of the project “Daidalos – A Social Sciences and Humanities Training on Research Software” (file no. ICT.TDCC.001.006), funded in part by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) through the Thematic Digital Competence Centre Social Sciences & Humanities (TDCC-SSH).
As of January 2026, Utrecht University’s ArtLab will formally become part of the Centre for Digital Humanities (CDH). ArtLab is an academic heritage laboratory that combines advanced imaging and 3D technologies with expertise in material art history.
Its integration into the CDH will support Artlab’s continued growth and enable a broadening towards new digital humanities themes and applications. Bringing together humanities researchers who work with innovative digital methods, creates opportunities for cross-fertilisation and intellectual exchange.
About the ArtLab
At ArtLab, researchers and students work on location using mobile equipment. They develop accessible research applications, provide training for professionals, and collaborate closely with national and international external partners. ArtLab aspires to be the first laboratory in the Netherlands – and beyond – where material objects and digital methodologies are brought together for the study of art and culture.
Data School zoekt voor 16 tot 28 uur een enthousiaste medewerker kennisvalorisatie/teamleider die zich bezighoudt met projectmanagement, business development en het begeleiden van collega’s.
Als tijdelijke medewerker, in verband met vervanging zwangerschapsverlof, zul je in eerste instantie deze positie vervangen en coördineer je lopende projecten van Data School. Er is ruimte voor eigen inbreng en creatieve ideeën in de vorm van business development en acquisitie.
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