DARIAH invites applications for small grants supporting in-person summer schools and intensive training events in the Digital Arts and Humanities (DAH) that will take place in 2026. This programme aims to strengthen training opportunities, expand digital skills in the arts and humanities, and support collaboration across research, education, and cultural heritage communities.

Objectives

• Promote methodological innovation and interdisciplinary collaboration;
• Support digital skills development for researchers, early stage researchers, and cultural heritage professionals;
• Encourage inclusive and geographically diverse participation;
• Foster knowledge sharing within the DAH community.

Information on Funding

The total allocated to this call is €10,000. Typical grant range: €2,000 – €5,000 per event. Funding may support instructor travel, participant bursaries, teaching materials, technical infrastructure, and organisational expenses related to the event. However, proposals that privilege participant bursaries (travel, accommodation, and daily expenses) will be considered more highly. 

Matched funding involving other funding sources is possible.

Eligible Activities

• Summer schools or training schools
• Intensive workshops
• Hackathons with a strong training component 
• Method-focused training events

Events should normally last between 3–10 days and include hands-on digital arts and humanities training.

Eligibility

Applications may be submitted by universities, research institutions, cultural heritage institutions (libraries, archives, museums), or a consortium of partner organisations. The lead institution must be part of a DARIAH national consortium in a DARIAH member state, with the event taking place at the lead institution. For a list of eligible institutions please see the members and partners page on the DARIAH website. Alternatively, non-consortium  institutions in DARIAH member states can be lead institutions, but with the written consent of the DARIAH National Representative of their country. Inquiries about the scheme can be made to funding@dariah.eu.

Selection Criteria

Applications will be assessed based on training quality, relevance to the DARIAH impact, inclusivity and accessibility, and organisational feasibility.

Acknowledgement

DARIAH’s support should be acknowledged in event communications and on any other materials.

Reporting

Grant recipients must submit a short report after the event no later than four weeks after the end of the event, summarizing participation, outcomes, and links to training materials where available. Successful applicants will receive 60% of the funding upon signature of a grant agreement between DARIAH and the lead institution, and 40% upon submission of the report. Reports that are submitted after four weeks of the event may not receive the remainder of the funding.

Deadline

Applications must be submitted by 16 April 2026 at 17:00 CEST*.

* Should the total funding pool remain unexhausted after the initial selection round, the call will move to a rolling application process:
From April 16, 2026 17:00 CEST onwards, applications will be reviewed and granted strictly on a first-come, first-served basis. Applications must still meet all eligibility and quality requirements to be successful.This extension will remain active only until the remaining funds are fully allocated.

Join us for the Helsinki Digital Humanities Hackathon 2026—an opportunity to collaborate and innovate in an interdisciplinary setting. The application period is open (until 14 April 2026) – apply now to be part of this year’s cohort.

People talk about hackathons, but there is only one Helsinki Digital Humanities Hackathon. #DHH26 is the 11th iteration of our international summer school (aimed primarily at master’s students and beyond), which brings together diverse participants from Finland and across Europe. 

In the Helsinki Digital Humanities Hackathon, you will experience an interdisciplinary research project from start to finish within the span of 10 days. For researchers and students from computer science and data science, the hackathon gives the opportunity to test their abstract knowledge against complex real-life problems. For people from the humanities and social sciences, it shows what is possible to achieve with such collaboration.  For everyone, the hackathon gives the experience of intensely working with people from different backgrounds as part of an interdisciplinary team, as, during the hackathon, each group develops a digital humanities research project from start to finish. Working together, they formulate research questions with respect to particular data sets, develop and apply methods and tools to address them, and present the work at the end of the hackathon. 

Participation in #DHH26 is free for all accepted participants. This year, we also expect to sponsor a limited number of participants from outside Finland with flights and accommodation (decisions on this to be made after the application period). 

The event is organised by FIN-CLARIAH—particularly its DARIAH-FI component—in collaboration with HELDIG and the Department of Digital Humanities at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Helsinki, as well as Aalto University. We are supported by CLARIN-EU, HIIT, the Helsinki Centre for Intellectual History, and Marie Curie Training Networks CASCADE & MECANO. 5 ECTS credits may be gained from participating in the hackathon for students, and it also functions as a staff training event for leadership and collaboration across disciplinary borders.

For information on what the hackathon was like in previous years, see #DHH25, #DHH24, #DHH23,#DHH22, #DHH21, #DHH19, #DHH18, #DHH17, #DHH16 and #DHH15.

Themes

This year, the hackathon groups are organised around the following five themes:

• Parliaments Beyond Borders: Exploring the Role of Foreign Nations in National Policy Debates
• Crimes and Punishments: “True Crime” in Britain during the 19th century
• The Language of Profits: A Multi-Disciplinary Exploration of Corporate and Legal Rhetoric
• Large-Scale Patterns of Knowledge Production Through the Lens of 200 Million Books Across 600 Years
• Decoding the System of Finnic Oral Poetry

See further information on the #DHH26 themes.

Ap­plic­a­tion sched­ule for #DH­H26

17.3.2026 This year’s themes are unveiled, and the application period starts
14.4.2026 Application period ends
27.4.2026 Registration period ends for #DHH26 for accepted participants
4.5. & 11.5.2026 Two #DHH26 pre-hackathon online preparatory sessions
20.–29.5.2026 #DHH26 hackathon in Helsinki

Please note that we can only accept participants who are able to commit to the full week of intensive work (not just a couple of hours here and there), as well as the preparatory sessions. Thus, if you know that you have other commitments during the hackathon, please consider applying next time when you can make a full commitment.

Venue

Minerva Plaza, Siltavuorenpenger 5 A (see on mapOpens in a new tab)
University of Helsinki
Finland

Prac­tic­al­it­ies and Timetable

The hackathon will take place between 20.–29.5.2026. The participants are expected to commit to the hackathon for the whole period; work takes place mainly between 10 AM and 5 PM on weekdays (the weekend is free!). In addition, there are two online pre-sessions on Mondays 4.5. and 11.5., between 2 – 4 PM UTC+03:00 for orientation, group formation and preparation for the intensive hackathon period. The participants are expected to attend also these pre-sessions.

Public presentations of the projects:
29.5.2026 13:00–16:00, Minerva Plaza, Siltavuorenpenger 5 A, room K226.
The event will be streamed at https://video.helsinki.fi/unitube/live-stream.html?room=l5

Or­gan­isa­tion

General organisers:

• Mikko TolonenOpens in a new tab, professor in computational history at the University of Helsinki
• Eetu MäkeläOpens in a new tab, professor in human sciences – computing interaction at the University of Helsinki
• Jukka SuomelaOpens in a new tab, associate professor in distributed algorithms, logic and complexityOpens in a new tab at Aalto University
• Jouni TuominenOpens in a new tab, university researcher at HSSHOpens in a new tab, University of Helsinki

You can contact the organisers via email: dhh-hackathon@helsinki.fi.

DARIAH ERIC is calling for applications to join the DARIAH Joint Research Committee (JRC) as a member. The JRC organises the integration of DARIAH’s technical developments and innovation activities, acting as a link between DARIAH Working Groups and executive/governing bodies. While supporting the organisation of the DARIAH Annual Event, the JRC members are also involved in the development of DARIAH policies and/or strategies relevant to their expertise. In this context, we look for applicants with expertise in the area of Communities, as expressed in the DARIAH Strategic Pillar 4 (we support communities in expanding their capabilities to respond effectively to new and emerging requirements in their research environments, see DARIAH Strategic Plan for details).

DARIAH’s Joint Research Committee (JRC):

• is one of the two operational bodies of DARIAH ERIC. It contributes to the alignment and strategic vision of DARIAH’s scientific and technical activities across the DARIAH network and advises the Board of Directors on these matters.  
• is composed of between six and ten experts from DARIAH Member or Observer countries. Their expertise represents scientific and/or technical fields relevant for DARIAH.

Members of the JRC engage in strategic tasks, are dedicated to community engagement, and hold operational responsibilities. More concretely, a JRC member:

• Provides  strategic advice to the Board οf Directors (BoD) throughout the year, including participation in the annual DARIAH Strategy  Days. 
• Bridges community technical infrastructure developments and strategic initiatives. 
• Contributes to DARIAH white papers and strategic task forces.
• Works closely together with the DARIAH Working Groups; monitors their activities,  sanctions new ones, and represents them in the broader DARIAH governance.
• Acts as core of the Programme Committee of the DARIAH Annual Event.
• Acts as Review Board for other DARIAH calls (e.g., Working group funding call).

The JRC meets about every 6 weeks, and at least once in a year face to face. 

Being a JRC member is an excellent way to make your personal expertise available for the wider network of research infrastructures in the humanities and to shape their future. It is also an opportunity to gain experiences in research management at a European level. We expect from the new JRC member expertise in the area she/he applies for, next to innovative ideas on the directions the DARIAH community should go to and how.

Details of the application

The application should include  a motivation letter (max one page) in which you elaborate why you wish to join the JRC, what expertise you bring to this body including how you envision contributing to DARIAH in this role. Please also add your CV to this application and send it as an email to jrc@dariah.eu by May 18, 2026.

Conditions of the position

We solicit applications from experts from DARIAH Partner Institutions* in DARIAH Member and Observer countries. 

JRC members are selected and appointed by the BoD as individuals based on their expertise and disciplinary focus. No formal legal framework between DARIAH and the DARIAH Partner Institution employing the JRC member is foreseen. However, in the case a member requires formal institutional recognition to secure their time dedicated to the JRC, DARIAH may provide a letter of appointment or a bilateral agreement tailored to the specific needs of the JRC member, if needed.

Please note that this appointment is not a paid position, but that DARIAH covers occasional travel expenses (e.g., to the Strategic Days and the Annual Event). The time and commitment is eligible as an official contribution of your country to DARIAH (so-called ‘in-kind’ contributions). Please contact your DARIAH National Coordinator (see list) while preparing your application.

The appointment is usually for 3 years and can be prolonged for one additional term. 

*According to Article 11 of the DARIAH Statutes, DARIAH Partner Institutions are institutions, either public or private, which serve a public mission, actively contribute to DARIAH, and are situated in a DARIAH Member or Observer country and are either part of the official National Consortium or approved by the National Coordinator.

Application and Selection Procedure

The decision process on this position is as follows: The JRC reviews the applications within four weeks and may reach out to the corresponding National Coordinator. The recommendation of the JRC will be shared with the BoD, who approves and appoints the new JRC member. 

If you are interested, please send an application to jrc@dariah.eu by May 18, 2026.

Please contact jrc@dariah.eu if you have further questions. 

DARIAH is seeking an experienced research software engineer to support the technical integration of ATRIUM, a project funded by the European Commission. 

ATRIUM (“Advancing FronTier Research in the Arts and Humanities”) aims to exploit and strengthen complementarities between leading European infrastructures in order to provide vastly improved access to state-of-the-art services available to researchers across countries, languages, domains and media, building on a shared understanding and interoperability principles established in the SSHOC cluster project and other previous collaborations. The role would support ATRIUM’s work plan from a technical perspective, including multiple interrelated lines of action across data and metadata harmonisation, workflows, and service integration.

Principal duties:

• Testing cloud infrastructures such as EOSC and Galaxy, mainly by deploying ATRIUM workflows there;
• Integrating existing catalogues, especially the SSH Open Marketplace, with OpenAIRE as a prerequisite for broader EOSC integration;
• Develop tooling (scripts, dashboards) to explore, compare and visualise catalogue data across the European A&H landscape;  
• Enhancing metadata and vocabulary harmonisation across ATRIUM catalogues to improve semantic interoperability;
• Contributing to the technical integration of services, catalogues and workflows across DARIAH;
• Supporting the development, testing and maintenance of interoperability solutions, APIs and data pipelines that facilitate the exchange and reuse of data and services. 

The ideal candidate:

• Holds a higher education degree in computer science, information science, digital humanities or equivalent qualification;
• Has experience working on technical integration, preferably in the context of research infrastructures or large-scale digital platforms;
• Has experience with cloud infrastructures and workflow execution platforms, like Galaxy and/or EOSC; 
• Has experience with metadata modeling, vocabulary harmonisation and semantic interoperability;
• Has experience developing scripts, APIs, or data-processing pipelines to support integration across distributed systems; 
• Has the ability to work independently as well as part of a team;
• Is fluent in English (spoken & written); knowledge of German and/or another European language would be an asset. 

Who we are

DARIAH – the Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities – is a European research infrastructure whose mission is to empower research communities with digital methods to create, connect and share knowledge about culture and society. By working with communities of practice, DARIAH brings together individual state-of-the-art digital Arts and Humanities activities and scales their results to a European level. It preserves, provides access to and disseminates research that stems from these collaborations and ensures that best practices, methodological and technical standards are followed.

DARIAH was established as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) in August 2014. Currently, DARIAH has 24 member countries and numerous cooperating partners.

Application procedure

If you are interested in applying for the position, please send your CV and a cover letter by email to recruitment@dariah.eu by 20 April 2026 at the latest.

For more information and details on the application procedure, please download the full post description.

Interoperable, collaborative, digital: about the data space

The common European data space for cultural heritage is a flagship initiative of the European Commission. It enables the open and trustworthy sharing of cultural heritage data across Europe through innovative technical infrastructure, a rich suite of tools, standards and frameworks and a vibrant and collaborative community.

Led by the Europeana Initiative, the data space empowers cultural heritage institutions and European Union Member States to embrace and drive digital transformation. As one of the 14 interoperable common European data spaces funded through the DIGITAL Europe Programme, it is central to Europe’s ambition of building a thriving, data-driven society.

A new home for the data space

If you work in, with or around cultural heritage, the data space’s new website is for you!

Building on its previous online presence, the website offers a gateway to explore the rich data offer, products, frameworks, tools, activities, events and projects, as well as the vibrant community and committed network of partners that bring the data space for cultural heritage to life. It also provides access to a suite of data space products – ranging from the Europeana Academy and training platform to the Statistics Dashboard and Europeana.eu.

The homepage gives you an overview of what the data space is, what it offers and how you can get involved. It also offers you quick access to products like Europeana.eu and the Europeana APIs, so you start using data in the data space immediately, and to the Europeana Network Association, so that you can join its community of professionals today.

The about the data space page offers a deeper dive into the work of the data space, and tells you more about its partners, key facts and figures and impact.

The explore the data space page spotlights the projects, training, tools and events the data space offers, as well as the latest news from across the ecosystem.

The explore the collections page provides direct links to the data in the data space, made available through Europeana.eu or the aggregators who support cultural heritage institutions across Europe to share their data.

A multilingual experience

We are delighted that, using the automated translation service of the European Commission, the website is now available in the 24 official languages of the European Union. We hope that this will mean that even more people across Europe – and the world – can discover and make use of all the data space has to offer.

Follow the developments

As the data space grows, we will continue to develop and enrich the website, so stay tuned for important updates through news posts and the Europeana LinkedIn and Bluesky accounts. We also encourage you to share this news with your networks and colleagues so that they can discover and benefit from the data space.

* This post is republished from the common European data space for cultural heritage website. DARIAH ERIC is a project partner in the Deployment of a common European data space for cultural heritage project (DS4CH).

Applications are currently open until March 9th 2026 for the ATRIUM Summer School 2026: From Maps to Data and Data to Maps: Exploring Spatial Histories, taking place in Athens, Greece, from June 29th-July 2nd.

The summer school is organized by the UNESCO Chair on Digital Methods for the Humanities and Social Sciences as part of the Horizon Europe project ATRIUM, with the cooperation of the Center for Digital Humanities at Princeton and the Athena Research Centre, and will take place at the Athens University of Economics and Business in Athens, Greece. Instructors will include members of the UNESCO Chair on Digital Methods for the Humanities and Social Sciences at the Athens University of Economics and Business, the Center for Digital Humanities at Princeton University, the Princeton University Library, and the Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities (DARIAH-EU).

This summer school is designed for scholars and professionals interested in exploring digital humanities methods for mapping and spatial visualization. Mapping in the digital humanities provides new perspectives on sources, enables analysis in a spatial context, and offers visual representations of arguments and narratives. Participants will be introduced to key topics, including spatial data collection, geocoding, georeferencing, map annotation, data wrangling, and different types of maps, platforms, and hosting services.

The school is open to scholars from all disciplines, regardless of technical background. Experience with mapping, GIS methods, tools, and concepts is welcome but not required. This summer school will be of particular interest to those in History, Archaeology, Urban Studies, Architecture, Cultural Studies, Public Humanities, and Photography. Knowledge of Greek is not required.

To apply, visit the Athens University of Economics & Business website or click the link below.

Deadline: 9th March 2026

* This post is republished from the ATRIUM website.

The Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities (DARIAH-EU) is proud to announce it has signed a Cooperating Partnership agreement with Vilnius University in Vilnius, Lithuania. This strategic partnership positions Lithuania’s leading academic institution as a central hub for digital innovation, bridging advanced technology with the study of culture, communication, and society in the Baltic region. The Lithuanian Literature and Folklore Institute was also accepted as a DARIAH Cooperating Partner alongside Vilnius University.

A Strategic Leap for Research Networking

DARIAH is a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) whose mission is to empower research communities with digital methods to create, connect, and share knowledge about culture and society. As a Cooperating Partner, VU joins a network of 24 member countries and numerous partner institutions, filling a critical geographical gap in the European digital research map between Poland and Latvia and strengthening the integration of Baltic research into the continental landscape.

The Vice-Rector of Vilnius University, Dr Artūras Vasiliauskas, commented: “This step reflects Vilnius University’s long-standing openness to international collaboration and its commitment to being an active, trusted partner in Europe’s research ecosystem. By joining DARIAH-EU, we are strengthening our ability to connect Lithuanian scholarship with global academic networks and to respond to societal challenges through innovative, technology-driven research.”

A Transdisciplinary Hub for Digital Innovation

The partnership is spearheaded by the Faculty of Communication, which acts as a unique transdisciplinary connector between technical ICT research and traditional inquiries in the human and social sciences. This ecosystem is defined by a diverse array of specialised research units that apply digital methods for pressing societal issues. The newly established Centre for Communication Influences and Propaganda Research at the Faculty of Communication utilises digital analysis of textual and media resources to investigate strategic narratives and disinformation, while the Connective Research Group has developed an innovative Social Media Archive using knowledge graphs and generative artificial intelligence to explore how the past is remembered and how Lithuanian history and heritage shape contemporary identities. These efforts are complemented by the Faculty’s Mobile Eye-Tracking Laboratory, which investigates reading behaviours and information consumption, and the 3D Digitisation and Digital Research Laboratory, which provides expertise in AI and 3D scanning for urban heritage preservation.

“This partnership recognises the breadth of expertise within our Faculty,” noted Prof. Renata Matkevičienė, the Dean of the Faculty of Communication. “To the European network, with the project activities, we bring significant methodological insights based on results of our previous research, together with innovative technical and technological resources from the mobile eye-tracking laboratory to our work on knowledge graphs and 3D digitisation. This collaboration will expand our already existing multidisciplinary collaboration network and provide our researchers and students with access to an exceptional community of experts, ensuring we remain at the forefront of the digital transformation.”

Leading the Agenda on Digital Practices

Supporting these research capabilities is the Vilnius University Library, a national leader in Open Science. By managing MIDAS, the National Open Access Research Data Archive, and digitising over 50,000 cultural heritage objects annually, the Library ensures robust preservation and access for Lithuania’s documentary heritage.

Associate Professor Ingrida Kelpšienė, Vice-Dean for Projects and Partnerships at the Faculty of Communication, explains: “I  have witnessed firsthand the value of cross-border collaboration with DARIAH, having been involved in the network since its early stages and being part of the Digital Methods and Practices Observatory (DiMPO) working group. It is particularly meaningful to renew Lithuania’s engagement with this international research infrastructure, with our Faculty once again being an active part of the network. DARIAH membership is strategically significant for our academic community, as it strengthens international partnerships, leverages our regional expertise in digital research, and opens new opportunities for collaborative projects, research, and innovation across traditional and emerging fields of scholarship.”

“The Faculty of Communication is uniquely positioned to serve as the connector for this initiative”, adds Prof. Konstantinos (Costis) Dallas, the Scientific Coordinator for the partnership. “We look forward to collaborating fruitfully with the Lithuanian Literature and Folklore Institute to strengthen the bond between Lithuania and the European digital humanities research space. By combining our methodological leadership in digital practices with our new infrastructures for social media analysis and digital behaviour, we aim to drive the digital research agenda forward across the human and social sciences, not just for the University, but for the wider region.”

The President of the DARIAH-EU Board of Directors, Dr Agiatis Benardou, endorsed the agreement: “We are delighted to welcome Vilnius University to the DARIAH family. The Faculty of Communication has a distinguished history of contributions to the community. Formalising this partnership allows us to deepen our collaboration and leverage VU’s expertise and infrastructure to the benefit of the broader European research landscape.”

For more information on the Cooperating Partners membership in DARIAH, their role, tasks and benefits, have a look at our detailed post here.

The Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities (DARIAH-EU) is proud to announce it has signed a Cooperating Partnership agreement with the Institute for Lithuanian Literature and Folklore in Vilnius, Lithuania.

DARIAH is a European research infrastructure that has been operating for more than a decade, with a mission to empower research communities to use digital methods to create, collaborate, and share knowledge about culture and society. Currently, DARIAH brings together 24 member countries across the European Union and maintains partnerships with 20 Cooperating Partner institutions in non-member countries.

“I am pleased to see the DARIAH-EU network expanding and welcoming Lithuanian institutions – the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore and Vilnius University. Becoming a Cooperating Partner of the DARIAH European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) enables LLTI to share its accumulated experience while, through collaboration with international partners, gaining new knowledge in digital humanities. I hope that the Institute will actively engage in researchers’ working groups and international projects, bring together Lithuanian institutions involved in the digitisation and research of literature and folklore archives, and contribute to the implementation of the DARIAH-EU mission“, said Prof. Dr. Aušra Martišiūtė-Linartienė, Director of the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore.

“I believe that this collaboration will not only allow us to update existing research methodologies, develop digital infrastructure, and participate in various international projects, but, most importantly, bring together a community in this field that is responsive to the challenges and trends of the modern digital world,” says one of the DARIAH coordinators at the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore, dr. Karolina Bagdonė.

A strengthening of Lithuanian heritage in the digital space

LLTI is a state research institute, implementing long-term academic research programs in the fields of early Lithuanian literature, folklore, mythology, modern literature and contemporary writing. The Institute holds a prestigious academic tradition, dating back to 1907, and functions both as a modern research centre and as an institution of national cultural heritage. It is a strong Lithuanian academic publisher and a centre for digitization of immense literary and folk archives. The Institute employs a large number of highly qualified researchers and administers doctoral programmes in Philology and Ethnology.

The Institute possesses a unique research infrastructure that includes the world’s largest and oldest Lithuanian Folklore Archive, the major archive of Lithuanian literary manuscripts, the digital databases of archival materials, and the historical premises of the Vileišiai Palace – a national site of memory. Some of the institute’s archival collections are included into the UNESCO’s “Memory of the World” heritage list.

LLTI’s systematic digitisation efforts, ranging from literary and folklore collections to research databases, directly support the Institute’s mission to preserve and disseminate Lithuanian studies heritage and to strengthen cultural identity. Joining DARIAH-EU will enable these efforts to be further expanded and will integrate Lithuanian studies resources into the European research landscape.

More than 20 years ago, LLTI, together with partners in Lithuania, began developing the Lithuanian Studies Heritage Information System “Aruodai”, which has become a solid foundation for the Folklore Manuscript Database in operation today and widely used by scholars, artists, and the general public. The database provides access to digitised manuscripts, audio recordings, and photographs from the Lithuanian Folklore Archives dating back to the early 20th century, as well as video recordings from later periods. 

Based on these archival sources, a range of widely used electronic resources has also been developed, including the heritage of A. R. Niemi’s Lithuanian folklore collections and sound recordings, “Knygadvaris” created on the basis of the Jonas Basanavičius Library, electronic corpora, and other digitised thematic collections dedicated to riddles, proverbs, sutartinės (traditional polyphonic songs), fairy tales, narrative folklore, folk beliefs, and post-war partisan songs. Alongside these, resources presenting and broadening access to Lithuanian literature are also being developed, such as the Balys Sruoga Archive (1911–1947), www.saltiniai.info, as well as numerous thematic and commemorative digital publications and open-access resources.

As noted by Dr Greta Petruškevičienė, Head of the Lithuanian Folklore Archives, many of these projects were implemented in close collaboration with scholars and IT specialists from Vilnius University. It is therefore especially gratifying that all this accumulated expertise and the resources created will now be opened to the European research community. At the same time, this is an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of digital humanities, along with the benefits and challenges it brings.

“It is deeply exciting to welcome LLTI and Vilnius as Cooperating Partners to DARIAH-EU,” said Edward Pinot Gray, DARIAH’s Officer for National Coordination. “Not only does this expand our network into Lithuania, but our new Lithuanian colleagues bring tangible expertise and tools to DARIAH. I look forward to working with colleagues at LLTI and Vilnius to integrate Lithuanian Arts and Humanities scholars into the DARIAH infrastructure, and we hope, one day as a full Member.” 

For more information on the Cooperating Partners membership in DARIAH, their role, tasks and benefits, have a look at our detailed post here.

The second UK DARIAH day was hosted by the Edinburgh Futures Institute (University of Edinburgh) on Friday 7 November, in collaboration with the five other UK DARIAH partners (King’s College London, University of Brighton, University of Exeter, University of Leeds and the School of Advanced Study, University of London). The event explored the futures of digital research infrastructures in the arts and humanities, with a focus on the current and potential relationships between UK and European infrastructures. It was supported by DARIAH-EU, DISKAH, and the Centre for Data, Culture & Society.

Jennifer Edmond (DARIAH Ireland/Trinity College Dublin) began the day with a keynote that drew on her personal history of engagements with DARIAH across her career to illustrate the crucial impact research infrastructures can have on individual career trajectories. As the current National Coordinator for DARIAH in Ireland, Edmond’s talk demonstrated how effective infrastructure relies on the humans who guide individuals to understand their own potential pathways into larger scale infrastructures and who act as the crucial connective tissue between local, national and international levels.

Edmond’s talk was followed by Sally Chambers’ (DARIAH/British Library) wide-ranging exploration of the different national and regional models of DARIAH membership, demonstrating the importance of adapting models to local contexts and existing national infrastructures. The CLARIAH model used in a number of countries such as Spain and Austria was highlighted, which seeks to combine the strengths of the two most significant European humanities infrastructure projects DARIAH and CLARIN (the Common Language Resources and Tools Infrastructure). 

Speakers leading UK-based digital research infrastructures presented on the aims and focus of a series of distinct yet complementary initiatives. William Nixon from Research Libraries UK (RLUK) discussed their new strategy that seeks to further the organisation’s emphasis on collaboration, open research and digital scholarship. André Piza (Turing) shared work commissioned by the AHRC-funded DataCulture project and undertaken with David Beavan (Turing), Arianna Ciula (KCL) and many others to develop a roadmap for national research software engineering capability in the arts and humanities, in recognition of the ever increasing need for greater collaboration between RSEs and humanities researchers. The final two morning presentations from Karina Rodriguez Echavarria (Brighton) and Eamonn Bell (Durham) focused on AHRC/UKRI-funded initiatives to strengthen training and community-building in relation to high performance computing in the arts and humanities. The DISKAH (Digital Skills in Arts and Humanities) fellowship programme is developing a cohort of arts and humanities researchers engaged in large-scale computational methods, while the CCP-AHC (Collaborative Computational Project for Arts, Humanities and Culture) is focused on the sustainable development and discoverability of software, pipelines and workflows for arts and humanities research.

The discussion following the morning’s presentations reflected on the diverse possible future routes to strengthening the connections between UK and European digital research infrastructures. Given the existing digital research connections between the UK and Ireland, particularly through the UK-Ireland Digital Humanities Association, Edmond highlighted the potential for exploring a UK-Ireland regional DARIAH coordination model with an emphasis also on strengthening collaboration across the UK’s four nations.

Over lunch, a community-led showcase featured posters and presentations on a rich variety of activities and contributions from DARIAH UK cooperating partners and beyond. These ranged from discipline-specific initiatives (e.g. a project on digital literary studies) to cross-disciplinary publication and training platforms (e.g. Journal of Open Humanities Data, RESHAPED), and from national mapping exercises of infrastructures to underpinning practices of software engineering processes and infrastructures connected to digital accessibility.

In the afternoon, David Selway spoke on behalf of the iDAH (Infrastructure for Digital Arts and Humanities) programme at the AHRC on their current approach to digital research infrastructures. His talk demonstrated the breadth of recent investments, such as the RICHeS (Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science) programme, the Enact Practice Research Data Service and support for the work of the Software Sustainability Institute. Selway emphasised the ongoing nature of the programme and the importance of consultation with the community on its future shape and development.

The final workshop session of the day provided space for collective imaginings of future digital infrastructures. Drawing from their project on Infrastructure Futures for Digital Cultural Heritage, Melissa Terras and Jen Ross (Edinburgh) encouraged us to be hopeful and creative in our infrastructure discussions. Workshop participants were given the opportunity to discuss a selection of thought-provoking scenarios as prompts for reflecting on the current and future design of digital infrastructures. The workshop highlighted the diversity of potential infrastructure futures and the value of speculative design in prompting us to think beyond existing models and constraints.

In sum, the day provided a valuable opportunity to reflect on both existing digital infrastructure developments and to imagine potential futures. The day’s talks demonstrated the breadth of recent infrastructure investments in a range of digital research initiatives for the arts and humanities in the UK. From an open research perspective, the event reinforced the view that openness, interoperability, and recognition for data and software work are foundational to building sustainable and connected digital research infrastructures. At the same time, discussions throughout the day foregrounded the importance of the interconnectivity of infrastructures and of events like the DARIAH day for strengthening and forging connections. For just as we need to think beyond local institutional infrastructures in our national context, we must also be conscious of the risks of nationally siloed infrastructures and of the ways knowledge sharing and connections at the international level can further amplify the impact and reach of the UK’s digital research infrastructures.

Click to view the programme.

Authors: Naomi Wells (School of Advanced Study), Lisa Otty (University of Edinburgh), Arianna Ciula (King’s College London), Barbara McGillivray (King’s College London)

This post is republished from The Edinburgh Centre for Data, Culture & Society website.

The SSH Open Marketplace Editorial Board is happy to invite you to a series of 8 hands-on workshops to strengthen FAIR and digital research skills.

Click here to see the flyer for the events. | Save the dates and register here!

The Social Sciences and Humanities Open Marketplace is a discovery portal which pools and contextualises resources for Social Sciences and Humanities research communities: tools, services, training materials, datasets, publications and workflows.

The Marketplace highlights and showcases solutions and research practices for every step of the SSH research data life cycle.

Training Series Learning objectives 

1. Understand Open Science, FAIR and CARE principles in practice
   Participants will be able to explain the Open Science paradigm and the FAIR and CARE principles, and assess their implications for responsible research data management across the full data lifecycle in the arts and humanities, social sciences, language sciences, and GLAM-related research.
2. Navigate and critically use the SSH Open Marketplace
   Participants will be able to confidently navigate the SSH Open Marketplace to discover, evaluate, and select relevant tools, services, datasets, workflows, and training materials for their research needs.
3. Integrate digital resources into research workflows
   Participants will be able to incorporate SSH Open Marketplace resources into discipline-specific research workflows, enhancing transparency, reproducibility, and efficiency in arts and humanities, social sciences, language sciences, and GLAM-related research.
4. Contribute to and curate resources
   Participants will be able to contribute their own communities’ high-quality resources to the SSH Open Marketplace by applying editorial guidelines, metadata standards, and best practices for documentation, interoperability, and reuse, as well as reuse Marketplace resources to support reproducible and transparent research practices.
5. Apply domain-specific standards, resources and research practices
   Participants will be able to document, share, and reuse domain-specific research workflows, data, and tools within arts and humanities (DARIAH), social sciences (CESSDA), language sciences (CLARIN), cultural heritage contexts, thereby fostering interoperability, FAIR compliance, and sustainable knowledge exchange within national and European research infrastructures
6. Leverage the SSH Open Marketplace for community-specific applications
   Participants will be able to design and implement customized application scenarios by utilizing the SSH Open Marketplace to create, curate, and disseminate tailored resource lists or complex catalogs that meet the specific needs and standards of their respective research communities.

Overview of sessions and learning objectives per session

Training session	Learning objectives
20 February: FAIR, CARE & Open Science Principles	1. Explain the core principles of Open Research and their relevance for SSH research practices. 2. Distinguish between FAIR and CARE principles and understand their complementary roles in data governance. 3. Identify key FAIR-compliant research infrastructures relevant to SSH research. 4. Assess the implications of Open Science requirements for data management planning and project design. 5. Apply FAIR and CARE principles to a concrete research use case or project scenario.
20 March: Introduction to SSH Open Marketplace	1. Describe the purpose, scope, and added value of the SSH Open Marketplace for SSH research. 2. Navigate the SSH Open Marketplace interface to locate resources (tools, services, datasets, training materials, and workflows). 3. Use search and filtering functions to identify relevant resources for a specific research question. 4. Understand how the Marketplace connects community use-cases to European SSH research infrastructures. 5. Select appropriate resources from the Marketplace for early-stage or exploratory research tasks.
17 April: Making the most of the SSH Open Marketplace	1. Explore and differentiate advanced resource types such as workflows. 2. Integrate Marketplace resources into existing research workflows. 3. Evaluate the quality, relevance, and reuse potential of Marketplace entries using metadata and relations. 4. Enrich existing Marketplace records by adding metadata, links, and contextual information. 5. (Re)use Marketplace resources to support reproducible and transparent research practices.
15 May: Contributing to the SSH Open Marketplace	1. Understand the role of community contributions in sustaining the SSH Open Marketplace. 2. Add new tools, datasets, workflows, or training materials to the Marketplace. 3. Apply editorial guidelines and quality standards for resource curation. 4. Use metadata schemas and controlled vocabularies to improve interoperability and discoverability. 5. Critically review and improve existing Marketplace entries to enhance reuse and FAIRness. 6. Understand programmatic access and re-use of marketplace material via API and WordPress plug-ins.
19 June: Thematic Art and Humanities	1. Identify DARIAH services and workflows relevant to arts and humanities research. 2. Understand how arts and humanities research workflows are represented in the SSH Open Marketplace. 3. Apply DARIAH tools and workflows (e.g. ATRIUM) to concrete research scenarios. 4. Integrate heterogeneous data types typical of arts and humanities research into FAIR-aligned workflows. 5. Share and document arts and humanities workflows for reuse within the SSH community.
18 September: Thematic GLAM institutions	1. Understand the specific characteristics and challenges of cultural heritage and GLAM data. 2. Identify relevant tools, standards, and services for GLAM data in the SSH Open Marketplace. 3. Apply FAIR principles to digitised and born-digital cultural heritage data. 4. Integrate GLAM datasets into interdisciplinary SSH research workflows. 5. Promote reuse and sustainability of cultural heritage data through documentation and sharing practices.
16 October: Thematic language data	1. Identify CLARIN services and standards for managing and analysing language data. 2. Understand FAIR and legal/ethical challenges specific to language data (e.g. sensitive or personal data). 3. Use the SSH Open Marketplace to discover language resources, tools, and workflows. 4. Integrate CLARIN tools into linguistic research workflows. 5. Prepare and document language datasets for reuse within national and European infrastructures.
20 November: Thematic Social sciences	1. Identify CESSDA services, standards, and tools relevant to social science research. 2. Understand best practices for managing, documenting, and sharing social science data. 3. Use the SSH Open Marketplace to locate CESSDA-related datasets and services. 4. Apply FAIR and ethical principles to quantitative and qualitative social science data. 5. Connect social science research workflows to European data services and infrastructures.

FAIR-by-design learning materials

The training series are conceptualised following the FAIR-by-design methodology developed in skills4EOSC (Filiposka et al. 2024), which consists in taking a systematic approach for conceptualizing each training session, e.g. defining the target audience, the learning objectives and the means to achieve them in each training session, publishing the materials and guides about how to use them, among others. FAIR learning materials enable the reuse of the materials both by learners and by trainers.

Target audience

The workshop series is aimed at a broad audience with links to the social sciences and humanities – from beginners to experienced researchers and practitioners who want to contribute their perspectives or benefit from the experiences of others.

More about the SSH Open Marketplace

The SSH Open Marketplace is:

• a discovery portal, to foster serendipity in digital methods
• an aggregator of useful and well curated resources
• a catalogue, contextualising resources
• an entry point in the EOSC for the Social Sciences and Humanities researchers

The SSH Open Marketplace is not:

• a repository. Nothing is hosted in the SSH Open Marketplace. Workflow content type can be hosted, but this is an exception.
• a data catalogue. The goal is not to collect all the SSH datasets, but selected datasets are indexed to support the contextualisation (dataset mentioned in a publication or used in a training material for example).
• a commercial Marketplace. There is nothing to sell in the SSH Open Marketplace. Commercial software/services can be referenced

Susan Schreibman, DARIAH Director and Professor of Digital Art and Culture in Maastricht University, was awarded the Ángel David Nieves Book Award (Edited Collection) by the American Studies Association. The prize is awarded yearly for the best digital or public humanities project on city and regional planning history. Susan received the prize for her book Feminist Digital Humanities: Intersections in Practice, co-edited with Lisa Marie Rhody.

About the Book

Feminist digital humanities offers opportunities for exploring, exposing, and revaluing marginalized forms of knowledge and enacting new processes for creating meaning. Lisa Marie Rhody and Susan Schreibman present essays that explore digital humanities practice as rich terrain for feminist creativity and critique.

The editors divide the works into three categories. In the first section, contributors offer readings that demonstrate how feminist thought can be put into operation through digital practice or via analytical approaches, methodologies, and interpretations. A second section structured around infrastructure considers how technologies of knowledge creation, publication, access, and sharing can be formed or reformed through feminist values. The final section focuses on pedagogies and proposes feminist strategies for preparing students to become critical and confident readers with and against technologies. 

Aimed at readers in and out of the classroom, Feminist Digital Humanities reveals the many ways scholars have pushed beyond critique to practice digital humanities in new ways. The book is available open access (generously supported by the UM Open Access Book Fund) from this link:  https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p088506

This post highlights activities and results of the project Enabling city dwellers to better understand and valorise intangible and built heritage together: Digital tools and practices ran by the ARCHETIPO Working Group (WG) between 2023 to 2025. The project leaders were Elena Gigliarelli and Georgios Artopoulos, chairs of the ARCHETIPO WG. This project was funded by the Working Groups Funding Scheme 2023-2025.

Description of the project

The project sought to establish an interdisciplinary community in architecture and Digital Humanities through the organisation of a 5-day international workshop. By uniting diverse disciplines, stakeholders, and authorities, the project aimed to integrate local expertise on traditional building methods into a digital platform. Recognising the need to document and preserve traditional techniques, the project employed digital technologies for research. These tools not only process images and geometrically represent construction but also acquire architectural information historically transmitted through computational methods.

The 5-day international workshop on Digital integrated strategies to safeguard heritage construction technologies was held from 30 September to 5 October 2024 in Poggioreale (Trapani), at the Town Hall council chamber. Organised by CNR-ISPC in collaboration with The Cyprus Institute and the University of Catania, and supported by the Municipality of Poggioreale, it brought together lecturers, students, PhD candidates and professionals from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Cyprus.

The goal of this workshop was to explore how integrated digital tools can support threatened historic settlements,
construction provenance knowledge, safeguarding and a potential rehabilitation as well as the study of safe access to a historic settlement at risk, with a focus on the digital curation of knowledge about traditional construction technologies.

Blending theory and practical sessions, the workshop focused on the scientific and operational aspects of heritage digitization, fostering interdisciplinary dialogue among academics, professionals, and local communities while utilizing advanced digital technologies. The methods and processes explored in this workshop were classes on BIM/HBIM and data management alternated with fieldwork: 2D/3D surveys using drone photogrammetry and mobile SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping), typological–construction analysis, and data-processing pipelines. The choice of Old Poggioreale—abandoned after the 1968 Belice earthquake—offered an open-air laboratory to trial workflows that can be replicated in other European contexts.

Project outcomes

The workshop had a significant impact not only on the scientific level but also on raising awareness within the local community. Poggioreale has become an international case study for the application of digital technologies to heritage conservation, demonstrating how the dialogue between past and future can lead to innovative and sustainable solutions. The team produced a georeferenced 3D baseline (point clouds and orthophotos), pilot HBIM models with libraries of techniques (vaults, masonry, floors), and initial safety recommendations to enable controlled public access.

Teaching materials (slides, workflows, checklists) will make the experience reusable in other courses. Content will be soon published open access on DARIAH-Campus, with persistent identifiers issued via an open repository, and will feed HERIGITAL, ARCHETIPO’s forthcoming semantic database. The event, supported by E-RIHS.it (for non-invasive investigations and FAIR data practices) and co-funded by BHiLab (ISPC) with an additional €5,000, strengthened new collaborations among partners and with the local community.

Find out more about the ARCHETIPO WG and how to get involved here.

What is the ECCCH?

The ECCCH is a new EU-funded digital platform connecting Cultural Heritage Institutions (CHIs) across Europe, including museums, archives, libraries, researchers, and conservators. It offers shared infrastructure, advanced tools (AI, 3D, annotation), and a collaborative space to digitise, preserve, and showcase cultural heritage.

Why join?

• Collaborate across disciplines and borders
• Manage, and share collections cost-effectively in a collaborative environment
• Establishing a cost-effective policy for the storage, management, and sharing of collections
• Boost visibility and international reach
• Access cutting-edge digital tools that would otherwise be unaffordable
• Develop innovative services (virtual exhibitions, 3D reconstructions, educational apps)

What will be funded?

The call will support 20 projects, with up to €29,800 available per project. Projects should:

• Involve CHIs working with tangible and/or intangible heritage
• Raise awareness of the ECCCH and expand its community
• Support skills development and capacity building, especially for small and medium-sized CHIs

Projects are expected to have a wide geographical reach and engage a significant number of CHIs. Alongside communication activities, they may also include:

• Digital or in-person workshops, webinars, and online courses
• Training materials (guidelines, toolkits, manuals)
• Informational events on ECCCH benefits
• Surveys to identify sector challenges and opportunities
• Helpdesks providing tailored support and feedback
• Creative engagement formats such as hackathons, co-design, or co-creation sessions

Who can apply?

Consortia of CHIs, led by umbrella organisations, networks, or professional associations with European, national, or regional reach.

How to apply?

Proposals must be submitted by the deadline (30 January 2026, 23:59 CET) through the Submission Portal. For further details on the submission procedure, you can consult the instruction manual or watch the demo video that has been prepared.

Reference documents and support

Please download the guide for applicants for further information.
For specific enquiries, feel free to contact us at grants@echoes-eccch.eu.

Info Day

To support prospective applicants, the ECHOES Team hosted an Info Day on Thursday, November 6 as a Zoom webinar. This session shared details about the application process and answered many questions on the call and submission. The slides presented are now available for download and you can see the recording of the webinar on our Youtube channel.

Key Dates

• Deadline for submissions: 30 January 2026, 11:59 pm CET

*This post is republished from the ECHOES website.

DARIAH ERIC has released its CoARA Progress Report and Action Plan for 2025–2027, reaffirming its commitment to advancing responsible and inclusive research assessment in the arts and humanities.

Since becoming a founding member of the Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) in November 2022, DARIAH has been an active voice in Europe’s research assessment reform movement. The Coalition champions a shift from narrow, journal-based metrics towards qualitative, contextual, and transparent evaluation.

Over the past three years, and building on its 2023 position paper on The Role of Research Infrastructures in the Research Assessment Reform, DARIAH has translated the CoARA principles into tangible outcomes: from pioneering open peer review practices in Transformations, our own diamond, open-access, peer-reviewed journal, to developing assessment criteria for non-traditional research outputs in the context of the ATRIUM project. 

“Research infrastructures play a unique role in shaping a culture of responsible assessment,” says Toma Tasovac, DARIAH’s Director Emeritus and Strategic Advisor to the Board of Directors. “We support evaluation models that value openness, interdisciplinarity, and the real, diverse ways in which arts and humanities researchers create knowledge and contribute to research infrastructures.”

The newly published Progress Report and Action Plan brings together DARIAH’s achievements from 2022–2024 and sets out a strategic roadmap for 2025–2027. It outlines clear priorities for implementing DARIAH’s CoARA commitments and for sustaining momentum towards a more equitable and transparent research assessment ecosystem.

“Sharing DARIAH’s CoARA Action Plan means a lot to us,” said DARIAH Open Science Officer Françoise Gouzi.  “It shows how we’re putting research assessment principles into action, embedding openness, transparency and reusability in our day-to-day editorial and institutional practices.”

Through these efforts, DARIAH continues to connect policy, infrastructure, and community,  helping to ensure that research assessment reform in Europe reflects the diversity, creativity, and collaborative ethos of the arts and humanities.

What is OpenMethods?

OpenMethods is a metablog highlighting curated content about Digital Humanities Methods and Tools, an important area currently underrepresented in the DH peer-reviewed literature especially, but not exclusively, from a European perspective.

With over 250 posts contributed by committed Volunteer Editors, OpenMethods metablog gives accessibility and visibility of scholarly conversations on digital methods. OpenMethods was originally launched through the Humanities at Scale project and was then sustained as a DARIAH Core Service. 

Transition to a DARIAH-IT Community Service

In 2024, OpenMethods transitioned to a Community Service operated by DARIAH-IT. Recognising its value in showcasing digital methods and tools, DARIAH supported DARIAH-IT in taking over its daily operations, ensuring the platform’s continued growth and relevance in the evolving DH landscape. 

“With over 250 posts contributed by committed Volunteer Editors since 2018, OpenMethods is an original publishing hub and crossroads easing conversation on digital methods” said Françoise Gouzi, DARIAH’s Open Science Officer. “From 2024, we’ve moved step by step towards a transition of the metablog to a Community Service operated by DARIAH-IT. I think this transition demonstrates the capacity of DARIAH as a resilient network able to provide stable services to the community. We are confident and delighted to support DARIAH-IT in taking over its daily operations, ensuring the platform’s continued growth and relevance in the evolving DH landscape.”

“Since February 2025, when the DICO (DARIAH-IT Coordination Office) took over the service, we’ve been working closely with the Open Methods Editorial team to shape a new strategy for the metablog and to encourage broader community participation” commented Alessia Spadi, DARIAH-IT Deputy National Coordinator & Sustainability HUB Manager. “We presented the transition with a poster at the DARIAH Annual Event 2025, then launched a call for volunteer editors and welcomed 22 new members from across Europe and beyond. Now, we’re preparing a full rebranding of the website, building on the excellent work done so far and giving the platform a fresh look for its next phase of development.”

Open Call for contributions

Currently, the OpenMethods Editorial Team has launched a new call for content contributions and is inviting you to be part of it! If you’ve already published insightful work on Digital Humanities methods or tools, OpenMethods offers the perfect platform to give it greater visibility. By contributing to this metablog, you help amplify open access research and connect with a broader community of practitioners and scholars.

OpenMethods highlights Digital Humanities methods and tools already published on various sites. All selected content has to be:

• already published elsewhere.
• Open Access content/data.

Content can consist of blog posts, reports, presentations, working papers, data papers, articles, book chapters, video or podcasts. It is not a problem if it is already highlighted on another platform. Content with persistent identifiers (uri, handle, doi) are of course more than welcome.

We are currently looking for 15 evaluators to support the peer review of the top 25 applications of the ECHOES Cascading Grants Programme Call 1 on Data.

The ECHOES Cascading Grants Programme provides funding for consortia led by Cultural Heritage Institutions (CHIs) to engage with the Cultural Heritage Cloud. The Cascading Grants programme supports up to 50 projects across three calls to enhance digital engagement, data sharing, and collaboration.

In particular, Call 1 on data seeks to encourage stakeholders in the Cultural Heritage Community to contribute datasets for use in the Cultural Heritage Cloud. Proposals define the dataset’s intended user community, its purpose (e.g., research, education, virtual exhibitions, etc.), expected outcomes, and benefits for the broader cultural heritage community. Additionally, applicants are asked to provide a scenario of how the project would like to make use of the Cultural Heritage Cloud, including possible steps needed to analyse and process the Cultural Heritage datasets provided. Finally, a detailed dataset description is required, covering content, technical specifications, ethical considerations, availability, and licensing.                                 

For the final evaluation of Call 1, we require 3 external and 1 internal reviewers per application and as such we are drawing on our wide network of practitioners in the field to support this work as external reviewers. External reviewers in this context includes anyone who is not employed by a direct financial beneficiary or associated partners of the ECHOES project or connected with any of the projects selected for the final stage of Call 1. 

In particular, we are looking for:

• 15 people as external reviewers to each review approximately 5 +/- applications (approx 5000 words each)
• We expect it to take about 2-3 hours per application, with a total of 10-15 hours of work for 5 applications. 
• The review work will take place during the month of November, giving you 4 weeks to complete the work.  
• We are unable to remunerate this work, and as such, the review work will need to be undertaken on a voluntary basis.

In the lead-up to the proposal review period, we will hold an evaluators’ information meeting at the beginning of November to collectively align on the approach and criteria.

Please let us know by Friday 24 October if you are interested in supporting the evaluations of our top 25 applications from Call 1. You can let us know by sending a brief email to: grants@echoes-eccch.eu with the subject line: ECHOES: Call 1: Stage 2 Evaluation, stating your interest, your home institution, and main area of expertise. 

As we confirm the list of evaluators, we will organise the evaluator’s information meeting for the beginning of November and send you instructions in advance of the review period.

This post is republished from the ECHOES website.

This post highlights activities and results of the project Navigating through Digital Knowledge Models ran by the THEATRALIA Working Group (WG) between 2023 to 2025. The project leaders were Pr. Cécile Chantraine Braillon (WG Chair, La Rochelle Université) and Dr. Anamarija Žugić Borić (WG Chair, DARIAH-HR). This project was funded by the Working Groups Funding Scheme 2023-2025.

Project objectives

Launched within the DARIAH-EU infrastructure, the THEATRALIA WG brings together a network of approximately 50 researchers from across Europe and beyond. The initiative was born out of a growing need to adapt research and archival practices in the performing arts to the digital age.

To address this challenge, THEATRALIA adopted a phased, methodical approach. Phase 1 (2021–2023) focused on conducting a comprehensive landscape study, which revealed a significant gap: the absence of descriptive standards tailored to the specific needs of the performing arts. Phase 2 (2023–2025), which was the focus of the WG’s latest project funded by the DARIAH-EU WG Funding Scheme, aimed to develop practical digital solutions to address this shortfall—both in terms of describing performing arts archives and the field itself.

The project’s objectives were twofold: first, to design a digital descriptive model that reflects the unique characteristics of performing arts archives; second, to develop a controlled vocabulary that enhances semantic precision and interoperability across platforms and disciplines. To meet the first objective, the team conducted a thorough review of existing metadata practices and selected Dublin Core as a flexible foundational model. Thirty-eight metadata fields were retained and redefined with domain-specific guidance, ensuring alignment with established standards and ontologies.

In parallel, the team developed a prototype thesaurus. Rather than constructing a comprehensive ontology, THEATRALIA chose a pragmatic approach, building a structured, multilingual thesaurus using OpenTheso—an RDF-compatible platform. Terms were carefully extracted and standardized from authoritative glossaries and dictionaries. To date, around 1,400 terms have been compiled, with nearly 100 already accompanied by definitions and bibliographical informations.

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• 

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Project results and outcomes

Several tangible results have been achieved. THEATRALIA successfully followed its roadmap to develop digital description languages for the performing arts, including a Dublin Core-based metadata model and a domain-specific thesaurus, both designed in accordance with FAIR principles and set to be released by mid-2025. These resources aim to support archivists, researchers, and cultural institutions in organizing, describing, and analyzing performing arts materials in a sustainable and interoperable digital environment.

Those resources/deliverables of the project are already available in open access in HAL SHS here:

• Cécile Chantraine-Braillon, Fatiha Idmhand, Emeline Jeanne Jouve, Jorge Dubatti, Marie Lavorel, et al.. Multilingual Thesaurus of Performing Arts (Version 1). 2025. ⟨halshs-05156229⟩
• Cécile Chantraine-Braillon, Anamarija Žugić Borić. Dublin Core for Performing Arts. 2025. ⟨hal-05214127⟩

In addition to the creation of those resources, the project also catalyzed new international collaborations, extending its network to include scholars from Israel, Indonesia, and Latin America, and led to integration within large-scale research infrastructures. Notably, THEATRALIA is involved in OSCARS (Open Science Cluster’s Action for Research and Society) through the OASIS project (2025–2026), which promotes innovation in open audiovisual science. It also secured additional funding from the Institut des Amériques for the PERFORMA project (2025–2026), focused on developing a multilingual thesaurus (French–Spanish–English) dedicated to the performing arts.

From March to November 2024, THEATRALIA organised six training workshops—online, hybrid, and in-person—on digital description standards (such as Dublin Core), thesauri management tools (e.g. OpenTheso, Protégé), and domain-specific vocabularies. Over 75 participants attended. One of these sessions, focused on the e-spect@tor video annotation tool, was held during the international conference The Spectator’s School: Digitizing Research in
Performing Arts (Lille, Fédération CNRS Sciences et Cultures du Visuel, 21–22 November 2024), co-organised by THEATRALIA. The work will result in multiple scholarly outputs, including a peer-reviewed article in the ASPA Journal (open access) and a collective volume to be published by Éditions des Archives Contemporaines (EAC/open access). Together, these outcomes significantly contribute to the development of robust digital infrastructures for the performing arts and the broader humanities
community.

Ultimately, THEATRALIA has provided the performing arts research community with robust, interoperable tools to address both the conceptual and technical challenges of digital archiving and analysis—marking a significant step forward in the digital transformation of the field.

Find out more about the THEATRALIA WG and how to get involved here.

This post is republished from the OSCARS website.

We are thrilled to share with you the successful culmination of our recent internal and international Composability and Authentication and Authorisation Infrastructure (AAI) workshop at CERN focusing on two key areas: reviewing the progress of composability development and deployment in the OSCARS project and exploring potential collaboration with the AARC TREE project with respect to Authentication and Authorisation Infrastructure. This workshop was particularly significant as it allowed us to delve into the shared challenges faced by research infrastructures and brainstorm potential solutions. In OSCARS, we believe in the power of collective intelligence and the transformative potential of hands-on learning. 

Workshop Objectives and Outcomes

The workshop was held as a satellite event of the Open Science Fair and in conjunction with the project meetings of OSCARS WP2 (Composable Research Infrastructure Services in EOSC) and the AARC-TREE project. This combination resulted in more than 60 registered participants, half of which could attend in person. The synergy with the AARC-TREE project provided valuable insights for the OSCARS project, particularly in the realm of Authentication and Authorisation Infrastructure. Conversely, it also offered the AARC-TREE project a clearer understanding of community needs.

The workshop began with a comprehensive review of our progress in composability development and deployment. Within OSCARS, composability refers to the ability to combine and integrate smaller, modular components or services into more complex systems. In a composable system, each component is designed to function independently but can be easily assembled or reconfigured with others to create new workflows or applications. The workshop focused on evaluating the improvements made to the services and ensuring they align with the Cluster’s vision of composability.

We then took a deep dive into the EOSC nodes, focusing on the Federation’s build-up and the distinct roles of the EU and CERN nodes. We reviewed key timelines, including the October 2024 node launch, the governance roadmap until 2027, and the publication of the EOSC federation handbook. A central point of discussion was the challenge of integrating services like AAI and catalogues, highlighting the contrast between the EU node’s strict Service Level Agreements and the more flexible nature of Research Infrastructures. The presentation of the candidate CERN EOSC node highlighted the sharing of experience and lessons learned, including the importance of AAI and the potential for federated data management and storage solutions. The discussion also touched on the role of credits and the need for a more flexible access policy vocabulary.

We continued the workshop with the discussion of “Resource discovery: Challenges and Solutions”. We realized that maturity differs significantly within and across the clusters. While climate research data remains highly fragmented, LifeWatch showcased an advanced federated search with API and LLMs integration. We also examined CLARIN’s infrastructure for promoting interoperability in computational linguistics. The discussion consistently returned to the need for standardized metadata and harmonized policies, with a clear consensus on the potential of semantic web technologies and knowledge graphs.

Further, we discussed the architecture and capabilities of various workflow management systems, including Galaxy, REANA, EWOKS, and DIRAC, focusing on their core design philosophies, user experience, execution environments, data management and integration, reproducibility, and sharing mechanisms. Key points included the use of tools like snakemake for interoperability, the need for data provenance and versioning, and the challenges of integrating different storage systems and tools. The discussion also touched on the importance of reproducibility and FAIR principles, as well as the ongoing development and implementation of open standards like CWL.

The highlight of the workshop were the tours to various experimental sites at CERN, including the Synchro-Cyclotron, the Antimatter Factory, and the ATLAS experiment. We appreciated the insightful and detailed explanations of cutting-edge research. Thank you for the enriching experience!

As a conclusion of the workshop, each cluster defined some upcoming steps and takeaway messages. In general, all clusters aim to improve compatibility across different Research Infrastructures (RIs) by sharing workflows and tools. This collaborative approach helps in addressing data fragmentation and semantic harmonisation, ensuring that data is accessible and meaningful across disciplines. The use of common platforms such as Galaxy, Zenodo, and Virtual Research Environments (VREs) is promoted to streamline data management and analysis.

To achieve these common goals, several steps were outlined:

1. Semantic Harmonisation: Implementing ontologies and FAIR vocabularies is crucial to reduce data fragmentation and enhance interoperability.
2. Workflow Development: Collaborating on the development of reusable and platform-independent workflow components creates bridges between communities and fosters cooperation.
3. Tool Integration: Promoting the integration of tools across different clusters and communities ensuring that methods and services are widely accessible and usable.
4. Competence Centres: Proposing and developing inter-cluster Competence Centres is necessary to address shared challenges and enhance collaborative capabilities.
5. Training and Documentation: Providing extensive documentation and training for VRE workflows and analyses is necessary to ensure that researchers can effectively use these platforms.
6. Platform Integration: Enabling VREs integration with heterogeneous computing resources (e.g. clouds, HPCs), and the development of common VRE Helm Charts, are crucial objectives to optimize and standardize deployments.

By focusing on these commonalities, the clusters can advance their goals and enhance the overall research environment, leading to more efficient and effective data management and analysis across disciplines.

Looking Ahead

The workshop culminated with an in-depth discussion on the upcoming tasks, particularly focusing on the initial concepts for our community engagement activities. This segment was instrumental in fostering creativity and soliciting diverse perspectives on how to effectively engage with the community, promote our work, and ensure practical application of our tools. We unanimously agreed to continue and enhance our community outreach efforts by participating in cluster-specific conferences and workshops, ensuring alignment with the visions of the Competence Centres and Work Packages 1 and 3.

ENVRI – Environmental Sciences
ESCAPE – Astronomy, Nuclear and Particle Physics
LS RI – Life Sciences
PANOSC – Photon and Neutron Science
SSHOC – Social Sciences and Humanities
Cluster-funded project(s)
Other

On 25 September 2025, the SSH Open Cluster held its 5th Assembly, led by Darja Fišer (CLARIN ERIC), and Vice Chair Sally Chambers (DARIAH ERIC). The meeting reviewed governance updates, strategic initiatives, and adopted a forward-looking work plan.

The meeting began with a review of the year’s developments, with two new ERICs joining the team, namely EHRI and E-RIHS who formally transitioned to ERIC status. Also, a new Cluster member, MEDem, joined the roster of participants. The Cluster’s Rules of Procedure (RoP) underwent a revision with changes that allow greater flexibility, and follow the more mature status of the Cluster after the first three years of work.

The meeting also reviewed ongoing strategic engagement at European and national levels. At the European level, SSHOC continues to work closely with the ERIC Forum, the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), and the OSCARS project.

National updates illustrated the Cluster’s influence on local levels he Swiss nationwide initiative SSHOC-CH, presented by Georg Lutz from FORS, was founded as a legal entity in 2024, and is building broad membership with ambitions to deepen policy engagement, stakeholder outreach, and service coordination. In the Netherlands, SSHOC-NL is consolidating a network of SSH institutions, libraries, and archives, positioning itself for stronger alignment with cluster objectives. The initiative was presented by Richard Zijdeman from the International Institute of Social History. From Italy, Emiliano Degl’Innocenti from The National Research Council (Cnr) presented the H2IOSC project and reported progress in federating resources across infrastructures, building registries of tools, establishing secure analysis environments, and advancing collaboration around language and media datasets.

The meeting also presented the 2026 Work Plan, anchored around three strategic pillars: sharing data, tools & workflows; training & education; and advocacy & outreach. On the first pillar, led by Sally Chambers (DARIAH ERIC) Cluster members pledged to operate, maintain, and further develop the SSH Open Marketplace, exploring further connections to EOSC. 

Under training and education, led by Susan Schreibman (DARIAH ERIC) the Cluster aims to refine its vision for a Competence Centre, work on SSHOC web presence, and consolidate educational resources across infrastructures. 

On advocacy and outreach, led by Bonnie Wolff-Boenisch (CESSDA ERIC) the Cluster affirmed its intent to maintain a strong presence in relevant stakeholder bodies. The Cluster also plans to boost its visibility through participation in major conferences, coordination with national initiatives, and support for emerging efforts, especially for Ukrainian SSH researchers.

As SSHOC moves forward from this 5th Assembly, its focus is set on actionable steps, deeper cross-infrastructure collaboration, and stronger presence in Europe’s research infrastructure ecosystem.

This post is republished from the CESSDA website.