Have you been meaning to set up an appointment to ask about research data management for your project, an aspect of your research workflow, or a specific DH tool or method? Visit one of our drop-in sessions and we will help you on the spot! No need to make an appointment!
The sessions are designed to support researchers, students, and staff members in all areas of digital scholarship. The initiative is a collaboration between Artes Research, DH-support staff and researchers at the Faculty of Arts, and ICTS at the Faculty of Arts.
Some areas we can help you with:
Providing resources for various DH and RDM tools
Advice on DMPs and Research Data Management in general
Suggesting DH tools or methods for your specific research questions
Relational databases in FileMaker
Social Network Analysis and network visualizations
Computational tools for working with texts
…
Getting started with Zotero or optimizing Zotero use with an existing Zotero library
Advice on scholarly communication
Advice on Lirias
… and much more!
Don’t have a question about any of the above but want to learn more about DH? No problem! Come and use our space for co-working! It’s a great moment to develop digital skills by starting a Programming Historian tutorial, for instance!
Everyone is welcome to attend, you do not need to register!
Stop by on one of the following dates and we will be glad to help you:
29/01/2026: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 00.24, Erasmushuis
19/02/2026: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 00.24, Erasmushuis
19/03/2026: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 00.24, Erasmushuis
28/04/2026: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 00.24, Erasmushuis
26/05/2026: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 00.24, Erasmushuis
25/06/2026: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 00.24, Erasmushuis
Are you interested in presenting your work at the Open Science Day?
The Open Science Day is organized for and by researchers at KU Leuven and the KU Leuven Association, as an opportunity to take part in the discussion about Open Science. Researchers can showcase their own Open Science efforts, shed a light on difficulties they might encounter or share experiences and solutions.
Indeed, Open Science is an integral part of today’s research. It encompasses a wide range of practices and outputs across all stages of the research lifecycle. For instance, researchers share their publications via repositories, publish in Open Access journals, and disseminate early findings through preprints. They make their data FAIR, preregister their research protocols, and engage the public through Citizen Science initiatives.
Challenges include selecting the most appropriate channel for publishing research, considering the economic implications of this choice, as well as managing the learning curve and time investment required to implement certain Open Science principles. At the same time, researchers must navigate various considerations, including GDPR compliance, intellectual property rights, and research security. KU Leuven is committed to Open Science, guided by the principle: “as open as possible, as closed as necessary.”
Many things to discuss! Submit your proposal on the Open Science website.
In short
For who: This call is intended to researchers of the KU Leuven Association.
Formats: presentations (+/- 15 minutes, depending on submissions), posters, workshop. Other contribution types may be considered by the scientific committee.
RDM covers a wide range of subjects, with extensive information that requires practical implementation. Within KU Leuven, there are training sessions specifically designed to cultivate practical RDM skills. For researchers within the field of Humanities and Social Sciences, we recommend this upcoming training session to get yourself acquainted with RDM.
These events are only open to KU Leuven researchers and staff
Program
Research data management (RDM) refers to how you handle your data during and after your research project to ensure they are well organized, structured, of high quality and Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR). During this session you will learn best practices for the management of research data according to the FAIR data principles. We consider the technical, legal, and ethical aspects of research data, secure storage of materials, documentation and metadata, research data sharing, reusing data shared by others, and more. This solid grounding in basic RDM skills will help you make informed decisions on how to handle your research data. Additionally, you will learn how to write and maintain your own Data Management Plan (DMP).
The training consists of two parts:
A short general introduction on Research Data Management (20’ – 25’)
Followed by small interactive group sessions, where participants dicuss their Data Management Plan (DMP), under the guidance of an RDM expert.
Practicalities
When: December 1, 2025 from 14:00 to 16:00
Where: Online
For who: This training is mainly aimed at doctoral researchers, preferably at the start of their PhD or project.
What is a hackathon? It is an event that is usually organized over a short period of time where participants come together in small groups and work intensively on a creative digital project or towards some digital end. In the case of BiblioTech, KU Leuven researchers, students, or staff will be divided into small groups and will work specifically on one of the datasets prepared (by LIBIS) for the hackathon. The groups will be guided by at least one group leader and will be able to rely on the help of an expert pool comprised of people who have specific technical knowledge and skills. The groups are free to follow their creative inspiration but must apply some digital approaches or tools to the dataset to produce an end result that will be presented in the form of a short presentation and a poster at the closing event of the hackathon.
Who are we looking for? One of the amazing benefits of hackathons is that they allow many different people with diverse backgrounds and skill sets to come together and to learn from one another. This is our goal for BiblioTech! We welcome applications from researchers at all stages of their careers, motivated students, and also KU Leuven staff members. Digital skills are not a must, but a willingness to learn about digital approaches definitely is. The hackathon should be a fun and engaging experience, and each participant should find themselves with new skills and perspectives at the end.
What about the data? The 2026 edition of the BiblioTech Hackathon is going places! Participants will have the option to work with two datasets both focused on the experience of travel. The first dataset comes from KU Leuven Libraries digitized collections and features historical picture postcards. The second dataset comprises historical travelogues. This combination of image, metadata, and textual materials provides many opportunities for the application of DH methods. We are all excited to see where this data leads you!
Practical details
The hackathon will span 10 days and will take place from Monday 16 March until Thursday 26 March. In addition to the working period of the hackathon, there will be a pre-hackathon brainstorming event where participants “Meet the Data, Meet the People,” prior to the start of the hackathon, a training day to learn how to use the infrastructure (ManGO and HPC service), and a closing event where the teams’ projects are presented.
When: Mark your calendars for the following dates:
Application Deadline: 5 January 2026 (23:59 CET)
Pre-Hackathon Brainstorm | Meet the Data, Meet the People: 12 March 2026
Infrastructure Training: 13 March 2026
Hackathon Working Period: 16–26 March 2026
Hackathon Closing Event: 26 March 2026
from Monday 13 March until Thursday 23 March
Where: Leuven (see above for more details)
For whom: We welcome applications from researchers at all stages of their careers, motivated students, and also KU Leuven staff members. Digital skills are not a must, but a willingness to learn about digital approaches definitely is.
Price: free
Registration: Already convinced and want to take part? Great! Submit an application here. The deadline to apply is 5 January 2026 (23:59 CET). We look forward to hacking with you!
This session will explore the Horizon Europe Open Access rules and provide practical insights into their implementation. We will discuss how project officers are trained, which units are responsible, common questions from stakeholders, relevant statistics, lessons learned, and key takeaways for the next program cycle. We also anticipate questions and feedback from researchers who are applying these rules in practice. Their experiences will help enrich the discussion, and we hope the webinar will serve as a platform for sharing advice, best practices, and challenges.
Wednesday October 22|12:30-13:30:
Theme: HOW TO RETAIN CONTROL OVER YOUR PUBLICATIONS IN THE AGE OF AI ?
Speaker: Mr. Joris Deene, Everest Advocaten, legal advisor SA&S
As an academic author, navigating copyright in the era of Open Access can be challenging. In this session, you will learn how to strategically manage and retain your rights before, during, and after publication. We provide you with concrete tools and legal insights to maximize the impact of your work.
After this session, you will be able to:
Choose and apply the right Creative Commons license for your specific goals.
Understand and exercise your statutory right of secondary publication under Belgian law.
Implement a rights retention strategy to secure your author’s rights before signing a publishing agreement.
Navigate the challenges of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in academic publishing, focusing on copyright implications and publisher policies.
Friday October 24|12:30-14:00:
Theme: DIAMOND OPEN ACCESS
Speakers : Clément Dessy (FNRS Research Associate- ULB, co-editor of the journal COnTEXTES ), Geoffrey Compère (FNRS Research Director- ULB, senior editor of Scipost Physics), Jonathan Dumont (PhD – Project Manager – ULiège Library)
In response to growing concerns about equity and accessibility in scholarly publishing, an increasing number of researchers are advocating for the establishment of Diamond Open Access journals, which provide unrestricted access to research outputs for readers and enable authors to publish without incurring Article Processing Charges (APCs), thereby fostering inclusivity and the democratization of knowledge.
The webinar speakers will present complementary perspectives on Diamond Open Access publishing, including founding a new journal, converting an existing one, and serving as a senior editor on a Diamond Open Access platform.
Practicalities
When: October 20-26, 2025 with webinars on 20, 22 and 24 October
Where: Online
For who: Anyone who needs guidance through open access publication models and projects.
These events are only open to KU Leuven researchers and staff
PhD Researchers at KU Leuven, ready to plan your next training? Willing to learn more about Open Science? Join us on 23 October for the Open Science Discovery. You can participate in the morning session, in an afternoon workshop, or both.
Program
Morning: Open Science Discovery Explore key themes like reproducible research, Citizen Science, and how to implement Open Science in your own work. Join online or in-person!
This training is an opportunity to learn more about different Open Science principles and how they contribute to high-quality research. Special attention will be paid to the reproducibility of research and to Citizen Science as a means to create a connection with society. This session includes a workshop during which participants will explore in small groups how Open Science can be implemented in practice. This is followed by a discussion on potential challenges as well as strategies on how to overcome them.
Afternoon: Hands-on Workshops Choose your session:
Peer Review: A key element of the publication process, essential for validating research.
Preregistration: Learn how preregistration supports research integrity by distinguishing between exploratory and confirmatory research.
Data Sharing: Explore the concept of FAIR data and responsible sharing, guided by the principle “as open as possible, as restricted as necessary.”
Practicalities
When: October 23, 2025 from 09h30 to 18h00
Where: Hybrid (on-site sessions atKasteelpark Arenberg (Thermotechnical Institute & MTM)
For who: Training targeted at PhD researchers, but other researchers and support staff are welcome.
Price and registration: Free but mandatory. Clickhere to register. Certificate of participation included.
Are you a Digital Humanities student or early career researcher in Belgium who would like to discuss DH with other early career researchers in the Belgian DH community? If so, you might be interested in joining the DH Virtual Discussion Group for ECRs!
The DH Virtual Discussion Group is a joint initiative organized by individuals at multiple Belgian institutions. We strive to involve speakers from all Belgian institutions and encourage participation from all those who are interested in DH and are located at any Belgian institution. This year, the core organizers are Leah Budke (KU Leuven Libraries Artes), Tom Gheldof (KU Leuven, CLARIAH-VL+), Paavo van der Eecken (University of Antwerp), and Loren Verreyen (University of Antwerp). Over the past years, the series has become a regular event. The fall 2025 edition proudly marks our eleventh term.
Our first two sessions this fall will continue the “under-the-hood” format, which entails a volunteer from our community providing a thirty-minute overview of a digital project implementing a given tool, approach, or platform. This is not meant to be a polished research presentation, or to present findings or results, but rather to give our community a behind-the-scenes look at how decisions were made and why specific tools were chosen or developed. The hope is also that this presenter will give attendees some ideas about how to get started implementing a specific tool or workflow, and that they can also answer questions or contribute to a discussion on other projects in our community that might be using similar methodologies or addressing similar issues. This “under-the-hood” session format allows us to have focused discussions around a specific project where we can learn from each other in an informal way. In addition, by implementing this format we can maintain the low threshold for contributing and engaging in the conversations.
Our final session will be a round table session during which 3-4 members of our community chat with us about their experience doing a PhD with a Digital Humanities component.
The following sessions are on the schedule for the fall 2025 semester (details will be updated as confirmed):
Session 1 Monday 20 October, 15h-16h30 CEST via Teams Speaker(s): Theodora Rontzova, KU Leuven Title: Cultural Heritage in Virtual Worlds – the IMPULSE Project Abstract: My presentation will introduce IMPULSE, a project that aims to enhance accessibility to digitized cultural heritage collections through immersive technology, fostering diverse narrative and public engagement. Over the course of three years, IMPULSE will enhance accessibility to digitized cultural content, optimize streamline digitization processes in the three focus areas of education, artistic creation and CCSIs, develop legal frameworks to mitigate risks and barriers in utilizing cultural heritage data, and foster collaborative creation on immersive platforms. My presentation will provide an overview of the most recent developments within the different Work Packages of the project, with focus on the findings of the two recent workshops in Leuven and in Malta. I will share insights from the development of the virtual platform that will lead to the project’s final Hackathon later this year, and I will finally invite participants to engage with our Community of Practice.
Session 2 Monday 17 November, 15h-16h30 CET via Teams Speaker(s): Sara Budts, VUB Title: Finding Patterns in Lottery Rhymes of the Late Medieval and Early Modern Low Countries with and without AI Abstract: This presentation explores the patterns in lottery rhymes produced in the late medieval and early modern Low Countries, with a focus on the rhymes written by women. The lottery was a popular fundraising event in the Low Countries. Lottery rhymes, personal messages attached to the lottery tickets, provide a valuable source for historians. We collected more than 11,000 digitised short texts from five lotteries held between 1446 and 1606. We have used GysBERT, a language model of historical Dutch, to identify distinctively male and female discourses in the lottery rhymes corpus. Although the model pointed us to some interesting patterns, it also showed that lottery rhymes written by men and women do not radically differ from each other. This is consistent with insights from premodern women’s history which stresses that women worked within societal, and in this case literary, conventions, sometimes subverting them, sometimes adapting them, sometimes adopting them unchanged.
Session 3– Round Table Session Monday 15 December, 15h-16h30 CETvia Teams Speaker(s): To be confirmed Session Description: This session features insights from 3-4 PhD researchers in our network who are working with DH methods. The session is designed to be free-flowing and informal, but you can expect the following avenues of discussion: (1) how the researcher became interested or started integrating DH methods in their research, (2) the challenges faced when learning new DH skills, (3) important resources that have helped throughout this process, (4) other challenges encountered related to the perception or acceptance of DH, and (5) specific benefits that DH methods have offered for the researcher’s work.
There are an increasing number of conferences, workshops, and funding opportunities in DH, and we would like to ensure that you are aware of them. We will start every session with a moment for individuals to share news about upcoming lectures, workshops, seminars, and conferences. We have a corresponding Slack group where we also share these opportunities both during the discussion group meetings and in between. The link to join the Slack group is included in every email sent out to the mailing list, so watch for it there or send us an email to request access.
If you would like to register or invite other colleagues to join, please complete the registration form for the mailing list here. Please note, if you have received emails from us about the Discussion Group in the past, it means you are already on our mailing list. In that case, there is no need to register again—you will receive the emails with the MS Teams link and any additional information on the day of the session. Additionally, you will also receive updates on upcoming sessions including further details about speakers and the “under-the-hood” presentation topics.
Are you a frequent attendee of the DH Virtual Discussion Group and would like a low-threshold way to become more involved in the organization? We are looking for ambassadors to promote the group within their university networks. If this might be a role you would like to take on, get in touch and we can tell you more!
This event is only open to KU Leuven researchers and staff.
The Artes Research team from KU Leuven Libraries Artes and the ABAP council will kick off the new academic year with a special “How Do You Do (It)?” (HDYDI) session dedicated to research data workflows. This special session will coincide with the start of the Digital Scholarship Module taught by the Artes Research team. It will take place on Thursday 6 November, 14:00-16:30, in the Justus Lipsiuszaal (Erasmushuis, Leuven).
Everyone is welcome to attend, you do not need to register!
Program
14:00-15:00
To help you through the afternoon slump, we will start with coffee and cookies which will be served in the main entrance hall of the Erasmushuis.
15:00-16h30
We will then move up to the 8th floor (JustusLipsiuszaal) to start the session which will feature talks from researchers at the Faculty of Arts who outline their research workflows: how do they approach their research, what tools do they use, with what kind of data are they working, etc. We will get a behind-the-scenes look from:
There will be lots of time for questions and getting to know each other’s workflows.
The event will take place in Leuven, but if you would like to join online you can let us know at artesresearch@kuleuven.be and we will provide you with the link.
Practical details
When: Thursday 6 November, from 14:00 to 16:30
Where: coffee in main entrance hall and session in Justus Lipsiuszaal (Erasmushuis, Leuven) with online option: if you would like to join online you can let us know at artesresearch@kuleuven.be and we will provide you with the link
The Flanders Training Network for Methodology and Statistics (FLAMES) is an inter-university training network comprised of Ghent University, Hasselt University, University of Antwerp, KU Leuven, and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. This network is organizing a number of statistics and methodology courses this fall.
Some courses that may be of interest to our researchers include:
The above is just a selection of the courses that are on the program for this fall. To see the full list of training opportunities and to register for any of the courses, visit the FLAMES website.
Have you been meaning to set up an appointment to ask about research data management for your project, an aspect of your research workflow, or a specific DH tool or method? Visit one of our drop-in sessions and we will help you on the spot! No need to make an appointment!
The sessions are designed to support researchers, students, and staff members in all areas of digital scholarship. The initiative is a collaboration between Artes Research, DH-support staff and researchers at the Faculty of Arts, and ICTS at the Faculty of Arts.
Some areas we can help you with:
Providing resources for various DH and RDM tools
Advice on DMPs and Research Data Management in general
Suggesting DH tools or methods for your specific research questions
Relational databases in FileMaker
Social Network Analysis and network visualizations
Computational tools for working with texts
…
Getting started with Zotero or optimizing Zotero use with an existing Zotero library
Advice on scholarly communication
Advice on Lirias
… and much more!
Don’t have a question about any of the above but want to learn more about DH? No problem! Come and use our space for co-working! It’s a great moment to develop digital skills by starting a Programming Historian tutorial, for instance!
Everyone is welcome to attend, you do not need to register!
Stop by on one of the following dates and we will be glad to help you:
25/09/2025: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 00.24, Erasmushuis
28/10/2025: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 00.24, Erasmushuis
20/11/2025: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 00.24, Erasmushuis
11/12/2025: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 00.24, Erasmushuis
—- Due to low registration numbers, this event has been cancelled —-
Yes, you read it correctly; we are having another in-person meeting! As the name suggests, the DH Virtual Discussion Group for ECRs in Belgium is usually a virtual event. We meet on a monthly basis during the academic year to keep up-to-date on all that is happening in our Belgian DH community and beyond and to hear about our members’ DH projects. The virtual format was a necessity when the group formed at the start of the pandemic, and it has worked well to fulfill the objective of bringing together people who are interested in DH from institutions all over Belgium. While we certainly intend to continue the virtual format, we are excited to organize our third annual in-person event this May (Monday 26/5, 14h00-16h00, Hoek 38, Brussels)!
This meeting of the Discussion Group will also be our special DH Benelux session. Each year we organize a special session a week or two before the annual DH Benelux conference (hosted this year in Amsterdam). During this session, members of our community who will be contributing to DH Benelux (in the form of a paper, poster, or demo) are invited to give an elevator pitch of their contribution. The format of this session holds many benefits for all who present and who attend:
It gives first-time presenters the opportunity to pitch their conference contribution in an informal setting and to work out some of the pre-conference nerves. Similarly, it provides all of our community members the opportunity to support our early career researchers and to encourage them as they pass this first milestone.
It allows our members to learn about what kind of DH work is happening in our community. We typically hear from one member of our community during each monthly session, but there is not enough time and space to hear from all our members in a more detailed presentation. The elevator pitch format is perfect for this because we can hear from many people in a short amount of time!
It gives insight into what to expect at a DH conference, and more specifically, what to expect at DH Benelux.
It promotes and supports the broader DH Benelux community, which is a tight-knit group of encouraging and inspiring people.
It provides inspiration and promotes further engagement within our community. With a large number of elevator pitches, the chance is greater that mutual research interests will become apparent.
We welcome attendance from anyone based at a Belgian institution (including Universities, Hogeschools, and GLAM institutions) with an interest in Digital Humanities! If this session sounds like something you would like to attend, please see below for the practical details and the link to register:
What:Special DH Benelux Session of the DH VDG Where: Room 1.10 Malachiet, Hoek 38, Leuvenseweg 38, Brussels (location is within walking distance from the central station) When: 14h00-16h00 Registration: open until 21/5 via OneButton
There will be cookies, coffee, tea, and water available during the session. Anyone who would like is welcome to go for a social drink at a nearby cafe together after the session. The session is free to attend, but registration is required.Registration will close on 21 May, so make sure to let us know soon if you will be joining us!
Have you been accepted to present a poster, paper, or demo at DH Benelux this year? Congratulations! We would love to have you do an elevator pitch during our meeting (timing will depend on how many people will present, but you can expect to have 3-4 minutes and a maximum of one PPT slide if desired). Please get in touch ASAP so we can get you on the schedule! You can email leah.budke@kuleuven.be to be added to the program.
While we really hope this event will have a large in-person attendance, we also realize that scheduling conflicts might prevent some of our members from being able to travel to Brussels for this event. If you would like to listen to the presentations or present your DH Benelux contribution virtually, that option is also possible. The MS Teams link for virtual access will be circulated to the mailing list the morning of the event. If you would like to present virtually, please let us know this when you contact us to be added to the program.
KU Leuven RDR, our institutional research data repository, has achieved CoreTrustSeal certification, making RDR the first repository in Belgium to receive this recognition.
CoreTrustSeal is an international, community-driven, non-governmental, and non-profit organization dedicated to promoting sustainable and trustworthy data infrastructures. It provides a globally recognized industry-standard certification to any data repository seeking core-level certification. At present, 155 repositories have obtained this certification, including the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre, the NASA Atmospheric Science Data Center, the ETH Zurich Research Collection and UniProt. The certification is based on the Core Trustworthy Data Repositories Requirements, which outline the essential characteristics of trustworthy data repositories. All requirements are mandatory and are equally weighted, standalone items.
The CoreTrustSeal certification highlights KU Leuven’s commitment to providing trustworthy and sustainable research infrastructure and supporting open science practices. The certification, along with the updated RDM policy, ensures that research data is published transparently and sustainably.
Find out more on the CoreTrustSeal certification on de RDR website.
These events are only open to KU Leuven researchers and staff
In light of ongoing developments and concerns regarding research data storage at KU Leuven, the RDM competence centre is organising an online Q&A session. Not sure where to put the data for your current or new research project? Are you still using OneDrive instead of a more suitable storage solution – and why should you make the switch? Struggling to figure out what solution fits best with your particular type of data? Join us on May 9th at 13h and hear from ICTS and the RDM support staff about what options you have to securely store your research data in line with university guidelines. You can register below!
Program
The session will consist of two parts: a general presentation about the different storage solutions available (around 15 mins) followed by an open discussion/interactive Q&A during which you’ll be able to ask your questions to the RDM staff.
Practicalities
When: May 9, 2025 from 13h00
Where: Online (Microsoft Teams)
For who: This Q&A session is for any KU Leuven researcher who has questions or concerns about research data storage
Price and registration: Free but mandatory. Click here to register.
RDM covers a wide range of subjects, with extensive information that requires practical implementation. Within KU Leuven, there are training sessions specifically designed to cultivate practical RDM skills. For researchers within the field of Humanities and Social Sciences, we recommend these upcoming training sessions to get yourself acquainted with RDM.
These events are only open to KU Leuven researchers and staff
RDM Workshop for PhDs in Humanities and Social Sciences
Program
Research data management (RDM) refers to how you handle your data during and after your research project to ensure they are well organized, structured, of high quality and Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR). During this session you will learn best practices for the management of research data according to the FAIR data principles. We consider the technical, legal, and ethical aspects of research data, secure storage of materials, documentation and metadata, research data sharing, reusing data shared by others, and more. This solid grounding in basic RDM skills will help you make informed decisions on how to handle your research data. Additionally, you will learn how to write and maintain your own Data Management Plan (DMP).
The training consists of two parts:
A short general introduction on Research Data Management (20’ – 25’)
Followed by small interactive group sessions, where participants dicuss their Data Management Plan (DMP), under the guidance of an RDM expert.
Practicalities
When: March 25, 2025 from 14:00 to 16:00
Where: Online
For who: This training is mainly aimed at doctoral researchers, preferably at the start of their PhD or project.
Workshop Documentation & Metadata for Qualitative Research
Program
Documentation and metadata are essential to understand your data in detail, and help other researchers to find and use your data. It enables making your data more Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) and improves the reproducibility of your data. Documentation and metadata are therefore of crucial importance for good Research Data Management.
Through an introductive presentation, interactive exercises, polls and brainstorm sessions you will practice how to:
Organise data files and folders
Identify information in a dataset and within data files
Search for a metadata standard
Use metadata schemes
Deposit a dataset in RDR
Practicalities
When: April 24, 2025 from 13:00 to 16:00
Where: University Library, Colloquium (Mgr. Ladeuzeplein 21, 3000 Leuven)
For who: This workshop is intended for researchers in need of knowing the basics of documentation & metadata.
Join us for the KU Leuven Open Science Day 2025 on 6 May.
The KU Leuven Open Science Day is an event for and by researchers, offering an opportunity to gain deeper insights into Open Science, share experiences, and engage in discussions with fellow researchers.
Program
Our day will begin with a keynote address titled Open Science needs more than enthusiasm by Evie Vergauwe (University of Genève), who is a co-founder of the Swiss Reproducibility Network. In the afternoon, we will feature a keynote on the Citizen Science project “Community First Responders“, a Citizen Science project that was created in the context of KU Leuven’s 600th anniversary. The Citizen Science approach is used as a method to create awareness, enthusiasm and trust for research in society and to increase the social impact of science.
The programme includes workshops on reproducibility as well as presentations and posters from scholars from diverse backgrounds: early career researchers and professors, from various disciplines such as humanities and social sciences, biomedical sciences and science, engineering and technology. Topics will cover a great variety of Open Science practices, including preregistration and registered reports, data, open education, scholarly publishing, peer review and Citizen Science. Additionally, the poster fair will also showcase contributions from KU Leuven’s support services for Open Science and Research Data Management
Are you a Digital Humanities student or early career researcher in Belgium who would like to discuss DH with other early career researchers in the Belgian DH community? If so, you might be interested in joining the DH Virtual Discussion Group for ECRs!
The DH Virtual Discussion Group is a joint initiative organized by individuals at three different Belgian institutions. We strive to involve speakers from various Belgian institutions and encourage participation from all those who are interested in DH and are located at any Belgian institution. This year, the core organizers are Leah Budke (KU Leuven Libraries Artes), Tom Gheldof (KU Leuven, CLARIAH-VL+), Sven Lieber (KBR), Paavo van der Eecken (University of Antwerp), and Loren Verreyen (University of Antwerp). Over the past years, the series has become a regular event. The spring 2025 edition proudly marks our tenth term.
Our first two sessions this spring will continue the “under-the-hood” format, which entails a volunteer from our community providing a thirty-minute overview of a digital project implementing a given tool, approach, or platform. This is not meant to be a polished research presentation, or to present findings or results, but rather to give our community a behind-the-scenes look at how decisions were made and why specific tools were chosen or developed. The hope is also that this presenter will give attendees some ideas about how to get started implementing a specific tool or workflow, and that they can also answer questions or contribute to a discussion on other projects in our community that might be using similar methodologies or addressing similar issues. This “under-the-hood” session format allows us to have focused discussions around a specific project where we can learn from each other in an informal way. In addition, by implementing this format we can maintain the low threshold for contributing and engaging in the conversations.
Our final session will be our special DH Benelux session during which members of our community pitch their DH Benelux contribution in the form of an elevator pitch. This special session takes place in person (with option to join online), which is a fun way to bring the community together while also allowing us to learn about the diverse projects being done in the Benelux region!
The following sessions are on the schedule for the spring 2025 semester (details will be updated as confirmed):
Session 1 Monday 17 March, 15h-16h30 CET via Teams Please note: a last-minute change of schedule has been made. Unfortunately, Tess Dejaeghere is unable to present for us during this session. Tom Gheldof will present about the CLARIAH-VL+ project. Speaker(s): Tom Gheldof, KU Leuven (coordinator CLARIAH-VL+) Title: Building a DH Service Infrastructure: CLARIAH-VL(+) and Open Science in action! Abstract: This presentation introduces CLARIAH-VL, a project that aims to advance Digital Humanities research by establishing a robust DH infrastructure in Flanders (with partners UGent, UAntwerpen, KU Leuven, VUB and the Dutch Language Institute). During the period 2021-2024, CLARIAH-VL developed several high-quality and user-friendly DH tools or tool suites, the so-called Service Infrastructure Components (SICs). In this presentation, an overview of these SICs will be provided, spanning disciplines and DH methods such as Named Entity Linking, semantic annotation, TEI XML editing, topic detection and much more. Finally, this presentation will also highlight how the new project phase (under the acronym CLARIAH-VL+) will further develop its DH infrastructure and stays committed to Open Science and public engagement, not only by ensuring accessibility and alignment with European research infrastructures like CLARIN-ERIC and DARIAH-EU, but also by reaching out to other partners for Digital Humanities research in Flanders and beyond.
Session 2 Monday 28 April, 15h-16h30 CEST via Teams Speaker(s): Roberta Pireddu, KU Leuven Title: Enriching Cultural Heritage with AI: The AI4Culture Hackathon Journey (& A Glimpse into CrowdHeritage) Abstract: In this presentation, I will share insights into the AI4Culture project, with a particular focus on the planning and execution of the AI4Cultural Hackathon—a one-week event held at KU Leuven in February 2025. I will discuss how the event was developed within the framework of the project, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the preparations, challenges faced, and lessons learned. Additionally, I will highlight the CrowdHeritage platform, showcasing its successful implementation in various events organized as part of other projects and participatory activities.
Session 3– Special In-Person DH Benelux Session Monday 26 May, 13h30-16h CEST Location: room 1.10 Malachiet, Hoek 38, Leuvenseweg 38, Brussels (location is within walking distance from the central station) Speaker(s): various members of our community Format: elevator pitches of DH Benelux contributions
There are an increasing number of conferences, workshops, and funding opportunities in DH, and we would like to ensure that you are aware of them. We will start every session with a moment for individuals to share news about upcoming lectures, workshops, seminars, and conferences. We have a corresponding Slack group where we also share these opportunities both during the discussion group meetings and in between. The link to join the Slack group is included in every email sent out to the mailing list, so watch for it there or send us an email to request access.
If you would like to register or invite other colleagues to join, please complete the registration form for the mailing list here. Please note, if you have received emails from us about the Discussion Group in the past, it means you are already on our mailing list. In that case, there is no need to register again—you will receive the emails with the MS Teams link and any additional information on the day of the session. Additionally, you will also receive updates on upcoming sessions including further details about speakers and the “under-the-hood” presentation topics.
Are you a frequent attendee of the DH Virtual Discussion Group and would like a low-threshold way to become more involved in the organization? We are looking for ambassadors to promote the group within their university networks. If this might be a role you would like to take on, get in touch and we can tell you more!
What kind of stories lie hidden in the Vesalius manuscript, educational glass slides of ancient temples, or the ruins of great civilizations? What if ancient murals were designed to speak to multiple cultures, blending artistic traditions into a shared narrative? What if Palmyra had never fallen and we could explore how it evolved into the present day? What if Vesalius’ anatomical work was reimagined from the perspective of a female anatomist? During the 2-day workshop hosted by the IMPULSE Project (18-19 February) participants will delve into questions like these and explore the technological possibilities for enriching our understanding.
Workshop Application: Reimagining Learning. Transforming Education Through VR and Cultural Heritage
The IMPULSE project invites you to participate in a two-day workshop that explores how Virtual Reality (VR) can unlock new ways to connect with cultural heritage and transform educational processes. You will get the opportunity to reimagine and reshape teaching and learning through the use of immersive storytelling practices and innovative technology.
Whether you are an educator, creator, cultural heritage enthusiast, or simply curious about the potential of VR, this event is open to you. No technical expertise is required! Only curiosity and willingness to collaborate and explore new ideas.
Workshop Highlights
Design Interactive VR Experiences: Utilize authentic cultural objects from the KU Leuven Collections to craft compelling VR learning scenarios.
Shape an Innovative VR Platform: Test and contribute to the development of cutting-edge immersive technology.
Collaborate with Peers: Engage with professionals and thought leaders to co-create innovative approaches to learning.
Practicalities
Target audience: this workshop is open to everyone, regardless of background or experience. Date: 18-19 February Location: KU Leuven Agora Learning Center (online participation also possible) Application deadline: 2 February
To see full details about the IMPULSE project workshop, including the required application procedure, please visit the event webpage.
On February 12 and from February 18 to 20, 2025, the AI4Culture Hackathon will see professionals, institutions and passionate individuals from the fields of AI, digital humanities, and cultural heritage teaming up to transform how shared cultural heritage is preserved, enriched, and interacted with.
The hackathon is designed to guide the participants to learn more about the AI tools available on the AI4Culture platform, trying them first-hand using unique cultural heritage datasets. Europeana, the treasure trove of European digital cultural heritage hosting over 50 million digital items, will be the primary repository for datasets. On the opening day, February 12, participants will be introduced to Europeana’s platform, explore curated collections, and get full access to their vast data via the Europeana API. This session will feature inspiring challenges designed to ignite innovative AI applications.
Participants will have the opportunity to explore five AI tools developed as part of the AI4Culture project. These tools include features such as AI-powered solutions for automatically generating multilingual subtitles for audiovisual content, applying OCR, transcription, and automated data enrichment techniques to enhance the quality and accessibility of digital collections, and detecting objects and other features in photos and videos.
Program
12 February 2025 10:00 – 18:00 CET | Irish College, Leuven Hackathon Opening Day: Introduction to tools, data, and participants
13 – 17 February 2025 Online/Onsite Independent team work
18 – 20 February 2025 Collaborative Work on Campus (Optional) Collaborative space available at KU Leuven, Campus Arenberg
20 February 2025 15:00 – 19:00 CET | KU Leuven, Campus Arenberg, Heverlee Hackathon Closing Day Team presentations, awards ceremony and reception
Practicalities
Target audience: The initiative seeks individuals with diverse backgrounds and complementary skills, whether technical, creative, or interpersonal. While prior hackathon experience is advantageous, motivation is the primary consideration. Date: 12 February – 20 February Location: KU Leuven campus, Leuven (various locations) Application deadline: 10 February
To see full details about the AI4Culture Hackathon, including the required application procedure, please visit the event webpage.
Have you been meaning to set up an appointment to ask about research data management for your project, an aspect of your research workflow, or a specific DH tool or method? Visit the DH@rts drop-in sessions and we will help you on the spot! No need to make an appointment!
The sessions are designed to support researchers, students, and staff members in all areas of digital scholarship. The initiative is a collaboration between Artes Research, DH-support staff and researchers at the Faculty of Arts, and ICTS at the Faculty of Arts.
Some areas we can help you with:
Getting started with Zotero
Optimizing Zotero use with an existing Zotero library
Helping with DH tools or methods for your specific research questions including
Relational databases
Social network analysis
Text analysis
…
Providing resources for various DH and RDM tools
Advice on DMPs and Research Data Management in general
Advice on scholarly communication
Advice on Lirias
… and much more!
Don’t have a question about any of the above but want to learn more about DH? No problem! Come and use our space for co-working! It’s a great moment to develop digital skills by starting a Programming Historian tutorial, for instance!
Everyone is welcome to attend, you do not need to register!
Stop by on one of the following dates and we will be glad to help you:
27/02/2025: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 0.24, Erasmushuis
27/03/2025: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 0.24, Erasmushuis
17/04/2025: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 0.24, Erasmushuis
13/05/2025: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 0.24, Erasmushuis
26/06/2025: 14:00h -16:00h, Het Salon LETT 0.24, Erasmushuis
Every academic year, the HDYDI (How Do You Do It?) event on research data workflows signals the start of the Digital Scholarship Module. Through a series of sessions and (mini-)workshops, Artes Research aims to guide students through the complexities of scholarship in the digital age, from Open Science to Research Data Management and beyond. At the HDYDI kick-off event, three researchers from the Faculty of Arts lift the curtain on their own research workflow and offer a behind-the-scenes look at the ways in which they approach their research, the data they engage with, and the tools they use in doing so. The goal of this session is to provide examples of more advanced workflows for the first-year PhD researchers as they embark on their own research journey. Hopefully this recap of the session can spark some inspiration for you!
Seb Verlinden – Using Obsidian as a note-taking tool for literature
The first speaker, Seb Verlinden, is a second-year PhD candidate in medieval history. Under the supervision of Maïka De Keyzer and Bart Vanmontfort, Seb is studying the long-term landscape changes – mainly in the form of gradual desertification – that characterize the Campine region, one of the driest areas in Belgium. Particular focus is on the impact of eighteenth-century drainage in the region.
Seb’s talk concerns an issue that all researchers can relate to, regardless of the relative complexity of their project – that of taking notes. It is true, as Seb highlights, that every researcher has their own unique workflow, often relying on a combination of tools that makes sense for them (in his case, QGIS, FileMaker Pro, MAXQDA, and spreadsheet software). But at the heart of any research process is the need to organize one’s thoughts, and this is where note-taking apps can make a real difference. So, what are some of the options out there?
Zotero is a possible solution – one we’ve already discussed elsewhere on this blog. As a reference manager first and foremost, Zotero has the potential to become a researcher’s living library, a knowledge base covering all relevant literature. It also has great capabilities for annotating PDFs, especially with its new 7.0 update. What you’re missing in the context of note-taking, however, is the big picture. Seb aptly points out that using Zotero to make notes is like putting post-its in books: you have no real overarching structure, and no way to easily link notes across books.
Other tools are likewise flawed. Lots of researchers use Microsoft Word to take notes, even though it is primarily tailored to mid-length longform text. As a result, it is easy to lose track of notes, unless you’re willing to navigate multiple files; and it tends to grow slow and cumbersome, since it is occupied with layout. It is, simply put, unintuitive for this purpose.
This is why Seb puts forward another solution, one that he believes to be faster, better automated, and easier to use: Obsidian. A widely supported and free tool, Obsidian does have its advantages: in contrast to both Microsoft Word and Zotero, it uses open-source file formats (.md or Markdown files, written in an accessible markup language) and it is full-text searchable and provides a structured overview of notes. Moreover, it offers a versatile workspace, allowing you to go as simple or as complex as you like – especially with the addition of supported plugins. One such plugin, in fact, allows your Obsidian environment to easily interoperate with your Zotero library (including references, bibliographies, and PDF annotations), which is particularly useful.
Seb ends his talk by highlighting another key benefit in using Obsidian. By introducing links in your notes, it is possible to cross-reference other notes within your system with minimal user effort; and through the use of tags, you can generate another layer of structure. Obsidian then uses this information to visualize the relations between your different notes, automatically creating a network of clusters that correspond to certain topics of interest. This way, it expands the possibilities of the data without the need for the researcher to make any real effort – a great reason to think about using Obsidian for your own note-taking needs!
Laura Soffiantini – Managing linguistic and historical data. A PhD workflow using FileMaker
Laura Soffiantini is the second speaker: as a PhD researcher at the Cultural Studies Research Group, she is currently analyzing the geographical representation of Greece in Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis Historia. With the help of her supervisor Margherita Fantoli, Laura intends to shed new light on the way in which Greece was perceived in Flavian-era Rome. In order to do so, she has to manage a varied mix of linked data – textual, linguistic, and historical – as part of her daily routine.
Grappling with 37 books of a classical encyclopedia, and dealing with data in different formats and with different qualities (actual text, numeric coordinates, symbols, etc.), Laura realized the importance of proper Research Data Management. It enables aggregating, manipulating, analyzing, and comparing your data more efficiently throughout – and even beyond – the research process. Indeed, a challenge faced by many researchers is the retrieval of data collected or processed at an earlier time, with the aim of relating it to “new” data. In this context, Laura provides a look at her own research workflow.
The primary strategy in managing your data, she remarks, is to structure it. By adding structure to your data, you can parse it more easily and return to it without issues, even in later phases of your project. Software like Obsidian is indispensable for this purpose, but it’s also good to think about using tabular formats like .csv (an open plain text format) as a way to organize your data. A useful tool put forward here is pandas, a Python library designed to help manage and analyze data derived from such .csv files. That might sound technical, but Laura ensures us that – even if you have no background in programming – pandas is a very accessible and convenient tool in handling tabular files.
Having thought about what data she worked with (an essential step for every researcher), Laura adopted an initial workflow in three parts. She first started out with .json files containing Pliny’s text, which she converted into tabular .csv files, adding data related to the lemmatization of the corpus, part-of-speech tagging, and references to book and chapter positions. Subsequently, she thought about grouping this data into different categories, which she assigned to different columns – such that there is a column titled “book_chapter”, one titled “lemma”, and so on. Finally, Laura assigned identifiers to the information contained in these files; she explains she wasn’t aware of the importance of such identifiers at the start of the project, but now realizes they form a crucial part of keeping tabular data.
As a result, Laura ended up with multiple .csv files, which she then related to each other using FileMaker (with the expert assistance of Mark Depauw and Tom Gheldof). One table, for instance, contains a list of all the Latin words used (the tokens, e.g. urbs) alongside their identifier, book number, lemma, and possible identifier linked to the Trismegistos database of ancient texts. Another contains the lemma along with its part-of-speech tag (e.g. proper noun) and meaning (e.g. “city”). By linking the different files through the use of identifiers – the keys to the data – Laura made a relational database easily managed and organized through FileMaker. The resulting dataset is at the core of her research project.
The main takeaway Laura wants to leave us with is that it is important to create an environment in which you can efficiently collect, store, manipulate, and analyze your data. This should not come at the cost of traditional approaches and methodologies – in fact, you can add to them to create a better workflow as a whole!
Zakaria El Houbba – Obsidian as part of the research workflow
The third and final speaker is Zakaria El Houbba, third-year PhD candidate in Arabic Studies. Zakaria’s project, supervised by Arjan Post, focuses on the pre-modern relation between Islamic jurisprudence and Sufism, and in particular on the way in which these two strands are united in the figure of Aḥmad Zarrūq. In doing so, the research aims to come to a theory of applied legal epistemology in Zarrūq’s Sufism.
By discussing his own workflow in detail, Zakaria intends to highlight a number of key takeaways revolving around the idea of the “second brain”. Because we are so deeply involved with knowledge gathering on a daily basis, and constantly receive input from various sources (whether academic or not), we run the risk of being overwhelmed by a flood of information. When you use software to carry that burden for you, you can save your own brainpower for actual critical thinking rather than secondary tasks like categorizing information. This way, you’re effectively constructing what’s referred to as a second brain.
In this context, Zakaria also makes use of Obsidian, though he approaches it from a very different angle than Seb. Zakaria doesn’t actually enter all of his notes into Obsidian – he first uses an app like Microsoft OneNote as a “vault” to record random, non-processed thoughts, which he periodically goes through to think about how they fit in his project. He then sorts these thoughts and puts them in corresponding folders (relating to certain projects, classes, issues, etc.) in order to process them properly in Obsidian. Zakaria emphasizes that it’s fine to keep it simple and take it slow, focusing on what you specifically need from the note-taking environment so as not to get overwhelmed by all the options and information.
There are more tools Zakaria uses in his workflow – in fact, he says, there is a constant conversation between himself, Obsidian, Zotero, and ChatGPT. He uses Zotero to make notes and highlight text when reading articles, which he imports into Obsidian and categorizes using tags. Afterwards, he copies those highlights from Obsidian into ChatGPT, asking it to take up the role of copy editor and summarize the text. The resulting summary, which he critically revises, is then given a place in Obsidian once again.
Next to the powerful visualization capabilities discussed by Seb, Zakaria explains that Obsidian can also be used to create subpages within notes to explain terms and concepts, provide brief biographies of important figures, and so on. These “subnotes” can be linked back to in other notes as well, resulting in a kind of personalized Wikipedia for your research topic. This can also be helpful when you’re following classes on a certain topic or revising your own teaching material!
Finally, speaking of teaching material, Zakaria points us to a couple of helpful AI tools that can be used to process video files, such as recorded lectures or talks – whether you attended them or gave them yourself. One such tool is NoteGPT, which essentially functions as a transcriber and summarizer of recordings. You can revise and copy the resulting transcriptions and summaries into Obsidian as well, further expanding the scope of your second brain. Brisk Teaching serves a similar purpose as NoteGPT, but can also be used to turn a video into a PowerPoint presentation, which can be very convenient and time-saving. By thus constructing a workflow, gradually accumulating relevant information through different tools, it becomes much easier to manage your research.
The workflows of the presenters reveal both similarities and differences, but there’s one thing all three can agree on – what’s important is to find a workflow that works for you. To that end, take inspiration from some of the tools and processes described here, but always make sure they support your specific research methods. This was emphasized in the questions as well: don’t feel pressured to adopt a tool like Obsidian, but try it out and see if it accommodates your needs. Who knows, you might uncover a more efficient workflow or see your data from a new perspective.
Happy holidays from the Artes Research team, and may your data be blessed in the year to come!
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