The 12th European Summer University in Digital Humanities “Culture & Technology” (ESU), organised by the University of Leipzig, was held in person in Leipzig, Germany on August 2nd – August 12th. This was the first face to face event after the pandemic and the organisers, Prof. Dr. Elisabeth Burr, Institut für Romanistik, and her team, together with the Forum Digital Humanities Leipzig (FDHL), were extremely happy to welcome again everyone in person.
The Summer University followed a similar structure to previous events: 11 intensive days of workshops, lectures and poster sessions, but also community building activities and visits to museums and libraries. In order to provide a theoretical and historical framework for the intensive workshops and project presentations, the programme of the event also included six public lectures that were open not only to the participants of the Summer University but also to other academics, students and the public at large, given by renowned specialists in Digital Humanities. These public lectures were given throughout the duration of the Summer University by Amalia S. Levi (HeritEdge Connection), Stefania Gallini (Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Columbia), Lauren Tilton (University of Richmond, USA), Quinn Dombrowski (Stanford University, USA) & Sebastian Majstorovic (Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage, Austria), Andrey Volodin (Moscow Lomonosov University, Russian Federation) and Emmanuel Ngue Um (Université de Yaoundé I, Cameroun).
Fellowships awarded to 9 early career researchers
As in previous years, DARIAH-EU was one of the sponsors of the European Summer University in Digital Humanities granting 9 tuition fellowships to doctoral students and early career researchers from 7 countries across Europe and beyond to cover their participation fees. Overall, DARIAH-EU funded 6 female and 3 male early career researchers from 7 countries.
The funded participants reported back highlighting their experiences from participating in the Summer University, the knowledge they acquired from following the lectures and workshops but also how much they enjoyed all the museum visits and excursions planned on the side of the lectures.
European Summer University in Leipzig is in many senses a unique place to study Digital Humanities, not only in terms of the range of workshops it offers and the highest quality of its organisation but first and foremost in terms of an extraordinary atmosphere that it creates among its participants. This is a place where intellectual exchange, networking, and friendships among colleagues are encouraged at every point of one’s participation. Rich communal life that is created by means of shared lunches and dinners, welcoming coffee breaks, and abundant cultural programme, enables one to build invaluable long-term professional relations.
Elena Lichmanova, United Kingdom
It is hard to say what is the most valuable part of the ESU DH – the enormous amount of information and know-how one acquires in it or the community one becomes part of. Perhaps, it is fair to say that both are equally important, because people get connected through collaborative training and learning and a lot of knowledge gets passed through informal conversations during numerous coffee-breaks, communal dinners and social activities. The superb management of the ESU DH by Elisabeth Burr and her team ensures that already in a week people feel like they have known each other for ages, and these connections, a value in itself, will certainly result in future collaborations in DH and beyond. Thank you DARIAH-EU for making this possible!
Maija Spurina, Latvia
I count myself privileged not only to have been one of the participants of the 12th European Summer University in Digital Humanities “Culture & Technology”, but also one of the lucky winners of the DARIAH-EU scholarship. It was a dream I never imagined will come to reality. Hence, I express my immense heartfelt gratitude to the organisers of ESU DH and DARIAH-EU scholarship. I cannot but thank in no mean measure Prof. Elizabeth Bur for her professional and motherly role in organizing the summer school.
Augustine Emeka, Nigeria
One of the defining features of the Summer University in Leipzig was the multicultural background of its participants. Junior and senior scholars from across Europe, Asia, Africa, Middle East, and North and South America exchanged ideas and learned from each other, thus decentering the mainstream digital humanities discourse – traditionally focused on the English language data – and drawing attention to the questions of multilingual DH. It was fascinating to hear so many different languages being spoken just meters away from each other in the hallways of the Bibliotheca Albertina, where afternoon lectures would be given every other day.
Maciej Kurzynski, United States
You can browse through the enthusiastic reports of the funded participants here.
Read more about past ESUDH events here.
