The Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities (DARIAH-EU) is happy to announce it has signed a new Cooperating Partnership agreement with the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca (UBB), Romania. After already being a Cooperating Partner in 2017, UBB returns to DARIAH stronger and more motivated to advance Digital Humanities in Romania and to lead the country’s efforts towards full DARIAH membership.
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. In addition to having 22 Member states, DARIAH has also established a network of Cooperating Partners in non-member countries.
Babeș-Bolyai University is a multicultural public university with three official languages (Romanian, Hungarian and German). It is the oldest University in Romania, with a tradition of academic excellency going back to 1581. With over 500 undergraduate, graduate, PhD, and non-traditional academic programs in Romanian, English, Hungarian, German, and other international languages, encompassing all major academic fields (including four different theological faculties), and multiple campuses and research sites across Romania, UBB is a highly complex and comprehensive institution with an academic community of about 50 000 people.
“We are very pleased to welcome UBB back to the DARIAH family, which represents not only a natural continuation of our common projects, such as the SSH Open Marketplace and the ESU Summer School for Digital Humanities, but also a real chance to work towards Romanian national Membership in DARIAH,” said Edward J. Gray, DARIAH’s Officer for National Coordination.
UBB is strongly attached to its essential values regarding Tradition and Excellence in research, education, and relationship with society, following its academic motto: Traditio Nostra Unacum Europae Virtutibus Splendet! As such, it became a member of the EUTOPIA University alliance and of The Guild network of European research-intensive universities.
Since 2023, the Transylvania Digital Humanities Centre (DigiHUBB) at UBB is the organiser of the European Summer University in Digital Humanities “Culture & Technology” (previously hosted by Leipzig University since 2009), one of the major events of the DH community in Europe. Apart from DigiHUBB, multiple groups from various disciplines of the arts and humanities have been connected through the newly created Digital Arts & Humanities Centre, part of a university-wide Academic Research Network of Excellence (STAR-UBB-N).
“Access to and participation in major European research infrastructures are integral components of our university’s research internationalization strategy. The DARIAH Cooperating Partnership offers our top researchers the opportunity to collaborate with their European counterparts in the Arts and Humanities, creating an open space for scientific cooperation. Additionally, it provides Babeș-Bolyai University with the chance to bring together all major research institutions, governing bodies, and funding organisations in Romania as a consortium with a wealth of human resources and data from the arts and humanities to share with the DARIAH community and beyond.” – Dr. Christian Schuster, director of DigiHUBB and the ESU-DH at Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
As part of ESU’s Summer University, to be held from July 15-July 26th this year in Cluj-Napoca and with the support of DARIAH, a DARIAH Day will be organized to demonstrate to students as well as to the Romanian community the value that European Research Infrastructures like DARIAH has to DH research.
For more information on the Cooperating Partners membership in DARIAH, their role, tasks and benefits, have a look at our detailed post here.
