DARIAH Welcomes Marmara University Center for Digital Humanities as New Cooperating Partner

Marmara University

Bridging Humanities and Technology in a Deeply Layered Cultural Context

DBB-M operates in a uniquely rich research environment. Drawing on Türkiye’s vast historical and cultural heritage -including Ottoman, Byzantine, and Islamic sources, as well as diverse manuscript, archival, architectural, and archeological traditions- the Center promotes digital methods to explore the complexities of urban, cultural, and intellectual life across centuries and regions.

The Center has developed educational programs, organized domain-specific DH workshops, and initiated collaborative projects on themes such as Ottoman Turkish automatic transcription technologies, urban and architectural heritage, endowment (waqf) studies, and AI applications in the humanities. These efforts have helped seed a growing digital humanities community in Türkiye and beyond.

“This partnership is incredibly exciting for DARIAH-EU,” said Edward Gray, DARIAH’s Officer for National Coordination. “They are spearheading a real movement to bring digital humanities into Türkiye, based on both research and pedagogy. It is important for DARIAH-EU to establish this partnership, showing how DARIAH can help enable digital humanities research infrastructure in Europe and beyond.”

Applied Digital Humanities Training, November 2023

Engagement with DARIAH and Future Contributions

As a DARIAH Cooperating Partner, DBB-M plans to contribute to multiple Working Groups, including Multilingual DH, Analyzing and Linking Biographical Data, UDigiSH, ARCHETIPO, and the DH Course Registry. Additionally, the Center proposes to initiate new Working Groups on Digital Classical Sources and Digital Gazetteers, building on their expertise in historical source typologies and geographic data modeling in Ottoman, Turkish, and Islamic contexts.

In support of DARIAH’s training and dissemination mission, DBB-M will contribute to DARIAH-Campus, submit research outputs to Transformations: A DARIAH Journal, and offer localised open-access resources for SSH Open Marketplace. The Center is also planning to organise a large-scale “DARIAH Day” in Istanbul in 2026, bringing together national stakeholders, ministries, researchers, and students to support Türkiye’s path toward full DARIAH membership.

“Joining DARIAH offers us an important platform to expand our collaborations, contribute our unique datasets, and learn from best practices across Europe,” said Assoc. Prof. Yunus Uğur, Director of the Center. “We are excited to build bridges between Türkiye’s vibrant intellectual heritage and the global digital humanities landscape.”

With this new partnership, DARIAH extends its network further into a region rich with history, cultural plurality, and digital potential. We look forward to fruitful collaborations with Marmara University and to supporting them in further shaping digital humanities infrastructure across Türkiye.

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