New Scholars Seminar in Digital Humanities

June 29-30th, 2015 at the University of Western Sydney

CHCI, centerNet and UWS are collaborating to organize a pre-conference seminar for new scholars interested in the digital humanities. They have arranged for support for up to 10 scholars from outside Australia and 5 scholars resident in Australia to help with the costs of transportation and accommodation to the seminar in Sydney. An additional 10 bursaries are available under a separate scheme for research students from the University of Western Sydney.

What is the New Scholars Seminar?
The NSS is a two-day unconference event on Monday and Tuesday, June 29th and 30th connected with public events on Building Communities and Networks in the Humanities. The events are for new scholars to meet and develop research collaborations in the digital humanities. The agenda for the unconference events will be set by the participants. The events are timed to take place before DH 2015 (dh2015.org) at the University of Western Sydney in Sydney, Australia.

Who would participate?
For the purposes of this seminar a "new scholar" is defined as someone who is either a graduate student or someone who has received their PhD within the last 5 years (or longer if a case is made for career interruption). Postdoctoral fellows and people in alternative academic positions are welcome to apply.

Participation will be by reviewed application and accommodation/travel support will be limited to 15 people, including 10 affiliated with CHCI and 5 participants from Australia.

How does one apply?
Applications are due by April 15. Applications include i) a Statement of Research that outlines your research interests in digital humanities; ii) a letter of support from a CHCI centre/institute director (not required for Australian applicants), including a statement specifying the matching funds the centre will offer to supplement the $1,250 combined CHCI and centerNet contributions toward the applicant’s trip; and iii) a short two-page CV. Applications should be sent to the Kule Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Alberta.

What sort of support will be provided?
CHCI and centerNet have negotiated a support package for participants, encouraging matching support from the applicant’s home institution.

  • CHCI will provide $1,000 USD in support for up to 10 participants outside Australia who are sponsored by CHCI institutes. centerNet will provide a further $250 USD in support for these participants.
  • CHCI will provide $250 USD in support for up to 5 participants resident in Australia. Preference will be given to those affiliated with a centre that is a member of the Australasian Consortium of Humanities Research Centres (ACHRC).
  • Students from UWS should apply to the UWS bursary scheme, which will be internally advertised.
  • The sponsoring CHCI institutes are expected to provide matching support to the applicants if they are accepted.
  • Successful applicants will be provided with catering during the 2-day seminar.
  • Successful applicants will also be provided with a conference registration subsidy of $100 per new scholar (reducing the cost to $295 AUD, which includes full conference catering).

The Kule Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Alberta is organizing this seminar on behalf of CHCI and centerNet. Rachel Hendery (Senior Lecturer in Digital Humanities, UWS) and Geoffrey Rockwell (Director, Kule Institute for Advanced Study, University of Alberta, Canada) will convene the New Scholars Seminar.

New Scholars Seminar Programme:
The programme for the seminar will be developed by the participants once accepted and coordinated by the Kule Institute for Advanced Study. The idea is to empower new scholars to develop their own research directions and collaborations. There will therefore be two phases:

  1. Before the on-site portion of the Seminar there will be an online component. Participants will share their Statements and negotiate what will happen during the seminar. We expect there will be clusters of research interests that emerge which can form the intellectual backbone of the Seminar. KIAS will coordinate an online conversation that will encourage leadership to emerge from within the group so that the actual structure of the on-site days will be primarily organized by the participants.
  2. The on-site portion of the Seminar will take place over two days before the DH2015 conference (29 and 30 June). The program will include short presentations by participants addressing issues identified in online discussion and unconference activities. Also included will be a panel of senior researchers from the DH community discussing careers in the digital humanities and an opportunity to talk with these researchers in small groups.

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