What you will be doing

The mass scale digitization of sources provides the tantalising possibility of studying complex concepts and entities over long periods of time, across thousands or even millions of sources, and from a myriad of perspectives. However, automated methods for analysing these "big data" are inadequate for complex concepts because they have not confronted the fundamental challenges of identity (i.e. what are they exactly and how are they perceived), change (i.e. how have they evolved over time) and the long tail (i.e. what low-frequent contexts do they connect to). The ERC-funded TRIFECTA project will combine language technology and semantic web research to create a database that can be used to explore the cultural and societal contexts of contentious entities and concepts in the domain of maritime history.

Tracing Contentious Entities and Concepts in Maritime History. In this sub-project, you and the Ph.D. candidate will develop technology to identify people, products traded and other concepts related to the maritime domain from historical resources, as well as analyse the discourse around maritime history have changed over time. On the digital methodological strand, this sub-project will study the impact of digital processing tools on the hermeneutical practice of historical research. For more information about the project, see: https://trifecta.dhlab.nl

The team
You will be working in the Digital Humanities Lab, a research group at KNAW Humanities Cluster in Amsterdam. DHLab investigates and develops innovative, data-driven, and computationally strong methods for humanities research. We develop computational methods for connecting collections and resources, computational heuristics and tool criticism, and we aim to bridge qualitative and quantitative methods. The team publishes in diverse outlets such as Computational Humanities Research, Digital Humanities Quarterly, Language Resources and Evaluation Conference, Digital Humanities Benelux, and the Extended Semantic Web Conference.

During the project, you will be working in a multidisciplinary research environment. You will be co-supervising the Ph.D. candidate on the project and have the opportunity to (further) build an international profile in the digital humanities field.

Your workplace
Our offices are located in a historical building in downtown Amsterdam. Researchers work together in projects and a shared office space and can choose to spend part of their time at home. DHLab aims to be an open and inquisitive, safe work environment where your input counts, not your job title. We value open conversations about pros and cons of a particular idea and approach based on content, not status.

Requirements

What you will be contributing

• You will bring an open-minded and collaborative attitude towards doing groundbreaking digital humanities research;
• You have a firm grasp on computational methods and are willing to achieve proficiency in historical research methods;
• You will need to have finished a Ph.D. in history, digital humanities, language technology, semantic web or a related field by the starting date of the project;
• Prior experience in interdisciplinary projects is a plus.

Fixed-term contract: 36 maanden.

Depending on education and experience the minimum salary is 4.492 and the maximum salary is 6.148 gross per month for a full-time appointment (scale 11 cao Nederlandse Universiteiten/KNAW). This is exclusive of 8% vacation allowance, 8.3% year-end bonus, travel allowance, internet allowance, home working allowance and pension accrual with ABP.

The KNAW offers its staff an excellent package of secondary benefits. A package that meets the different needs of employees depending on their stage of life, lifestyle or career ambitions. For example, by working an extra two hours a week, it is possible to increase the number of days off from 29 to 41 days a year (with full-time employment).

For a complete overview of the terms of employment, please refer to the web page: werken bij de KNAW.

Applying for a Certificate of Good Conduct can be part of the employment procedure.

KNAW HuC

About HuC
The KNAW Humanities Cluster stands for innovative and interdisciplinary research in the humanities and heritage sector.

KNAW Humanities Cluster is a collaboration of three KNAW institutes: Huygens Institute for the History and Culture of the Netherlands, International Institute of Social History (IISH) and Meertens Institute. In these institutes, we conduct pioneering and excellent humanities research (history, ethnology, literature, linguistics) using innovative methods in which informatics plays an important role. The business office of the KNAW Humanities Cluster supports these three institutes, as well as the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS) and the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (NIOD), in their operational management. The KNAW Humanities Cluster has placed its operational management in a central business office and has a joint department for Digital Infrastructure, a Digital Humanities Lab and NL Lab.

DHLab

You will be working in the Digital Humanities Lab, a research group at KNAW Humanities Cluster in Amsterdam. DHLab investigates and develops innovative, data-driven, and computationally strong methods for humanities research. We develop computational methods for connecting collections and resources, computational heuristics and tool criticism, and we aim to bridge qualitative and quantitative methods. The team publishes in diverse outlets such as Computational Humanities Research, Digital Humanities Quarterly, Language Resources and Evaluation Conference, Digital Humanities Benelux, and the Extended Semantic Web Conference.

During the project, you will be working in a multidisciplinary research environment. You will be co-supervising the Ph.D. candidate on the project and have the opportunity to (further) build an international profile in the digital humanities field.

Your workplace

Our offices are located in a historical building in downtown Amsterdam. Researchers work together in projects and a shared office space and can choose to spend part of their time at home. DHLab aims to be an open and inquisitive, safe work environment where your input counts, not your job title. We value open conversations about pros and cons of a particular idea and approach based on content, not status.