Three proposals at the Faculty of Humanities were awarded funding to help fund a data scientist or engineer:
- Data Engineer in Cultural Data Collection and Linking
In the humanities, scholars often work with existing data hosted at cultural heritage institutions, such as galleries, archives, libraries, and museums (GLAM). The Data Engineer in Cultural Data Collection and Linking will work on novel integration strategies for humanities data from GLAM as well as new cultural sources such as social media. They will also work on enhancing the humanities data communities around UvA and in the Amsterdam GLAM ecosystem by developing new partnerships and working on best practices for open humanities data.
- Data Scientist in Ethical Data-Driven Research
There is a growing desire in the data-driven research community to go deeper into questions of the ethical position of data-driven research within society. The Data Scientist in Ethical Data-Driven Research will add knowledge to DSC on ethical questions around human collections (big and small) as well as the structuring and analysis of data. They will work on questions such as navigating Terms of Services, help with counsel and provide mediation vis-à-vis the large platform companies. But they will also work on ‘democratising’ data science approaches beyond traditional social, ethnic and gender boundaries.
- Data Scientist in Cultural Analytics
Cultural Analytics is a new approach within the humanities to analyse text and multimedia collections with advanced computational methods in order to advance (digital) culture studies. The Data Scientist in Cultural Analytics will work to advance data science and machine learning approaches for the study of culture. The person will also be embedded in efforts to advance teaching in these fields.
About the Accelerate Programme
The DSC aims to enhance the university’s research by developing, sharing and applying data science methods and technologies. Through its Accelerate Programme, the DSC will support faculties as they pursue data driven research and stimulate the hiring of data scientists and engineers. The programme is not only intended to facilitate knowledge exchange throughout the university, but also incentivise the integration of these roles into existing research activity.