Gale and Bodleian Libraries Announce New Humanities Fellowships

Image Description: A picture of the top of the Radcliffe Camera. 

The Bodleian Libraries and Gale, a Cengage Company, have joined forces to offer three new digital humanities fellowships called The Gale Scholar Asia Pacific, Digital Humanities Oxford Fellowships program.

This exciting opportunity “will allow three scholars a three-month period of research into a digital humanities related topic at the University of Oxford, using the Centre for Digital Scholarship of the Bodleian Libraries”.

Speaking from the Bodleian Libraries’ perspective, librarian, Richard Ovendon, stated that: “Welcoming our first cohort of Gale Fellows is tremendously exciting. They are a group of leading researchers and academics who will advance their respective fields through exploring new forms of scholarship using digital techniques and approaches”.

The three scholars awarded the prestigious fellowships in 2021/2022 are: Dr. Tuo Chen, Dr. Hsuan-Ying Tu, and Dr. Mark Byron. Their projects range from examining Chinese Christian books to analysing complex papers left by Elizabethan ‘spymaster’ Francis Walsingham and even opening complex manuscripts to a wider readership through building digital ‘clues’ and pathways, among other topics.

New Research Methods

Richard Ovendon also noted that: “The Bodleian Libraries are excited at the prospect of working with these three talented individuals as they pursue ambitious projects that will advance our understanding of the humanities, based on our rich holdings of primary sources in both physical and digital form.”

According to Gale and the Bodleian Libraries, the goal of the program is to “encourage emerging digital humanities scholarship in the Asia Pacific region and progress the contribution of non-Western and regional perspectives in the field of digital humanities research”.

Speaking from Gale’s point of view, Terry Robinson, senior vice president and managing director of Gale International, said that, “we are thrilled at sponsoring these fellowships and know these three scholars will enjoy a rich experience at the University of Oxford”.

According to the Bodleian Libraries and Gale, “the fellows will start their new posts at the University of Oxford between October 2021 and May 2022. They will be expected to present their work at TORCH (The Oxford Centre for Research in the Humanities) and can propose to develop a digital resource or other innovative output during their time at Oxford”.

To learn more about the fellowship projects, visit the Digital Humanities Oxford Fellowships webpage.

Image Credit: Iona Shen