One Position for a Digital Humanities Research Associate 65-70%, Starting date: as soon as possible

One Position for a Digital Humanities Research Associate


The selected candidate will be in charge of the digital humanities at the unit “Middle East and Muslim Societies,” and in particular support the team of these projects: 1. The SNSF Starting Grant Project “TraIL: Tracing Labour in Islamicate Legal Traditions”, led by Prof. Dr Serena Tolino 2. The SNSF Starting Grant Project “Medieval and Early Modern Mediterranean Mathematics (MediMath)”, led by Prof. Dr Eleonora Sammarchi; and 3. the team of the SNSF-DFG financed project “The Flow: From Deep-Learning to Digital Analysis and their Role in the Humanities Creating, Evaluating, and Critiquing Workflows for Historical Corpora,” a cooperation between the University of Bern, the University of Bielefeld, and the Research Center for Hanseatic History.

TraIL aims at providing cutting-edge research on the legal history of labour in Islamicate societies, at diversifying our understanding of labour through textual and digital methods of analysis, and at producing a database on labour in Islamic legal sources. MediMath aims at investigating medieval and early modern mathematical texts within the Mediterranean world, and will create a multi-language lexicography. The Flow aims at developing workflows and digital tools for the automatic and semi-automatic processing of sources from Ottoman Palestine, England, the Hanseatic region and Bern.

The position is for two years with possibility of extension for two more years and a working percentage of 65-70% depending on the qualifications. An increase of the working percentage is possible depending on fundings.

The responsibilities of the research associate are as follows:
• Creating Ground Truth and Training of handwritten text recognition models for Arabic
• Support in the annotation of the Arabic manuscripts (named entities, topics, etc.)
• Digital edition of relevant manuscripts
• Development of the TraIL project database
• Development of a multi-language digital lexicography for MediMath
• Organization of training events on Islamicate Digital Humanities for the projects' members
• Participation to academic conferences and publications in scientific journals
• Close collaboration with the three project teams and with the teams of the involved institutions
• Participation to project meetings and research colloquia
• Logistical support in the organization of activities, workshops and conferences
• Participation in the projects' communication strategy
• Building academic networks with international colleagues who work on Islamicate digital humanities

We are looking for a motivated candidate who can demonstrate a strong commitment, the potential to produce research of international standard, and robust methodological skills. Candidates should be reliable, capable of working both independently and collaboratively, and exhibit excellent prioritization and collegiality skills. An active willingness to contribute to a supportive and inclusive work environment is essential.

Candidates must have at least an MA or a comparable track record in Digital Humanities or Data Science (with proven ability to work with historical Arabic sources), or in Islamic, Arabic, and/or Mediterranean Studies (with demonstrated expertise in Digital Humanities).

Fluency in both written and spoken English, advanced proficiency in Arabic, and familiarity with Latin are essential. Knowledge of Ottoman Turkish, prior experience with legal sources, and/or a PhD would be an asset but are not required.

The position is based in the Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies (SACS), within the unit “Middle East and Muslim Societies,” and in close cooperation with Prof. Dr Tobias Hodel (Digital Humanities, Walter Benjamin Kolleg). The position is limited to a maximum of four years, and relocation to Bern is expected.

We offer an enriching experience as part of an international and dynamic research team with excellent facilities and working conditions adhering to cantonal standards. You will join a supportive, collegial environment with flexible working arrangements. The University of Bern is dedicated to the principles of equality and diversity. We strongly encourage applications from individuals with migration background, LGBTIQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, People of Colour, and those from minority backgrounds in the Swiss context.

Applications should include:
• A cover letter explaining your interest in the position
• A copy of relevant degree certificates and a detailed academic transcript
• A detailed CV
The documents should be submitted as a single file in PDF format. The deadline for applications is 15 October 2024 (midnight CEST). Please send your applications to Write an email with the subject line: Digital Humanities Research Associate.
If you are invited to an interview, you will be asked to provide contact details for two references and a description of a previous project. Interviews will take place in November via Zoom.