Frédéric Kaplan named director of Digital Humanities Institute
Frédéric Kaplan © Alain Herzog
College of Humanities (CDH) professor Frédéric Kaplan, head of the Laboratory for Digital Humanities (DHLab), has been named director of the CDH’s Digital Humanities Institute (DHI) as of October 1st, 2020.
Kaplan replaces outgoing director Sabine Süsstrunk, who has held the position since the DHI’s inception in 2015. Süsstrunk resigned from the post on September 30th, 2020 to take on her new responsibilities as President of the Swiss Science Council (SSC); a position to which she was elected by the Swiss Federal Council and which will begin on January 1, 2021.
“It was a very enriching experience and I am proud of what we have achieved,” Süsstrunk said of her tenure. “The activities by the DHI researchers and professors achieve international recognition, thus positioning EPFL at the forefront of this still relatively new research domain, and the Master of Science in Digital Humanities is slowly but surely growing and attracting more students.”
CDH Dean Béla Kapossy expressed his gratitude to Süsstrunk for her contribution to the DHI, as well as his confidence in Kaplan’s new leadership.
“Frédéric has directed the DHLab since its creation in 2012, and has greatly contributed to its positioning as a leading institution in the interdisciplinary field integrating computer sciences and social sciences and humanities. We believe the CDH and EPFL at large will significantly benefit from this appointment,” Kapossy said.
About the DHI
The DHI fosters research in digital humanities, and promotes EPFL activities with local and global perspectives via projects within the school, or in collaboration with other universities in Switzerland and around the world.
In addition to the DHLab, the DHI comprises the Digital Musicology Laboratory (DCML), led by Martin Rohrmeier; the Laboratory for Experimental Museology (eM+), headed by Sarah Kenderdine; the Laboratory for the History of Science and Technology (LHST), led by Jérôme Baudry; and the Social Computing Group, led by Daniel Gatica-Perez.
The institute also offers one of the world’s few Master of Science programs in Digital Humanities – which provides students with a comprehensive program of foundations and applications both in computer science and humanities – as well as a DH Research Seminar.