Fellows to Use the Centre for Digital Scholarship of the Bodleian Libraries to Access Gale Primary Sources and Gale Digital Scholar Lab to Advance Digital Humanities Research in the Asia-Pacific Region

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. and OXFORD, England, Aug. 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- To increase access to digital humanities (DH) tools and support emerging research and collaboration amongst scholars, Gale, part of Cengage Group, and Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford, announce the recipients of the second cohort of the Gale Scholar Asia Pacific, Digital Humanities Oxford Fellowships. Gale will fund the research of two scholars for three months. The fellowship seeks to support the scholars' research into a DH-related topic at the University of Oxford, using the Centre for Digital Scholarship of the Bodleian Libraries. To help foster emerging scholarship in the Asia-Pacific region, the fellows have access to the Bodleian Libraries' resources including Gale Primary Sources as well as Gale Digital Scholar Lab which provides fellows with invaluable text and data mining tools to advance their work through DH methods.

Gale and the Bodleian Libraries congratulate the following candidates, who were awarded the fellowships in the second year of the program and highlight the projects they are pursuing:

Dr. Xiurong Zhao, Renmin University of China, China

Project: The Use of GIS to Map Infectious Diseases in Victorian England seeks to find new answers about the causes of infectious diseases and their spread, and the social impacts of these diseases. By using tools from Gale Digital Scholar Lab, the project will utilize new research methods to produce disease maps to support new information and resources that are easily accessible to the public.

Dr. Terhi Nurmikko-Fuller, Australian National University, Australia 

Project: Transnational Liberalism: A Linked Data Case Study of Australian Political History will leverage data sets to answer questions about the political landscape in colonial Australia, the wider Asia-Pacific region, and the British world more generally during the mid- to late-1800's. The project provides comprehensive insight into the origins of the Liberal party, which has dominated the national government of Australia for 62 years (since WWII) and shaped the Asia-Pacific region for decades.

"I am thrilled to welcome our second group of Gale fellows to the Bodleian Libraries," said Richard Ovenden, Bodley's librarian at the University of Oxford. "We have chosen the finest researchers and academics with the intention of advancing their respective fields through access to our rich holdings and the various forms of digital scholarship employed at the Bodleian. The first group of Gale fellows were able to use Bodleian approaches and collections to significantly advance understanding of the humanities in their research areas, and we are so excited to see what we can achieve together this year."

The goal of the Gale Scholar Asia Pacific, Digital Humanities Oxford Fellowships is to encourage emerging DH scholarship in the Asia-Pacific region and progress the contribution of non-Western and regional perspectives in the field of DH research. The program increases opportunities for collaboration with other scholars to share new ideas, while providing access to critical tools to support their work. Fellows will become short-term visiting fellows at the University's Jesus College to allow them access to a range of facilities and resources during their stay.

"We are pleased to continue sponsoring fellowships at the Bodleian Libraries this year. We hope the second-year cohort derives as much value from their stay at Oxford as the first-year cohort," said Terry Robinson, senior vice president for Gale Global Academic. "Having access to University of Oxford's world-class facilities, resources and people will undoubtedly enrich their understanding and use of digital scholarship in their projects. We also hope that access to Gale Digital Scholar Lab and Gale Primary Sources at the Bodleian will help them push the boundaries of their research and bring it to the attention of a global audience."

The fellows will start the program at the University of Oxford in October 2022 and complete it in June 2023.

Gale has been at the forefront of supporting digital scholarship for many years. Gale Digital Scholar Lab was created to address common challenges researchers and scholars face when analyzing large sets of archives. In offering fellowships to scholars in multiple disciplines, Gale is increasing access to text and data mining tools and furthering opportunities in both research and teaching. In June, Gale also announced fellowships to support emerging LGBTQ+ research.

For more information on Gale Scholar Asia Pacific, Digital Humanities Oxford Fellowships, visit its webpage.  

Cengage Group, an education technology company serving millions of learners in 165 countries, advances the way students learn through quality, digital experiences. The company currently serves the K-12, higher education, professional, library, English language teaching and workforce training markets worldwide. Gale, part of Cengage Group, provides libraries with original and curated content, as well as the modern research tools and technology that are crucial in connecting libraries to learning, and learners to libraries. For more than 65 years, Gale has partnered with libraries around the world to empower the discovery of knowledge and insights - where, when and how people need it. Gale has 500 employees globally with its main operations in Farmington Hills, Michigan. For more information, please visit www.gale.com.

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The Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford is the largest university library system in the United Kingdom. It includes the principal University library - the Bodleian Library - which has been a legal deposit library for 400 years; as well as 26 libraries across Oxford including major research libraries and faculty, department and institute libraries. Together, the Libraries hold more than 13 million printed items, over 80,000 e-journals and outstanding special collections including rare books and manuscripts, classical papyri, maps, music, art and printed ephemera. Members of the public can explore the collections via the Bodleian's online image portal at digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk or by visiting the exhibition galleries in the Bodleian's Weston Library. For more information, visit www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk. Follow the Bodleian Libraries on Twitter and Instagram: @bodleianlibs.

Media Contacts:

Kayla Siefker, Gale, part of Cengage Group

248-378-3376

[email protected] 

Rachel Smith, The Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford

+44 7718 118141

[email protected]  

SOURCE Gale, part of Cengage Group