InkCode: a DH2 Summer School for Ancient to Early Modern History and Culture
Organized by Scuola Normale Superiore in collaboration with University of California Los Angeles, Stanford University, and Sapienza Università di Roma, the school is funded by the PNRR through the MERITA, the network for talent project*.
Date: June 13-17, 2026
Location: San Miniato, PI and Florence
Total hours: 42
Max participants: 18
Language: English
Application deadline: May 20, 2026
Target audience: Undergraduate/Master’s/PhD students and early-career researchers
The Second Edition of InkCode: a DH2 Summer School for Ancient to Early Modern History and Culture will employ a blended pedagogical approach that combines theoretical presentations, hands-on technical workshops, and collaborative project development sessions.
Each afternoon will feature keynote presentations and discussions with faculty experts from the four participating institutions or other invited experts, highlighting successful applications of computational methods to pre-modern research questions.
In the mornings, experienced digital humanities practitioners will lead technical training sessions. The morning sessions will focus on:
- critical data visualization and network analysis (Nicole Coleman, Research Director for Humanities + Design at Stanford's Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis, CESTA);
- geospatial visualization techniques for historical movement (Luca Scholz, Senior Lecturer in DH at Manchester University);
- text mining and citation studies (Mikko Tolonen, Professor of DH at the University of Helsinki);
- uses of AI for humanities data wrangling and tool building (Chris Johanson; Nicole Coleman);
- Cultural heritage informatics, mapping, and digital storytelling (Marie Saldaña, Arizona University).
The afternoons will foster collaborative workshops where mixed institutional teams will apply these methods to sample datasets, developing miniature research projects that showcase the possibilities of these approaches.
Additional activities will address mapping historical phenomena, network visualizations across pre-modern contexts, and computational approaches to historical visual culture — all areas where Professors Ceserani and Johanson have significant expertise through their respective digital projects. Drawing on Professor Pastore's expertise in cross-cultural encounters and religious history in the early modern Mediterranean, participants will explore how digital methods can illuminate historical cultural exchange, conflict, and hybridization processes.
While most sessions (13 - 16 June) will take place at the Fondazione Santa Chiara in San Miniato, the final day (17 June) will be hosted at the Stanford Center in Florence. It will feature graduate participants' presentations in the morning and a final concluding roundtable in the afternoon.
Applicants must submit an application using the form no later than May 22, 2026 and attached a statement of interest letter (one page describing the field of research, current experience, and skills in DH - if applicable - and learning goals) and a CV.
In case of login or access issues, please visit the official SNS portal. Once on the homepage, navigate to the dedicated section titled 'CORSI ALTA FORMAZIONE', where you will find the specific form required for submission.
Participation in the School does not entail enrollment fees.
Admission to the school includes participation in the lectures, the educational material, lodging and lunch on the days when the course takes place.
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* MERITA, the network for talent project is the result of a collaboration between five Italian academic institutions: the Scuola Normale Superiore, the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, the Collegio Superiore dell’Università di Bologna, the Scuola Galileiana di Studi Superiori dell’Università di Padova and the Scuola Superiore di Studi Avanzati della Sapienza Università di Roma.
The MERITA project is funded within the Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza (PNRR), Missione 4 – Istruzione e Ricerca, Componente 1, Investimento 3.4 "Didattica e competenze universitarie avanzate"- "Rafforzamento delle Scuole universitarie superiori". (National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), Mission 4 – Education and Research, Component 1, Investment 3.4 "Advanced university teaching and competences" - "Enhancement of the institutions for higher education").