Call for sessions / papers
We invite contributions that address questions such as (but not limited to):
- Historical case studies and comparisons
- Research that applies digital or even AI techniques to Belgian or comparative historical sources
- Comparative analyses between “classical” and “AI-supported” interpretations and how these models affect research workflows
- Case studies in which digital tools contribute to the (re)discovery of forgotten actors, networks, or perspectives.
- Archives, heritage, and digitalisation
- Application of digital tools in the archive, library, and museum sector: automatic description, image recognition, transcription, or semantic linking of collections.
- Reflections on the collaboration between heritage institutions, universities, and technology teams, e.g. in public history, heritage presentation, and crowdsourcing initiatives.
- Ethical and practical challenges surrounding copyright, privacy, or algorithmic bias in heritage data.
- Education and public history pedagogies
- Integration of digital tools in higher education: opportunities and risks for historical literacy.
- Digital tools in public history and outreach: digital exhibitions, interactive reconstructions, or AI-generated narratives.
- Critical pedagogical approaches to distinguish between source, interpretation, and algorithm
- Audience, reliability, and societal impact
- Methodological, ethical/environmental, and epistemological pitfalls of using AI in historical research (e.g. the impact on theory, methodology, historiography).
- Questions of transparency, reproducibility, and verification with automated interpretation and the redistribution of knowledge authority: who ‘reads’ the past, and who programs the models?
- Critical assessment of biases and distortions when using digital tools, e.g. data selection, algorithmic decisions, or historical inequalities.
Call for workshops
To survey the state of the field and stimulate the exchange of good practices, we also reserve one timeslot for three workshops on the use of digital tools in (historical) research. We invite workshops that dive into the application of digital methods, such as text analysis, image recognition, language learning or machine learning techniques, and apply it to Belgian historical and archival research and teaching. We are specifically looking for sessions that deal with (o.a.):
- How can AI tools help with text analysis, entity recognition, named entity linking, pattern detection (e.g., in newspapers, archives, social media), or data access?
- Can such AI-based workflows be linked to existing digital humanities standards (e.g., TEI, IIIF, Linked Open Data)?
- How can historians, archivists, and educators harness digital tools for producing better, more intelligible histories, grant proposals, and public/educational output?
- How to integrate and evaluate generative tools responsibly into research training and teaching practices?
We particularly encourage hands-on workshops or demonstrations that explore how AI and digital methods can be applied concretely to (Belgian) historical and archival research and teaching practices. These sessions may include tool demonstrations, dataset walk-throughs, or collaborative exercises.
Practical
- Deadline for proposals: 1 February 2026
- Acceptance of proposal: End of February 2026
- Please send your proposals by e-mail
Proposals may be composed of traditional panels (3 to 4 presentations of 15 minutes) or workshops and other innovative formats (demonstrations, interactive sessions of maximum one hour). You are free to submit a broader panel proposal or an individual paper/workshop. The length of the proposals should be around 300–500 words, clearly stating the research objective, methodology, expected contribution, and central questions. Proposals in Dutch, French, or English are accepted. Early-career researchers and graduate students are particularly encouraged to submit.