About DHS

Stockholm University’s DHS aims to act as the gathering spot for researchers interested in digital human sciences. The DHS working group members are researchers from various departments. The chosen name, “digital human sciences”, reflects our broad approach – to include the humanities, social sciences and law.

Our aim is to create and sustain a network for cooperation, information exchange and development of research activities within digital human sciences at Stockholm University. We also collaborate with similar university initiatives at the national and international level.

DHS organises workshops and conferences to which we also invite external researchers as presenters and participants. In 2021, we published an anthology on digital human sciences. 

Find the anthology: Digital Human Sciences. New objects – New Approaches

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What research is included in DHS?

Researchers within DHS are interested in the history of the internet, virtual museums and digitised cultural heritage, discussion in social media concerning social phenomena, AI applications, for example in healthcare or the legal system, and the social use of computer games – just to name a few topics. DHS also encompasses the use of special digital tools, such as text analysis tools, to conduct digital human sciences research.

Definition of DHS

Digital human sciences (DHS) concerns the cross-disciplinary study of digital artefacts and environments and their implications on humans and society. This includes amongst others:

• Human sciences studies of actors and their role in the digital society
• Social and legal aspects including issues of responsibility, accountability and ethics
• Interactions between humans in digital systems and between humans and digital entities

This definition has evolved over time as part of the DHS project. The DHS working group is of the opinion that all three faculties within the Human Sciences area at Stockholm University should be clearly connected to the DHS activities. At the same time, we aim to go beyond the strong focus on digital tools characterising traditional digital humanities.

DHS is a part of Huminfra

Digital human sciences (DHS) at Stockholm University is one of the nodes of Huminfra. Huminfra is a Swedish national infrastructure supporting digital and experimental research in the Humanities by providing users with a single entry point for finding existing Swedish materials and research tools, as well as developing national method courses. Huminfra is a consortium consisting of 12 nodes across 11 universities and organisations, coordinated by Lund University Humanities Lab. The web-based information platform huminfra.se compiles and links to Swedish digital/e-scientific data sets, tools, expertise and educational opportunities and makes these easily identifiable and accessible.

Visit Huminfra