CENTAR ZA DIGITALNE HUMANISTICKE NAUKE

Their core work

The Belgrade Center for Digital Humanities builds computational tools and infrastructure for language research, literary analysis, and lexicography. They specialize in applying AI and semantic web technologies to humanities data — particularly for lesser-resourced languages in Southeast Europe. Their work bridges computer science and the humanities, creating digital resources that make literary and linguistic collections machine-readable and interconnected across European research networks.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their H2020 journey began in 2017 with DESIR, a coordination action focused on sustaining the DARIAH digital humanities network — a broad infrastructure governance role with no specific technical keywords recorded. From 2018 onward, their work became sharply more technical: ELEXIS brought deep engagement with lexicography, AI, and linked data, while CLS INFRA (from 2021) extended this into computational literary studies. The clear trend is a move from general digital humanities coordination toward specialized, technically intensive language and literary computing.

They are deepening their technical capabilities in AI-driven text analysis and literary computing, making them an increasingly valuable partner for projects combining language technology with cultural heritage data.

How they like to work

They participate exclusively as partners, never as coordinators — consistent with a specialized research center contributing domain expertise to large consortia. With 40 unique partners across 20 countries from just 3 projects, they operate in broad European networks and are clearly comfortable in large, multinational collaborations. This suggests an organization that integrates well into complex partnerships and brings specific skills rather than project management overhead.

Remarkably broad network for a small center: 40 partners across 20 countries from only 3 projects, reflecting the pan-European nature of research infrastructure initiatives. Their connections span major humanities and language technology institutions across the EU.

What sets them apart

They are one of very few digital humanities centers in Serbia and the Western Balkans with sustained EU research infrastructure participation. This gives them a dual advantage: deep expertise in lesser-resourced South Slavic languages that larger Western European labs lack, combined with established integration into core EU digital humanities networks like DARIAH, ELEXIS, and CLS INFRA. For any consortium needing Balkan language coverage or a Serbian research partner in humanities computing, they are a natural first choice.

Highlights from their portfolio

• ELEXIS
  Their largest funded project (EUR 294,336), building the European Lexicographic Infrastructure — a flagship effort connecting dictionaries and language resources across Europe using AI and linked data.
• CLS INFRA
  Their most recent project (2021-2025), marking a strategic expansion into computational literary studies and positioning them at the intersection of NLP and literary research.