UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

Their core work

The University of London conducts advanced humanities research with a strong focus on manuscript studies, book history, and the history of ideas across medieval and early modern periods. Their work spans digital humanities — including handwritten text recognition and multilingual text analytics — as well as philosophy of mind and cognitive science. They bridge traditional archival scholarship with computational methods, making historical collections accessible through AI-driven tools and cross-lingual analysis platforms.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their early H2020 work (2016–2017) combined two distinct threads: computational tools for archival documents (handwritten text recognition, NLP, layout analysis via READ) and deep philosophical inquiry into cognition and Islamic intellectual history (MetCogCon, PhilAnd). From 2018 onward, their focus converged more sharply on manuscript provenance, book trade history, and cultural heritage analytics (TRANSACT, CULTIVATE MSS, Cleopatra). The trajectory shows a shift from broad digital humanities tooling toward specialized expertise in the history, circulation, and valuation of manuscripts and books.

They are deepening their niche in cultural heritage provenance research, combining historical expertise with computational text analysis — expect future work at this intersection.

How they like to work

They split evenly between coordinating (3 projects) and participating (3 projects), showing comfort in both leadership and partner roles. With 37 unique partners across 16 countries from just 6 projects, they build broad, non-overlapping networks rather than relying on repeat collaborators. This suggests they are well-connected across European humanities research and open to new partnerships.

They have collaborated with 37 unique partners across 16 countries in just 6 projects, indicating a wide and diverse European network concentrated in humanities and cultural heritage research.

What sets them apart

The University of London occupies a rare intersection between traditional humanities scholarship (manuscript history, philosophy, book trade) and computational methods (HTR, NLP, multilingual analytics). Few institutions combine this depth of archival and philosophical expertise with active engagement in digital tools development. For anyone building a consortium that needs humanities authority paired with data-driven methods, they are a credible and experienced partner.

Highlights from their portfolio

• CULTIVATE MSS
  Their largest grant (EUR 1.79M, ERC Advanced) investigating the international trade in medieval manuscripts — a unique and culturally significant topic with provenance research applications.
• MetCogCon
  ERC Consolidator grant (EUR 1.35M) on metacognition of concepts, bridging philosophy and cognitive neuroscience — their most interdisciplinary project.
• READ
  Applied handwritten text recognition and NLP to archival documents at scale, demonstrating their capacity for technical digital humanities work beyond pure scholarship.