Call for Applications to the Galway Training School

within the

COST Action Distant Reading for European Literary History

at the 2018 EADH Conference

Key information:

  • Dates: Wednesday, 5 December (all day) to Friday, 7 December, 2018 (due to be completed around 15.00)
  • Location: National University of Ireland, Galway
  • Contact persons: Roxana Patras, Training Schools Coordinator (roxanapatras82@gmail.com), Christof Schöch, Action Chair (schoech@uni-trier.de)
  • Trainers: Mike Kestemont (mike.kestemont@uantwerp.be); Christof Schöch (schoech@uni-trier.de); Geraldine Meaney (gerardine.meaney@ucd.ie);  Serge Heiden (slh@ens-lyon.fr) and others (to be confirmed)
  • More information about the workshops will be made available on the Galway Training School page in due course

Background information:

Training School Themes:

Parallel workshop 1

METHODS AND TOOLS OF DISTANT READING ADAPTED TO MULTIPLE EUROPEAN LANGUAGES

  • Corpus Analysis and Management Tools (TXM, KONTEXT)
  • Network Analysis (Gephi, Palladio)
  • Distributional Semantics/ Topic Modelling
  • Stylometry and Machine Learning (basics)
 Parallel workshop 2

THEORETICAL CONCEPTS AND THEIR CONFRONTATION WITH COMPUTATIONAL METHODS

  • Definitions of the Novel across Europe
  • Authorship in the European Novel
  • Established and Computational Approaches to Style

Description of the Workshops

Both parallel workshops aim at encouraging the participation of early career investigators within the COST Action Distant Reading for European Literary History, as well as to provide them with necessary methodological and theoretical insights for contributing to ELTeC (European Literary Text Collection) and for using it for scholarly research. The ELTeC will contain a principled sample of European full text of novels in several European languages published between 1850 and 1920 (for further information, see https://www.distant-reading.net/eltec).

Tools and methods taught in Workshop 1 will provide a simple graphical user interface, ensuring a high level of accessibility. Theoretical concepts debated in Workshop 2 will rely on a short introductory bibliography provided by the trainers as well as on the theoretical texts brought by the trainees themselves. All accepted participants will be notified in due time on the preparation required for the workshop.

Early Career Investigators from ITC countries (http://www.cost.eu/about_cost/strategy/excellence-inclusiveness) are strongly encouraged to contribute with their own texts and learn ways of adapting digital tools and methods to languages that have lesser resources in this respect.

The target audience is formed of researchers from participating countries interested in using texts of the ELTeC and in theories of novel across national traditions. All participants in these workshops are expected to attend all 3 days of the Training School.

Call for Applications:

The COST Action Distant Reading for European Literary History is offering a number of grants for participation in the Galway Training School, 5-7 Dec, National University of Ireland, Galway.

There will be:

  • 12 travel grants for participants in Workshop 1.
  • 12 travel grants for participants in Workshop 2.

What to expect:

Our COST Action is offering grants for participation in this Training School (Workshop 1 and Workshop 2). Grant amounts generally attempt to cover substantial parts of the cost incurred by participants for travel and accommodation in Galway.

How to apply:

To apply for one of the grants, please do the following things before Nov 1st, 2018:

  1. Register a profile on e-COST and include your bank data there
  2. Send the following documents to Roxana Patras (email: roxanapatras82@gmail.com) and Christof Schöch (schoech@uni-trier.de):
  • A one-page Curriculum Vitae (PDF)
  • A one-page motivation letter specifying the following:
    • a clear statement of intent to participate in one of the two workshops;
    • why you would like to attend the workshop you indicated;
    • information about your current level of knowledge/ experience in using digital tools;
    • what your expectations are (trainers & taught materials).
  • A realistic but economical estimate of your travel costs from your home institution to The National University of Galway and back.

Applications need to be sent to Roxana Patras (roxanapatras82@gmail.com) and Christof Schöch (schoech@uni-trier.de).

After submission, all applicants are kindly asked to make sure they receive a confirmation of receipt within 24 hours. If this is not the case, please don’t hesitate to contact us again.

Selection criteria:

Applicants will be notified of their acceptance on Nov 5th, 2018.

Basic COST eligibility criteria need to be met.

  • Applicants with research interests relevant to the COST Action’s goals and activities are prioritised (Rank 1).
  • Applicants who are early career researchers (including doctoral researchers) and applicants from COST Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC) are prioritised over other applicants (Rank 2).
  • Insofar as is allowable by the applications received and the selection criteria above, representation across as many COST countries as possible and a gender balance should be observed among the grantees (Rank 3).
  • Where all the above criteria are satisfied, places are offered on a first come-first served basis (Rank 4)

Participation without a grant:

Participants who can cover their travel and accommodation expenses from other funds and do not need a grant are also welcome to join our Training School. If this is your case, you do not need to register a profile on the COST website. However, we still ask you to submit the application materials (CV and motivation letter) by November 1st, 2018 to the email addresses mentioned above. You will be notified of acceptance to the workshop before November 5, 2018. Note that the maximum number of participants per workshop is 20.