CCH / CeRch Collaborations

CCH and CeRch work closely together, continuing the close involvement over many years between CCH and the AHDS. A new joint MA programme in Digital Asset Management (MADAM) will begin in Autumn 2009, created and run jointly. Alongside this are a number of contacts with major museums, galleries, archives and libraries aimed at developing and delivering certificate and diploma courses within a wider professional development framework.

There is already strong research collaboration between CCH and CeRch, with particular focus on advanced ICT methods, and on the development and extension of the post-AHDS agendas in the UK for standards and sustainability, as well as e-research.

Much of the newer collaborative work follows on naturally from the AHRC ICT Methods Network (MethNet). This was a major 3-year project 2005-2008, the central core of the AHRC’s ‘ICT in Arts & Humanities Research’ programme, directed by David Robey. It was based in CCH with Marilyn Deegan and Harold Short as Co-Directors, and Lorna Hughes as Programme Manager. The ADHS was particularly closely involved throughout, with Sheila Anderson as an Associate Director. MethNet was successful in engaging a wide cross-section of researchers in the arts and humanities, with more than 1,000 participants in over 60 activities, which were a mix of a small number of invitation-only expert seminars plus a much larger number of responsive mode events. Ashgate are publishing a series of nine volumes, drawn from the expert seminars, under the title Digital Research in the Arts & Humanities.

The Arts & Humanities e-Science Support Centre (AHeSSC) and the Web 2.0 communities-of-scholarship framework arts-humanities.net grew out of the Methods Network, and remain a joint commitment of CeRch and CCH. Both Centres are also heavily engaged in efforts to develop a national network of expert centres in the digital arts and humanities.