Welcome
The Humanities Collaboratory is a bold investment by the university in collaborative, multi-generational, inclusive and transformational humanities scholarship that engages compelling questions for the academy and the world beyond. Born in the Office of the Provost, housed in LSA, and located in the Hatcher Graduate Library, the Humanities Collaboratory is building permanent research development infrastructure to support humanities research at the University of Michigan. We are also working to develop tools for assessment and we are continuing to give 5×5 and Proposal Development grants to support innovative and ambitious forms of humanities scholarship. Our mission is to give humanists access to significant resources to enable new kinds of work on the remarkable diversity of human experience across the globe.
… work in the humanities is critical to living in a world that’s increasingly interdependent and complex and often mysterious.”
—Sara Blair, Patricia S. Yaeger Collegiate Professor of English Language and Literature, Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs
Projects
Praise for Being Human During COVID (2021):
“Highly recommended… Instructors in many disciplines, but particularly those interested in digital humanities, may want to use selections from the book in their classes. General readers may find comfort and inspiration in these authors’ varied responses to the global pandemic.”
— Review in Choice vol. 59, no.10 (June 2022), by A. White, Grand Valley State University
News
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The Future is Human/e: Preservationists, Afterlives, and Longevities
The Future is Human/e is one of three 5×5 teams the Collaboratory accepted in April. This team is led by Sarah Murray, Assistant Professor in the department of Film, TV, Media, and Digital Studies. This team will investigate the meanings of longevity, death, and speculative futures in a post-digital, post-capitalist, and post-eco-crisis world. Their investigation includes discussions……
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Using the Tools of the Future to Find Patterns in the Past
Tools of the Future/ Patterns of the past is one of three new 5x5s the Collaboratory has accepted in April. This team is led by Giulia Saltini Semerari, Assistant Professor of Anthropology. This team will reflect on the power, risks, and limitations of deploying AI in the context of navigating academic publications in the humanities, utilizing work……
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Music and AI
Music and AI is one of three new 5×5 teams we have accepted in April. This team is led by Julie Zhu, Assistant Professor in the Department of Performing Arts and Technology. This team will explore how the impact of AI on composers and musicians, as well as how it can be utilized for creation and research in……
I’m very excited to have that commitment from my own institution, from the University of Michigan, to do humanities research in a collaborative format.”
— Johannes von Moltke, Professor of Germanic Languages and Literatures and Professor of Film, Television and Media
5×5 Incubator Grants
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The Future is Human/e: Preservationists, Afterlives, and Longevities
The Future is Human/e is one of three 5×5 teams the Collaboratory accepted in April. This team is led by Sarah Murray, Assistant Professor in the department of Film, TV, Media, and Digital Studies. This team will investigate the meanings of longevity, death, and speculative futures in a post-digital, post-capitalist, and post-eco-crisis world. Their investigation includes discussions……
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Using the Tools of the Future to Find Patterns in the Past
Tools of the Future/ Patterns of the past is one of three new 5x5s the Collaboratory has accepted in April. This team is led by Giulia Saltini Semerari, Assistant Professor of Anthropology. This team will reflect on the power, risks, and limitations of deploying AI in the context of navigating academic publications in the humanities, utilizing work……
-
Music and AI
Music and AI is one of three new 5×5 teams we have accepted in April. This team is led by Julie Zhu, Assistant Professor in the Department of Performing Arts and Technology. This team will explore how the impact of AI on composers and musicians, as well as how it can be utilized for creation and research in……