CALL FOR PAPERS

5th DARIAH-HR International Conference Digital Humanities & Heritage 2025

Rethinking Heritage across STEM, Humanities, and Arts

Conference Dates: 22–24 October 2025
Location: Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek – Academy of Arts and Culture & Faculty of Agrobiotechnical Sciences, Osijek, Croatia

Conference organisers: DARIAH-HR / Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, Zagreb; Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek – Academy of Arts and Culture & Faculty of Agrobiotechnical Sciences 

About the conference:
We are pleased to invite you to the interdisciplinary conference Rethinking Heritage across STEM, Humanities, and Arts, which will be held in Osijek, Croatia, from 22 to 24 October 2025. The conference aims to bring together researchers, experts, and practitioners from STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), humanities, arts, and the cultural and creative industries (CCI) to explore innovative approaches to interdisciplinary collaboration.

The European Commission has been increasingly encouraging synergy between STEM and the humanities, as well as cooperation with the arts and creative sectors. Initiatives such as the European Framework for Action on Cultural Heritage and the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage promote models in which technology and culture create new opportunities for innovation, research, and societal development.

In this context, we invite submissions that critically engage with the intersection of digital technologies and the humanities, exploring how tools like big data, algorithms, and AI shape our understanding of cultural heritage, social phenomena, and artistic practices. Submissions should address the ethical, epistemological, and cultural implications of these technologies, particularly in terms of biases in data, representation, and the potential marginalization of certain communities within digital archives. We encourage critical reflections on how these technologies influence both the creation and interpretation of knowledge in the humanities, while considering the broader societal and cultural consequences of their application.

We invite participants to reflect on and discuss the following topics:

STEM + Humanities: New Interdisciplinary Solutions

• How can STEM and the humanities collaborate to address societal challenges?
• Digital humanities and the role of data science in cultural research 
• Applying ethics and philosophy in the development of new technologies
• Ethical and epistemological challenges arising from the application of digital technologies in interdisciplinary research.

Creative Synergies: Art and Technology

• Artistic practice as an innovation tool in STEM fields
• AI and creative processes: how artificial intelligence is shaping art and design
• Interactive media, augmented reality, and new storytelling models
• The use of digital technologies in artistic practices to create new cultural narratives.

Cultural Heritage in the Digital Age

• Cultural and epistemological implications of digitizing cultural heritage with technologies like 3D scanning
• Smart museology: AI and big data in the analysis of cultural artifacts
• Open data and accessibility of digital heritage; How can a critical approach to open data help address issues of exclusion and marginalization of certain communities in digital archives?
• The influence of digital tools like big data and algorithms on our understanding of cultural heritage.

Cultural and Creative Industries as a Bridge between Science and Art

• Entrepreneurship in CCI: How scientists and artists can develop projects together
• New funding models for interdisciplinary initiatives in the EU
• Collaboration between industry, academia, and independent creatives

Who can apply?

We invite researchers, academics, innovators, artists, professionals from the cultural and creative sector, entrepreneurs, and policymakers to present their research, projects, and ideas.

How to apply?

We invite proposals for individual presentations and posters. Only on-site presentations will be available.

Abstracts for proposals should be no more than 500 words. They must be submitted, along with a concise biographical note (maximum 200 words) and a photo, by 15 June via this submission form.

We welcome submissions of completed, original, and unpublished research, and contributions presenting work in progress. Authors of selected papers will be invited to prepare a submission for an edited, peer-reviewed volume.

Participation in the 5th Digital Humanities & Heritage Conference is free of charge.

Further information

We look forward to your submissions and participation in the 5th Digital Humanities & Heritage Conference. For further information, please visit our conference website at https://dhh.dariah.hr/home/ or contact us at dhh@dariah.hr.

Important dates:

• Conference dates: 22–24 October 2025
• Abstract submission deadline: 15 June 2025
• Notification of acceptance: 27 June 2025

We look forward to your submissions and active participation!