Huygens Institute is looking for a Junior Researcher on the Necessary Reunions project for a period of 7 months (startdate: April 1st 2025)

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

We are looking for a candidate with a master’s degree in Digital Humanities, Computational Sciences, or a related field, with experience in working with datasets. An interest in history and historical maps is essential, and familiarity with GIS tools or spatial data analysis is desirable. You will have an eye for detail and should be able to work in a careful and independent manner. Finally, experience of reading archives (preferably VOC) and knowledge of the history of South Asia, and in particular Kerala, will be an added advantage
If you do not fully meet the profile, for example, if you are still completing your master’s degree and are interested in this position, please do not hesitate to contact us to discuss your eligibility and hours of work. Please also contact us if you think that you have the necessary skills and interest in the theme irrespective of your academic training.

DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE?

For more information about the vacancy and the project, please contact manjusha.kuruppath@huygens.knaw.nl.

You will work as a Junior Researcher on the Necessary Reunions project. This project aims to help reconceptualize the early modern topography of Kerala (in southwest India) and support the writing of new histories of the region by obtaining topographical information from both textual records and historical maps. To achieve this, we use machine-generated transcriptions of the Dutch East India Company’s textual archives and experiment with emerging techniques of computer-assisted georeferencing and transcription of maps.
You will create and curate a gazetteer of places in Early Modern Kerala using seventeenth- and eighteenth-century maps and textual archives of the Dutch East India Company. This will involve annotating place names on maps, validating automatically generated annotations, and linking these annotations to existing datasets. You will also contribute to the creation of a website on which the project’s data enrichments to VOC maps can be visualized. Based on the activities and findings of the project, you will also co-author an article together with the other project members. You will be supervised by the Project Investigator and Research Data Engineer, but we expect you to be able to work independently and proactively. Availability on a joint project working day is desirable.
Automatically annotated map of the coast of Kerala (Nationaal Archief 4.VEL 229). The image shows visual (in red) and textual (in blue) segments that are generated automatically with the help of AI in a pilot project.