Supported Projects

Art Image Analysis (ArtIA) is a project to bring new tools and expanded ontologies to the curation, analysis, and sharing of images in the digital humanities. The research team is using a large corpus of curated images of political cartoons from 1750-1850 France. Th goal is to illustrate effective data sharing, in the digital humanities, using findability, accessibility, interoperability and reusability (FAIR) principles, with a public database.

Core Team: Kathryn Desplanque, Department of Art and Art History with co-PIs Chris Bizon, RENCI; Amanda Henley, University Libraries; and Corbin Jones, Department of Biology and School of Medicine, Department of Genetics

Bringing Southeast Asia Home is a five year initiative (2022-2027), generously funded by the Henry Luce Foundation, which aims to grow the profile of Southeast Asian studies at UNC-CH by providing research opportunities to faculty, students, and community members; strengthening ties with our global partners like Kenan Foundation Asia and the National University of Singapore; growing our network of scholars of Southeast Asia in the US Southeast; adding more course offerings on Southeast Asia; increasing library holdings on the region; supporting postdoctoral scholars; hosting speakers and workshops; and so much more.

Core Team: Christian C. Lentz, department of geography, and Becky Butler, Assistant Director of Southeast Asian Initiatives at the Carolina Asia Center

EX MACHINA is an interdisciplinary and multimedia project exploring the complex connections and relationship between technology and humanity through visual art and music. Evolving technology has been changing our lives, including how we experience arts and music. The title, Ex Machina, or From the Machine, reflects on humanity’s creativity and struggle of identity in this fast-changing world. This project brings together scholars and artists from different fields to contemplate the meanings of the “machine” and its role in our society.

Core Team: Clara Yang, Department of Music

Forever Chemicals in North Carolina: A Story Archive is aimed at bringing humanistic research methods to the study of PFAS contamination and remediation efforts. Using oral history methods to address this gap the research team is examining how individuals make sense of healthcare experiences that could be linked to PFAS. 

Core Team: Jordynn Jack, Founding Director of the Health and Humanities (HHIVE) Lab, and Courtney Rivard, Director of the Digital Literacy and Communications Lab

Spark the Arts: Radical Inclusion is a multi-year initiative from the Playmakers Repertory Company (PRC) to build relationships between community and the creation of new plays, aiming to answer the questions: if we deeply center community over an extended time, giving unparalleled access to developing work, how will it impact the audience’s view of themselves as stakeholders with the artistic product? With our theatre? Does the artistic work have unique, meaningful impact on our partners? 

Core Team: Vivienne Benesch, Producing Artistic Director PRC, Jeffrey Meanza, Associate Artistic Director PRC, and Jeff Aguiar, Director of Engagement PRC

National High School Ethics Bowl Impact Study is a new project to investigate how participating in the National High School Ethics Bowl affects students’ intellectual and interpersonal traits. Carried out by the Parr Center for Ethics, this new study builds on promising early data collection completed in 2022-2023.

Core Team: Michael Vazquez, Outreach Director of the Parr Center for Ethics and Department of Philosophy, Michael Prinzing, Postdoctoral Fellow at Baylor University, Kaitlyn Burnell, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, and Alex Richardson, Director of the National High School Ethics Bowl