December 2022: Sharan wins digital humanities grant

Prof. Roded Sharan, Edmond J. Safra member (Computer Science) and Prof. Jonathan Ben Dov, from the Department of Bible at the Faculty of Humanities, won a prestigious joint research grant from the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology in the field of digital humanities for 2022.

Profs. Sharan and Ben Dov's interdisciplinary research focuses on the use of computational tools to solve research questions in the humanities, and in the study of language in particular, which have not yet been answered by the classical humanities methods. In their proposed research, the scientists will apply methods for natural language processing (NLP) and artificial intelligence to the language of the Bible and the Qumran scrolls. The goal is to enable distinction between the different layers of language found in the scrolls, thus improving the partition of the scrolls according to linguistic elements unique to a certain author or group of authors. The research will examine questions that have been discussed for decades, and will aim to provide a computational solution.

Every year the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology issues a call for research in the field of digital social sciences and humanities. The studies must present approaches and ways for strategic advancement of applied science in Israel, provide a groundbreaking interdisciplinary perspective, and offer open, fresh, and innovative thinking.

This year Profs. Sharan and Ben Dov are the winners of this prestigious research grant to promote the digital humanities in Israel.