Dr. Karin van Es will temporarily fulfill the role of Centre for Digital Humanities director whilst prof. dr. Hugo Quené is on sabbatical. He will be on research leave in the USA and Canada for approximately six months, starting in July 2025.

Research leave

During his sabbatical, Hugo Quené will conduct research with his colleagues at Northwestern University (Chicago) and Simon Fraser University (Vancouver). He will try to fit a work visit to California into his schedule as well. Furthermore, he has reserved time for writing during his sabbatical as well.

Interim CDH director

Karin van Es is honoured and excited to fulfill the role of interim CDH director in Hugo’s absence.

One of her aims as interim CDH director is to champion the value of the humanities, which are more essential than ever in addressing contemporary challenges.

This includes empowering Utrecht University staff to make informed decisions about digital tools in both research and teaching, while also supporting education that equips students with critical digital literacies. In addition, she wishes to stimulate and support interdisciplinary collaboration at Utrecht University as well as partnerships with professionals, societal partners and organisations.

Professional background

Karin van Es is already active at the Centre for Digital Humanities in her role as Faculty of Humanities Lead at Data School. She is Associate Professor of Media and Culture Studies, and also a project member of the GenAI in Education taskforce at the Faculty of Humanities. Her research contributes to software studies and critical data studies. Her current research investigates streaming video platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, but also YouTube and TikTok.

She is author of the book The Future of Live (Polity Press, 2016) and co-editor of the volumes The Datafied Society (AUP, 2017), Situating Data (AUP, 2023), Collaborative Research in a Datafied Society (AUP, 2024).