The Critical Digital Humanities Initiative (CDHI) is pleased to announce a new postdoctoral fellowship program, with a focus on Community Data. The CDHI, a University of Toronto strategic initiative, supports trans-disciplinary collaborations that emphasize questions of power, social justice, and critical theory in digital humanities research. Our vision is to forge a new paradigm of critical humanities scholarship, one that bridges the humanities’ emphasis on power and culture in historical perspective with the tools and analysis of digital technology. At the University of Toronto, Critical Digital Humanities foregrounds creative praxis, co-creation, public engagement, and community-based research.

The CDHI Postdoctoral Fellowship Program in Community Data supports two interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellows for two academic years, 2022-24. One fellow will be affiliated with the University of Toronto Faculty of Information (iSchool). One fellow will be affiliated with University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC).

Community Data Focus

In the context of this fellowship program, we define community data broadly to include projects that enact equitable, future-focused strategies of preserving data related to the histories of people of colour, Indigenous peoples, and queer, disabled, or other communities whose work, experiences, and perspectives have been insufficiently recognized or inequitably attended to in historical records. The fellowship program prioritizes research that foregrounds meaningful engagement with community partners and equitable engagement with the people connected with or represented in the data involved in proposed research projects. Community data is broadly understood as encompassing:

• community records and materials from community-based archives,
• digital and digitized materials from community-based archives and their accompanying metadata,
• recordings and transcripts from interviews and oral histories,
• observational information gathered by community members,
• information captured from the web and/or social media, and
• the digital records of individuals or organizations that represent or serve a specific community.

The CDHI Postdoctoral Fellowship is part of the Council of Library and Information Resources (CLIR) Community Data program. Alongside their individual research projects, the fellow will be part of the CLIR Community Data cohort and have access to training and professional development opportunities.

Compensation

Fellows will receive a salary of $70,000 CAD/year. This salary will include teaching one undergraduate half course (0.5 FCE) for the iSchool or UTSC in each of the two years.

How to Apply

For a complete job description of each position, including fellowship responsibilities and expectations, mentorship and professional development opportunities, eligibility, and application instructions, please visit:

• For the iSchool position description, visit this link.
• For the UTSC job description, visit this link.

Applications will open 24 January 2022. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. All applications received before 01 March 2022 will be considered.

Applications must be submitted via the CLIR application portal: https://postdoc.clir.org/join/

How to Reach Us

To contact the Managing Director, Dr. Danielle Taschereau Mamers, please write: d.taschereau@utoronto.ca. To reach the Faculty Director, Prof. Elspeth Brown, please write: dhn.director@utoronto.ca. Questions about the CLIR Postdoctoral Fellowship Program and application process can be addressed to postdoc@clir.org.

To subscribe to the CDHI’s biweekly newsletter, please complete our sign-up form at: bit.ly/CDHI-newsletter. Follow us on Twitter at @UofTDHN. Explore our website at: dhn.utoronto.ca.