At the same time, digital methods raise fundamental methodological and epistemological questions. Issues of data modelling and categorisation intersect with problems of bias, uneven coverage and the limits of digitised sources. The summer school therefore emphasises critical reflection, combining empirical case studies with discussions on source criticism, transparency and contextualisation.
The programme is framed by hands-on workshops on OCR/HTR, GIS and digital data processing, as well as keynote lectures by Lorella Viola and Christoph Rass.
Programme
Monday, June 22, 2026
5:30 pm Registration and Arrival
6:00 pm Welcome Address by Klaus Oschema (Director GHI Paris) and Introduction by the Organisers
6:30 pm Keynote Lecture
Chair: Mareike König (GHI Paris)
Lorella Viola (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam): Mapping Migrant Worlds: Digital Approaches to Narratives, Identity, and Belonging
Tuesday, June 23, 2026
9:30 am Hands-on Workshops (parallel sessions, registration via dh@dhi-paris.fr)
Introduction to Handwritten Text Recognition with eScriptorium (Pauline Spychala, GHI Paris, and Hippolyte Souvay, University of Fribourg)
From Scratch to Maps: Digital Mapping for the Humanities. An Introduction to QGIS (Giovanni Vitali, Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines)
1:00 pm Lunch for Speakers and Participants
2:30 pm Plenary Session: Data Modelling, Critical Data Practices, and Ethical Reflections
Chair: Lorella Viola (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
Noel Mariam George (London School of Economics): From Registration to Data Infrastructure: the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Category Drift, and the Making of Migration Knowledge
Daniel Richter (C2DH, University of Luxembourg): Marriage Registers as Heuristic Sources for Migration History: Comparative Perspectives on Stability and Change Across Towns and Villages (1850–1923)
3:30 pm Coffee Break
4:00 pm Plenary Session: Mapping Migration: GIS, Visualization, and Spatial Analysis I
Chair: Denis Scuto (C2DH, University of Luxembourg)
Blandine Landau (C2DH, University of Luxembourg) and Maël Le Noc (EHESS, Paris): Biographies, Testimonies, Visualization: Mapping Individual Migration Paths of the Jews of Luxembourg 1935–1947
Ekaterina Iakovleva (C2DH, University of Luxembourg): Beyond a Database: Wikibase as Research Infrastructure for Migration Prosopography
Free Evening
Wednesday, June 24, 2026
9:15 am Plenary Session: Mapping Migration: GIS, Visualization, and Spatial Analysis II
Chair: Giovanni Vitali (Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines)
Catrina Langenegger (University of Basel): Refugee Care in Switzerland During World War II in the Light of Historical Statistics and GIS
Alex Relicovschi (C2DH, University of Luxembourg): Présentation d’une chaîne de traitement en histoire digitale des migrations: mise en cartes et mise en données. Dudelange (Luxembourg), XIXe–XXe siècles
10:35 am Coffee Break
11:00 am Plenary Session: Transforming Sources Into Data: OCR and HTR Methods and Their Challenges
Chair: Pauline Spychala (GHI Paris)
Christelle Al Haddad (C2DH, University of Luxembourg): Written Language in Correspondences and Parish Letters of Luxembourgish Missionaries (1795–1900)
Sandra Velebit (Johannes Kepler University Linz): Digitizing Migration Data into Data Frames Using OCR and R. Problems and Workarounds
Ling Zi (École normale supérieure/Beijing Normal University): OCR, Romanization, and the Searchability of Chinese Migrants in European Digital Archives (1900–1950)
1:00 pm Lunch for Speakers and Participants
2:00 pm Hands-on Workshops (parallel sessions, registration via dh@dhi-paris.fr)
Building LLM-Assisted Workflows for Entity and Geospatial Data Processing (Alex Relicovschi, Ekaterina Iakovleva, both at C2DH, University of Luxembourg)
How to Process Interviews of Persons at Risk? Insights from the U-CORE project (Machteld Venken, Vladyslav Siulhin, both C2DH, University of Luxembourg)
Free Evening
Thursday, June 25, 2026
10:00 am Plenary Session: Modelling and Analysing Migration through Textual Data
Chair: Joanna Wojdon (University of Wrocław)
Timur Mitrofanov (University of Heidelberg/Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe): Latvian Diaspora Press Published in English-Speaking Countries in the Second Half of the 20th Century
Federica Schiaffino (Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa): Mapping the “Imaginary East”: A Digital Analysis of West German Travel Reports (1967–1973)
11:00 am Coffee Break
11:30 am Plenary Session: Datafication and Migration Databases
Chair: Claire Zalc (CNRS/EHESS)
Valentin Rhodius (Université de Caen Normandie): Traversées maritimes des déplacés et réfugiés (1946–1952): une analyse par base de données
Théo Behra (Université de Strasbourg): Germanosearch et le portail “Archives disséminées”: enjeux méthodologiques et épistémologiques pour l’étude des migrations allemandes aux XIXe et XXe siècles
12:30 pm Lunch for Speakers and Participants
2:00 pm Visit to the Musée de l’histoire de l’immigration, Palais de la Porte Dorée
6:00 pm Keynote Lecture at the GHI Paris
Chair: Mareike König (GHI Paris)
Christoph A. Rass (University of Osnabrück): How Migration Became Data, How Data Makes Meaning, and How Reflexive Migration Research Intervenes
Friday, June 26, 2026
9:15 am Plenary Session: Exploring Migration Using Digital Network Analysis I
Chair: Christoph A. Rass (University of Osnabrück)
Alexandre Binoux (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne/École française de Rome): Comprendre les hiérarchies d’une communauté migrante par les réseaux et la statistique. Lettres, registres paroissiaux et bases de données (colonie grecque de Corse, XVIIIe siècle)
Jorit Jens Hopp (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich): Collaboration and Migration Networks of Theatre Professionals in the Habsburg Empire of the 19th Century
10:35 am Coffee Break
11:00 am Plenary Session: Exploring Migration Using Digital Network Analysis II
Chair: Machteld Venken (C2DH, University of Luxembourg)
Katharina Isaak (University of Münster): Mapping the Immigrant Public Sphere. The Networked Russian Language Press in the United States, 1917–1941
Piotr Budzynski (University of Łódź): Network Analysis of Polish Fulbright Scholars (1968–1990)
12:20 pm General Discussion
1:00 pm End of Conference
Dr. Mareike König
Organised by: Mareike König (GHI Paris), Denis Scuto (C2DH, University of Luxembourg), Machteld Venken (C2DH, University of Luxembourg), Giovanni Vitali (Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines), Claire Zalc (CNRS/EHESS)