On December 3, KAIST announced the establishment of the Center for Digital Humanities and Computational Social Sciences, with Professor Seonghyeon Maeng from the School of Computing appointed as its director. The opening ceremony took place on December 6 at the Humanities and Social Sciences Building (N4).

The center was established to support the convergence research in natural sciences, engineering, and social sciences. In the past, the cooperation between these fields in the academic and professional environments was limited, since research in humanities and social sciences was not considered as important and was provided with little resources. These days, KAIST has a vision of establishing a new paradigm in this cooperative research by fostering relevant initiatives and stimulating advances in the field of digital humanities. As a part of this vision, KAIST continues to work on adding courses on digital humanities and computational sociology to its curriculum. These courses will allow science and engineering students to gain a perspective on how technology can affect the ongoing social issues in the world.

Professor Maeng commented, “Through innovative humanities and social science educational contents as well as advanced technology-based convergence research, we will nurture the character and creativity of students in science and engineering fields. At the same time, we hope that it will be an opportunity for researchers in the humanities and social sciences to expand their knowledge and explore fields of interest while learning digital technologies.”