Workshop: From Classical ML to AI in Arabic and Islamic Studies: A Hands-On Workshop, July 1-4, 2025
Dates: July 1-4, 2025
Location: University of Hamburg, Afrika-Asien Institut
We are excited to announce the upcoming hands-on workshop, “From Classical ML to AI in Arabic and Islamic Studies,” taking place from July 1st to 4th, 2025, at the University of Hamburg’s Afrika-Asien Institut. This workshop is part of the Emmy Noether Project “Evolution of Islamic Societies (600-1600): Algorithmic Analysis into Social History,” [EIS1600], funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
This workshop is designed to equip participants with the necessary skills to apply both classical machine learning techniques and the latest AI technologies in the study of Arabic and Islamic texts. Participants will gain practical experience and theoretical knowledge, enabling them to harness these cutting-edge technologies in their research. A working knowledge of Python is required. We will use Arabic texts from the OpenITI Corpus as our data.
This event is ideal for researchers in the fields of Arabic and Islamic studies who are eager to integrate the latest technologies into their work and to make bold contributions to the evolving landscape of humanistic research in our fast-paced digital age.
Application Deadline: April 30
Notification of Acceptance: First week of May
We are pleased to offer partial financial support for some participants. For more details or to address any inquiries, please contact Alicia Gonzalez at alicia.gonzalez@uni-hamburg.de.
Organizers: EIS1600 Team—Alicia Gonzalez Martinez, Hamid Reza Hakimi, and Maxim Romanov, University of Hamburg
Instructors: Tariq Yousef, University of Southern Denmark; Maroussia Bednarkiewicz, IE University
Confirmed Participants: Sarah Savant, Peter Verkinderen, Masoumeh Seydi, AKU-London
Join us for this innovative workshop and be part of the future of Arabic and Islamic studies research!
FAQ:
- where to send your application: please, email your letter of motivation and a short CV to alicia.gonzalez@uni-hamburg.de ;
- letter of motivation: your letter should include the reason why you want to participate in the workshop. Please, describe your ongoing research in Arabic and Islamic Studies (other Islamicate languages are also fine, but the workshop will be focused on Classical Arabic) and your experience with python — or other programming languages.
- financial support: unfortunately, we have limited amount of funding, which in practical terms mean that we will not be able to offer much to those who want to come outside of Europe, but we will try to cover some costs;
- online participation: the workshop will take place in person and will not have an online component;