OxDSS launch event attendees at the Oxford e-Research Centre, OeRC, University of Oxford – 6 November 2025 (Oxford, UK). Not pictured: Puyu Wang. Photo © OxDSS.
OxDSS launch event attendees at the Oxford e-Research Centre, OeRC, University of Oxford – 6 November 2025 (Oxford, UK). Not pictured: Puyu Wang. Photo © OxDSS.
The Oxford Digital Scholarship Society (OxDSS) is a student-led society whose primary aim is to build an interdisciplinary community for students engaging with digital, computational, or any other form of data-driven methods across the University of Oxford. Digital methods are increasingly finding its place in research throughout the University's Humanities, Social Sciences, Medical Sciences, and MPLS divisions. Yet, students working with these methods often remain dispersed across colleges, departments, and research groups, with limited opportunities to connect with peers facing similar methodological questions. The aim of OxDSS is to address this need by creating a central society dedicated to exchange and collaboration in student-led digital scholarship at the University of Oxford.
The purpose of the society is threefold:
First, it seeks to connect students who use digital methods in their academic work – whether through text mining, AI/machine learning, computational modelling, network analysis, digital editions, or related application scenarious.
Second, it aims to support knowledge about existing digital methods by offering structured opportunities to learn about emerging tools, workflows, and other computational methods in form of collaborative workshops (e.g., in collaboration with Torr Vision Group & Digital Scholarship @ Oxford).
Third, it intends to promote dialogue about the theoretical, ethical, and practical implications of digital scholarship within and beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries.
To achieve these aims, OxDSS will organise a programme of recurring activities throughout the academic year, focusing on networking, education, and outreach:
Weekly informal (society member-only) meetups that provide an open environment for discussion, troubleshooting, and collaboration. Through these gatherings we aim to allow members to share project ideas, talk through methodological challenges, and connect across disciplines, followed by brief social events.
Fortnightly invited talks featuring researchers and practitioners involved in major digital scholarship initiatives at Oxford (e.g., Oxford e-Research Centre, TORCH, Digital Bodleian, Voltaire Foundation) and other institutions of higher education. By holding these talks we aim to expose students to leading digital scholarship projects across and beyond the University.
We will organise a hands-on workshops in cooperation with members of other societies at Oxford.
Membership is open to all students regardless of discipline or previous technical experience. The society will maintain an inclusive, supportive environment that values intellectual curiosity and ethical engagement with digital methods. OxDSS does not seek to duplicate existing institutional initiatives; instead, it complements them by providing a student-centered scholarly community where young researchers can meet, learn from one another, and form networks for interdisciplinary projects that extend across their individual faculties.
We look forward to welcoming students from all disciplines who are curious about or already engaged in digital scholarship. Anyone interested is warmly invited to join us.
Please follow this link to officially register as a member. Membership is free and without obligation but will give you access to our internal events.
Questions? Contact us at oxdss.committee@gmail.com