Science talk with Prime Minister Malu Dreyer

One of the Rhineland-Palatinate government‘s major aims is the development of a comprehensive and future-oriented digital strategy "Rheinland-Pfalz digital. Wir vernetzen Land und Leute" To achieve this goal, not only has the first "Digitalisierungskabinett" in Germany been appointed, but also is a "Digital-Dialogue" been established which aims to include the whole variety of social groups into its process.

An important area of interest in this dialogue is the digitalisation of the sciences and humanities. Thus, Minister President Dreyer made it her particular interest to visit the Trier Center for Digital Humanities which has been given the status of research centre of Rhineland-Palatinate in 2014.

After University of Trier president Prof Dr Michael Jäckel welcomed the guests, Malu Dreyer thanked the TCDH team for their efforts. “Das Trierer Zentrum nimmt eine Vorreiterrolle in diesem Wissenschaftszweig ein und ist Aushängeschild für die Digitalisierung in Rheinland-Pfalz”, Dreyer acknowledged ("The TCDH plays a pioneering role in this scientific field and is an icon for digitalisation in Rhineland-Palatinate.")

In her role as Academic Director, Prof Dr Claudine Moulin presented the various research foci of the centre and illustrated their range by introducing a number of flagship projects. Within this context, she also pointed out recent developments such as the expansion of the TCDH within the frame of the initiative project eXplore!, promoted by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, as well as the integration of a focus on IT law in the MSc programme Digital Humanities. Furthermore, Prof Moulin took the opportunity to point out important national as well as international future tasks within the field of digital humanities: "Die digitale Zugänglichmachung von Kulturgütern und Forschungsergebnissen im Open Access ist auch eine politische Entscheidung." ("The provision of the digital availability of cultural heritage and research results in open access is a political decision, too.") She also discussed the (precarious) position of young researchers in the institutional and scientific environments.

The open discussion at the end of the visit touched upon the highly topical issue of copyright and the digitisation of cultural heritage within its juridical frame. Malu Dreyer then discussed their research projects with members of the academic staff of the TCDH.