Melbourne Data Analytics Platform (MDAP)

A 3D photogrammetric model of a ship on the sea floor

The annual @caa-australasia.bsky.social Digital Archaeology Conference program is out! Keynote 'Visualising Ancestral Futures' by Brett Leavy, Director, Biblie Virtual Labs
2–3 Oct online
Free registration events.humanitix.com/caa-australa...
Program au.caa-international.org/2025-confere...

Ten simple rules for training by researchers for researchers in a rapidly evolving workforce

As a researcher you likely assist others to learn new skills, from computational tools to data analysis methods
🔟🎓Ten simple rules for training by researchers for researchers in a rapidly evolving workforce
Via past MDAP trainer Meirian Lovelace-Tozer @ardc.edu.au
journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol...

Same data, different stories: How different maps can change the data narrative A geographic map can be powerful data visualisation, used to explore concepts of place, location, and distance that are inherent in much humanities...

While maps may appear an objective narrative, the mapmaker is telling a story through data & design.
Join @emily-fitzgerald.bsky.social & @wearehades.bsky.social to explore maps made with the same data, the stories they tell & what we can learn from them!
rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/same-d...

Next @wearehades.bsky.social seminar looks amaze, featuring MDAP's resident ‪historian, data-nerd, map maker, & cat lover @emily-fitzgerald.bsky.social
Monday 8 September, 2pm, online, all welcome!
Register rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/same-d...

How to thrive as a Latin American researcher abroad Four scientists share the emotional toll of pursuing science far from home — and the strategies that help them to protect their mental health.

Although the article does focus on the challenges, there are clear benefits to going overseas as a #latinx #researcher: in my case I found my absolute dream job at @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social, The University of Melbourne

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Collaborate with MDAP in 2026 From research design and data collection, to analysis, AI and visualisation– work with us to apply creative, innovative and tailored approaches to your data.

Are you considering putting in an EOI to our 2026 Collaboration round?
Come along to a collab info session, meet the team, ask questions and chat about your project.
Two sessions, 25 August in person, and 28 August online
Register: www.unimelb.edu.au/mdap/news/co...

Botanical time machines: AI is unlocking a treasure trove of data held in herbarium collections Advances in imaging, text recognition and machine learning are transforming what can be done with collections of plants and fungi in herbaria and museums globally.

New research from Jo Birch and MDAP's Robert Turnbull describes their new AI-driven tool #Hespi (short for “herbarium specimen sheet pipeline”), which has the potential to revolutionise access to biodiversity data and open up new avenues for research!
theconversation.com/botanical-ti...

Sustainable Data for Humanities Researchers Research data is valuable - we spend time (and often money) in collecting it, and it is fundamental to creating knowledge. Because of this value, w...

At our next HASS Taskforce workshop, gain practical experience with user-friendly tools and methods that streamline data management, to make your research data more accessible, reusable, and impactful.
26 Aug, in-person, all day workshop lunch included
rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/2318-s...

How to thrive as a Latin American researcher abroad Four scientists share the emotional toll of pursuing science far from home — and the strategies that help them to protect their mental health.

"Moving overseas is not an easy decision ... Although it offers many career opportunities, such as better salaries and sometimes a higher quality of life, it also comes at a huge cost." MDAP's Dr Mar Quiroga shares perspectives on pursuing science far from home! www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Against erasure: Digital witnessing of the Manus Island Detention Centre The Against Erasure project developed a 3D digital reconstruction of the Manus Island Offshore Processing Centre, as a multidisciplinary teaching r...

Next @wearehades.bsky.social seminar Claire Loughnan explores #digitalhumanities #criminology & #memorial with Against Erasure, a 3D model of #ManusIsland Detention Centre, preserving collective knowledge of a controversial chapter in AU immigration history
rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/agains...

Collaborate with us in 2026 Collaborate with us in 2026

Want to see what your research data can do?
Collaborate with MDAP in 2026.
From research design and data collection, to analysis, AI, and visualisation – work with us to apply creative, innovative and tailored approaches to your data.
EOIs close 14 Sep ⬇️
www.unimelb.edu.au/mdap/news/co...

Scientific tools are tracing the evolution of ancient biblical manuscripts In biology, phylogenetics reconstructs evolutionary relationships. The same technique is revealing the history of the New Testament, says a University of Melbourne expert.

In biology, phylogenetics reconstructs evolutionary relationships by analysing how traits are inherited and change over time.

The same technique is revealing the history of the New Testament

📜New research from MDAP's Robert Turnbull!
pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/sci...

Man at lectern with a slide in background detailing ATLAS: Analysis and testing of language models for archival systems, with linked discussion on the historical linguistics and socio-cultural uses of the term “harness”

What does it mean to "harness" AI?
"AI is not just technical or futuristic, it has very real human connections into the deep past" @jamessmithies.bsky.social

A man standing at a lectern with a slide in background with testing principles listed

Hearing from Prof @jamessmithies.bsky.social talking H-STRICT principles for rapid software testing (RSTE):
Human
System Targets
Transparent
Reproducible
Iterative
Contextually informed measures and baselines
Tasks workflows & use cases

The ATLAS test harness: Evaluating LLM-RAG systems for humanities research The prevailing discourse on Large Language Models (LLMs) suggests that humanities research, like many other fields, is about to be shaped by intell...

Prof @jamessmithies.bsky.social, ANU & Founding Director @kingsdigitallab.bsky.social presents ATLAS, an open source ‘test harness’ to evaluate AI in historical research, helping researchers ‘look under the hood’ of LLM-based tools.
31 July in-person & Zoom rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/the-at...

Dependancy graph showing the syntactic relationship between tokens or ‘parts’ of a sentence, eg words, in this case Greek and Latin

Good news everyone! MDAP's Robert Turnbull has joined the ERC-COG BICROSS project team @KU_Leuven, exploring multilingual manuscripts and cross-language interactions using AI and other digital tools.
Read more go.unimelb.edu.au/u5cp
Rob's site robturnbull.com
BICROSS theo.kuleuven.be/en/research/...

The ATLAS test harness: Evaluating LLM-RAG systems for humanities research The prevailing discourse on Large Language Models (LLMs) suggests that humanities research, like many other fields, is about to be shaped by intell...

Our next seminar is with Prof @jamessmithies.bsky.social of ANU presenting ATLAS, an open source ‘test harness’ to evaluate AI in historical research, and help researchers ‘look under the hood’ of LLM-based tools
Thu 31 July rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/the-at...

Location in archaeology: How certain are we this thing was there? The archaeological space is continuous. Archaeological investigation, as surveys and excavation, is about discretising this space, determining rele...

Location in archaeology: How certain are we this thing was there?
June @wearehades.bsky.social seminar features Sébastien Plutniak presenting on #archeofrag - software to analyse spatial relationships in archaeological sites.
10 June, 2pm - 3pm, Zoom
rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/locati...

Intro to network analysis with R Are you a researcher and would like to explore, measure, and analyse network structures? This workshop is for you if you: Are a HASS or STE...

Intro to network analysis with R
Thu 12 June @melbconnect.bsky.social
Explore igraph and learn how to represent and model relational data with graph objects, calculate key network metrics, visualise networks and cluster a network and detect communities.
rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/intro-...

Welcome to Text Mining with R | Text Mining with R A guide to text analysis within the tidy data framework, using the tidytext package and other tidy tools

Learn about #tidytext www.tidytextmining.com - Text Mining with R: A Tidy Approach

Text analysis with R Are you a researcher in the Humanities, Arts, or Social Sciences (HASS) and would like to analyse your textual data quantitatively with code, but d...

Hands-on workshop for HASS researchers @ Unimelb working with materials like archives, interviews, and social media data. Learn basic preprocessing tasks using tidy text and common textual analysis techniques. Basic R knowledge required.
26 June, register: rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/text-a...

Learn about #NLTK nltk.org a free, open-source and easy to use platform for building Python programs to work with human language data.

Text analysis with Python Are you a researcher in the Humanities, Arts, or Social Sciences (HASS) and would like to analyse your textual data quantitatively with code, but d...

Hands-on workshop for HASS researchers @ Unimelb working with materials like archives, interviews, and social media data. Learn basic preprocessing tasks using NLTK and common textual analysis techniques. Basic Python knowledge required.
11 June, register:
rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/text-a...

Location in archaeology: How certain are we this thing was there? The archaeological space is continuous. Archaeological investigation, as surveys and excavation, is about discretising this space, determining rele...

Location in archaeology: How certain are we this thing was there?
Next @wearehades.bsky.social seminar, Sébastien Plutniak presents his research and introduces archeofrag, software to analyse spatial relationships in archaeological sites.
10 June, register: rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/locati...

Time to consider more than just calcium? The impact on protein, riboflavin, vitamin B12 and iodine intake of replacing cows’ milk with plant-based milk-like drinks—an Australian usual intake dietary m... Purpose Most plant-based milk-like (PBML) drinks sold in Australia are not fortified with riboflavin, vitamin B12 or iodine. Reduced dairy intake is often recommended for planetary health and the 2013...

It's not just about calcium! Most plant milks in Australia aren't fortified with key nutrients like riboflavin and B12.
CI Anita Lawrence & MDAP's Ed Tescari Daniel Russo-Batterham & @kim-doyle.bsky.social examine consumer impacts & rethinking nutrition standards link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Research ethics and data governance: Insights from our intern knowledge sharing session Knowledge sharing sessions are an important part of MDAP’s internship program. Our recent session delved into the topics of research ethics and data governance, highlighting the importance of these co...

📣 New blog post! 📣

Want to gain insights into what our interns learn about during their placements with us? Or maybe you are more interested in the worlds of research ethics and data governance? 🔎

All this is covered in our newest post! Give it a read:
go.unimelb.edu.au/qb8p

Making research visual: Visualisation design for communicating research and research data Visualisations are so much more than decorations Are you a Humanities, Arts, or Social Sciences researcher or research support staff wanting...

A few spots left!
Making research visual: Visualisation design for communicating research and research data
Designed for Humanities Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) researchers and research professionals @ UoM
Tue 27 May, in person @melbconnect.bsky.social
rduevents.unimelb.edu.au/event/making...

Draft Project Plans for the ARDC Community Data Lab Now Open for Feedback | ARDC We invite the research community to provide feedback on the ARDC Community Data Lab draft project plans.

📣Share your feedback on ARDC Community Data Lab draft project plans!
The HASS & Indigenous research community is invited to share their feedback and help shape the ARDC Community Data Lab
🔗 bit.ly/cdl-plans
w/ @mdap-unimelb.bsky.social @humanitiesau.bsky.social

#HASS #research #data #GLAM

Mammograms are painful and only 2D. CT could be better, but needs high dosage to reduce noise.
Using phase-contrast and AI denoising, MDAP's Rob Turnbull, Simon Mutch & team cut the dose 16× with no loss of image quality. Working towards safe 3D breast cancer screening.
doi.org/10.48550/arX...

From the changemyview community on Reddit Explore this post and more from the changemyview community

The mods of r/ChangeMyView shared the sub was the subject of a study to test the persuasiveness of LLMs & that they didn't consent. There’s a lot that went wrong, so here’s a 🧵 unpacking it, along with some ideas for how to do research with online communities ethically. tinyurl.com/59tpt988