Professor Leif Isaksen

Prof. Leif Isaksen is Professor of Ancient History and Digital Humanities in the Department of Classics, Ancient History, Religion and Theology. He is also Theme Lead for Humanities, Heritage and the Creative Industries at the Institute of Data Science and AI (IDSAI). 

His main interests are in spatial and temporal representation in the humanities - both in the ancient world and the modern one - and the use of Intelligent Systems to relate and interrogate online resources about the past. This is most notably as Director of several projects associated with the Pelagios Network, including the development of the Recogito annotation platform. He has a background in archaeology, and directed the Cluny Hill Dig. He is also engaged with development of digital skills in the Arts and Humanities, specifically through the Hot Source! and DISKAH projects.

Prof. Isaksen has been involved as an Officer, Trustee or Steering Group member of a number of Humanities and Digital Humanities activities and organisations worldwide, including CAA, EADH and ISHMap, and was Executive Board Chair of the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organisations (ADHO) from 2019 to 2021. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and former Fellow of the Alan Turing Institute and the Society of Antiquaries of London. Between 2017-2024 he was Director of Digital Humanities at Exeter. He was a Co-Director of the Web Science Centre for Doctoral Training at the University of Southampton (2012-2015).