Dear CSDH / SCHN members,

We're looking forward to seeing you at next week's conference! In the meantime, we have our election. The election link has been sent to everyone who is an active, paid member of the society. If you're planning to join the society (please do!) before the conference, please contact me once you've joined and I will forward you a link to your ballot. You can join here:

https://csdh-schn.ca/about-csdh-schn/membership/

We had a call for three positions this year. The positions of Secretary and VP Francophone received only one application each so those candidates are elected by acclamation. Our new Secretary is Dr. Moni Razavi and our new VP Francophone is Dr. Margot Mellet. Welcome Moni and Margot!

We have two candidates for the position of Communications Officer, Augustine Farinola and Davide Pafumi. Thank you Augustine and Davide for putting your names forward! 

Augustine and Davide's bios are:

Augustine Farinola

I am a PhD student in Philosophy and Digital Humanities at the University of Alberta, working under the supervision of Prof. Geoffrey Rockwell. My work sits at the intersection of Digital Humanities, AI ethics, and public-facing digital scholarship. I have experience in research communication, digital project development, interdisciplinary collaboration, and community engagement through Voyant Consortium and many other Digital Humanities projects. I would be honoured to contribute to CSDH/SCHN as Communications Officer by supporting the society’s communication, outreach, and member engagement activities.

Davide Pafumi

I am currently a PhD candidate in Digital Humanities at the University of Lethbridge, with plans to defend by the end of this summer. I have been a member of CSDH for 4 years, and I would be honoured to contribute to its work by bringing a certain leadership experience I have gained across several academic and professional bodies across multiple years. As Communications and Grievance Officer and, currently, President of the union representing academically employed graduate students at the University of Lethbridge, I have worked in advocacy as well as communication roles, directing communication to a diverse membership. My service on the Council of the Medieval Association of the Pacific (a regional scholarly association supporting the study of medieval cultures) and on the Advisory Board of the North American Branch of the International Courtly Literature Society (the most influential scholarly group in the field of courtly love studies), where I represent junior scholars across the United States and Canada, has given me a strong understanding of how scholarly associations operate and what their members need from institutional communications. I also serve on the Executive Board of the Postgraduate Committee of Digital Medievalist (an international community for scholars working at the intersection of medieval studies and digital humanities). In this role, I have co-hosted Coding Codices, the organisation’s official podcast, and worked collaboratively with the committee to develop and deliver training opportunities that support postgraduate and early-career researchers in building digital skills and engaging with emerging methods in the field.

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Each member of the society will receive a link to vote for their preferred candidate. Please do so in the next few days — the election closes June 2nd, 5pm EST.

Thank you,

Paul Barrett