Digital Lead (Subcontractor) – ERC Project KITAB-Transform

Aga Khan University; Greater London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A prestigious educational institution in London seeks a Digital Lead (Subcontractor) for the ERC project KITAB-Transform. This role involves managing work packages, leading methodology, and providing technical direction for computational models. Candidates should possess a PhD in relevant fields and experience in Digital Humanities projects. Proficiency in Arabic and Persian is essential, alongside significant publication experience. This position offers a unique opportunity to collaborate with leading researchers and contribute to impactful open-access projects.

Qualifications

• Substantial experience working on Digital Humanities projects.
• Experience publishing datasets via Zenodo or comparable open-access platforms.
• Experience addressing research problems in Information Retrieval.

Responsibilities

• Lead WP4 of the ERC-funded project KITAB-Transform.
• Provide computational support to other work packages.
• Present research and data at conferences.

Skills

PhD in Computer Science or Digital Humanities

Proficiency in Arabic and Persian

Experience in Digital Humanities projects

Experience in text reuse detection

Named Entity Recognition

Working with datasets

Education

PhD in Computer Science or Digital Humanities

Tools

Zenodo

OpenITI corpus

Job description

Digital Lead (Subcontractor) – ERC Project KITAB-Transform

Location

London, United Kingdom

Introduction

Aga Khan University – Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (AKU-ISMC) invites qualified subcontractors to apply for the position of Digital Lead to manage and deliver Work Package 4 (WP4) of the European Research Council–funded project KITAB-Transform. The Digital Lead will provide methodological leadership and technical direction for the development of computational models for transformative reuse across the KITAB corpus. The role involves close collaboration with the Principal Investigator, research fellows, and postdoctoral researchers across multiple work packages. This position is offered on a subcontractor basis and does not constitute an employment relationship with Aga Khan University.

Responsibilities

The Digital Lead will take the lead on WP4 of the ERC-funded project KITAB-Transform and will also provide computational support to other work packages of the project. The Digital Lead will coordinate and provide direction for the methodological and technical requirements for creating models for transformative reuse. Supported by cases developed in WP2, the Digital Lead will coordinate with and provide direction to the Principal Investigator, research fellows, and postdoctoral researchers working on this work package. The Digital Lead will present research and data on the models at computer science conferences and work with the project team to publish reports, models, and data on open-access platforms.

• Publish an initial report on the modelling approach (Y1 Q2)
• Set up experimental evaluation software (Y1 Q2)
• Finalise evaluation software (Y3 Q2)
• Carry out approximately 6,000 evaluations (Y3 Q1, Y4 Q2)
• Publish model(s) for identifying and classifying transformations (Y3 Q4)
• Publish model(s) for literary systems (Y4 Q4)
• Publish documentation on models and processes (Y3 Q4, Y4 Q4)
• Publish text reuse data for the entire corpus (Y3 Q4, Y4 Q4)
• Give at least three computer science conference presentations with accompanying published papers (Y2–Y4)
• Assist the research team in developing the web portal for visualising and reading transformative reuse data

Expected outcomes:

• Modelling Report
• Publish documentation of models and processes
• Publish text-reuse datasets for the KITAB corpus

Requirements

• PhD in Computer Science or Digital Humanities, or equivalent research experience
• Substantial experience working on Digital Humanities projects
• Proficiency in Arabic and Persian sufficient to work with historical and literary texts in the KITAB corpus
• Experience publishing datasets via Zenodo or comparable open-access platforms
• Experience addressing research problems in the field of Information Retrieval
• Experience working with the OpenITI corpus
• Experience in text reuse detection
• Experience with Named Entity Recognition
• Experience developing or contributing to open-access digital research portals

To Apply

Interested bidders must submit the following:

• Company profile and legal registration documents, if applicable
• CV(s) and a cover letter (for individual subcontractors)
• Financial proposal in GBP (inclusive of VAT)

All tenders must be submitted by email to [e-mail] and [e-mail] with the subject line:
"Tender Submission – [Tender Reference Number] – [Bidder Name]"

The deadline for submission is Sunday, 18 January 2026, please note we will review the tender and CVs as soon as we receive them and contact shortlisted candidates.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

Aga Khan University – Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (AKU-ISMC) is committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion and welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of background, protected characteristics, or personal circumstances.

Applications should be submitted latest by January 18, 2026