Category: Blog Posts 2026

The fourth and final CASCADE Training and Research Camp took place on 1st September at the University of Sheffield. In the impressive surrounds of the Sir Frederick Mappin Building, the CASCADE ESR cohort and their PhD supervisors convened to engage together in a programme of activity focused on the theme of ‘Working with Industry and The Public’. Covering topics ranging from post-phD employment pathways to writing for a non-specialist audience, the programme included a comprehensive presentation from Digital Technologies Consultant Mervyn Levin titled, ‘So you’ve got your PhD – now what?’ (during which Mervyn uncovered what seemed like every single employment opportunity in sectors ranging from EdTech to HR that our ESRs could potentially aim for!); a frank and lively panel discussion on post-doc routes to employment within academia, chaired by The Digital Humanities Institute Director, Mike Pidd, and a hands-on data problem solving session focused on the commercial insurance sector. The ESRs also had an opportunity to flex their writing skills with a practical session dedicated to research communication and the dissemination skills needed to demonstrate the broader value of their work. Watch this space for updates on CASCADE-related articles appearing in a publication or two of note!

The ICEHL or the International Conference of English Historical Linguistics is a biannual conference started in Durham in 1979. Its second most recent installment was hosted by the University of Sheffield in 2023. ICEHL has evolved from a regional meeting to a leading international forum dedicated to the study of the history and development of the English language, attracting researchers worldwide. Specifically, the 23rd ICEHL’s 4-day programme was jam-packed with over 140 presentations and 3 plenary talks by scholars across Europe, America, and Asia.

This 23rd edition of the conference was hosted by Universitá degli Studi de Milano in a building known as the Ca’ Granda. This large venue has played a prominent role in the history of the city that dates back to the 15th century. Its main purpose was to serve as a hospital and community center, hence the name which can be translated to ‘Big House’. This was certainly a fitting place to come together, as Milan offered us a very warm welcome that was both literal and figurative. However, the heat was no impediment for the attendees to participate in the stacked program which offered over one hundred parallel sessions and some intriguing plenary talks, with just enough time between them to catch-up with others while sipping espressos in the courtyard.

One of the greatest perks of being an Early Stage Researcher (ESR) within CASCADE is the uniquely designed secondments at renowned institutions. For my PhD project, The ‘Spirit’ in the Chamber: Capturing Zeitgeist in UK parliamentary debates, I had an invaluable opportunity to engage in an intensive 11-week secondment at the University of Glasgow from 30 October 2025, together with my fellow Sheffield ESR, Maria. I enthusiastically dived deep into the quirky yet fascinating history of parliamentary reporting, stories of data mining throughout the years, and hopeful prospects of yet another captivating research story of the UK parliamentary discourse.

Travelling to the Conference of the European Chapter of the Association for Computational Linguistics (EACL) in Rabat, Morocco was one of the highlights of my PhD so far. It was my very first paper presentation at my very first big conference, so naturally I arrived with equal amounts of excitement, nerves, and the vague feeling that I should try very hard not to look too obviously starstruck.

Last November was a busy month for me. I had the chance to attend two major events back-to-back: the FCAI AI Day in Espoo and the Nordic AI Meet (NAIM) in Sweden. I gave the same talk at both events: “Detecting Latin in Historical Books with Large Language Models.” This represents the core of my PhD work during my first year. I also presented a poster at NAIM.