Stepping Into a New Kind of Energy
There’s a special kind of buzz that comes with a big international conference, the hum of conversations in a dozen different accents, the shuffle of people moving between sessions, and the lively exchanges over coffee in crowded corners. Until this year, I’d never experienced it. I found it for the first time in Lisbon, at the Digital Humanities 2025 conference.
This was no ordinary trip for me. It was my first in-person international conference and my first time presenting at one. On Thursday, July 17, I’d be co-presenting a long paper with my colleague Rachel McCarthy: Rewriting Tradition: Quantifying Change in Lady Gregory’s Irish Legends.
The Journey to Lisbon
I set off from Cork on Sunday, July 13, catching an early flight through Amsterdam’s bustling Schiphol Airport. By mid-afternoon, Lisbon was unfolding beneath me, golden in the summer light. The city met me with two kinds of warmth, the sunshine, of course, but also the easy friendliness in the way people smiled and greeted me. The Mercure Lisboa Hotel became my base for the week, a comfortable spot to return to after the conference bustle.
That first evening, eager to stretch my legs after the journey, I wandered through the neighborhood and then made my way to the venue. I wanted to get a feel for the transport routes before the rush of the first morning, a small ritual to calm my mind and ground myself in a new place. By the time I returned to my hotel, the anticipation was humming: tomorrow the conference would begin, and I was ready to dive in.
What #DH2025 Was All About
The conference theme, Accessibility & Citizenship, wove its way through almost every session. People were talking about the promise and pitfalls of AI, copyright and data licensing, privacy, and just how “open” open data should be. Crowdsourcing came up often, as did more technical topics like data modelling and text/image analysis. But one subject dominated the week: large language models and what they might mean for future humanities research.
Conference Kick-off and Inspiring Keynotes
Monday morning, NOVA University’s campus was alive with energy. As a first-time attendee at an international conference, I soaked it all in, the clusters of people deep in discussion, the mix of languages, the shared excitement.
The opening keynote, Automating the Past by Javier Cha, was a brilliant blend of medieval history and cutting-edge computational methods. It set the perfect tone for the week: a reminder of how old stories and new tools can illuminate each other.
The days that followed were a blur of panels and paper sessions covering everything from textual analysis to cultural heritage preservation. Coffee breaks felt like their own kind of sessions, and It was in these moments that I began to understand how diverse, curious, and welcoming the DH community really is.
Presenting “Rewriting Tradition”
Thursday was our big day. Our research explored how Lady Augusta Gregory, a dramatist and folklorist central to the Irish Literary Revival adapted traditional Irish folk tales into English in her 1903 collection Cuchulain of Muirthemne, and how those adaptations differed from the originals.
When it was my turn to speak, I walked the audience through the “how” of our work, the technicalities: word frequency analysis, sentiment analysis, word embeddings and visualization techniques to reveal subtle shifts in language and emphasis.
The questions that followed were thoughtful and engaging. Someone asked about the challenges of applying sentiment analysis to historical texts, sparking a very valid and lively discussion. I realized I was answering with genuine enthusiasm rather than just relief that it was over. When we stepped away from the podium to applause, I felt not just accomplished, but genuinely happy I’d had the chance to present.
A Night to Remember at Cervejaria Trindade
Fittingly, the day of our talk ended with the conference banquet on July 17 – and it turned out to be an unforgettable evening. The venue was Cervejaria Trindade, a historic brewery-turned-restaurant in Lisbon’s Chiado district. Housed in a former 13th-century monastery, the hall is adorned with beautiful azulejo tiles and brims with old-world charm.
As we sat down at long communal tables under arched ceilings, I felt the camaraderie of the DH community all around.
By some stroke of luck, I found myself seated next to two giants of the digital humanities world: Jan Rybicki, the celebrated Jagiellonian University scholar whose stylometric work has shaped the field, and Glen Layne-Worthey, a pioneer in digital scholarship and one of the leading figures in shaping how libraries support digital humanities research. I’d expected to be a little star-struck, and I was, but they were very warm, welcoming, and endlessly generous with stories about the evolution of DH, the kind that make you feel like you’ve been let in on the field’s best-kept secrets.
By dessert time I realized I’d been conversing with and learning from two luminaries in our field as if we were old colleagues. The banquet wasn’t just about good food (though it was delicious) but about forging connections. I left with a full heart (and a very full stomach), grateful for the warmth of the DH community.
Exploring Sintra’s Splendor
With the conference wrapping up on the 18th, a few of us decided to embrace the opportunity to explore beyond Lisbon. On Friday, I joined my colleagues from CASCADE – Rachel and Anastasiia Vestel, on a trip to Sintra, a picturesque town nestled in the hills outside Lisbon. Sintra is famous for its fairytale castles and estates, and it did not disappoint. Our first stop was the Pena Palace, a multicolored Romanticist castle perched atop a peak.
Walking up the winding paths through lush gardens, we were greeted by the palace’s red and yellow towers coming into view through the mist. We toured the palace gardens, marveling at the lavishly decorated walls and panoramic views of the surrounding landscape. The air was fresh up there, a nice break from the city heat, and we found ourselves taking countless photos of the palace’s whimsical architecture.
Next, we ventured to the Quinta da Regaleira, an estate that is equal parts elegant and mysterious. This property is known for its enchanting gardens filled with symbolic statues, hidden tunnels, and the famous Initiation Well – a deep spiral stairwell carved into the earth. We descended the mossy steps of the well, feeling like explorers uncovering secret rites of the past. At the bottom, a tunnel led us out to a cave behind a waterfall. It was truly magical! We spent the afternoon wandering Regaleira’s grounds: crossing little bridges, popping into grottoes, and climbing towers. Every corner seemed to hold a surprise or a stunning view. My colleagues and I had a blast, and it was the perfect way to unwind after the intense conference week. By evening, we headed back to Lisbon, tired but elated. While the others stayed on for a final stroll through Lisbon central, Rachel and I left early to prepare for the morning flight.
Reflections on a Fulfilling Week
Sitting on the flight back home to Cork on July 19, I had plenty of time to reflect on the whirlwind that was the past week. This trip was a series of firsts for me: my first time in Portugal, my first major conference presentation, and the first time I truly felt at ease speaking in front of an audience. Co-presenting with a supportive colleague and being thoroughly prepared made a world of difference in overcoming my nerves. The encouraging feedback and the engaging discussions that followed boosted my confidence as a researcher.
I came home with new contacts, fresh ideas, and a deep appreciation for the warmth of the DH community. Lisbon and DH2025 will always have a special place in my memory, not just for the scholarship, but for the conversations, the laughter, and the realization that stepping out of my comfort zone had been worth every moment.
Rasika Edirisinghe is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka Telecom Training Centre, specializing in Data Science, fundamentals of AI, and Business Intelligence. With an M.Sc. in Business Analytics from Robert Gordon University and over five years of industry experience across various data science roles, Rasika brings a wealth of practical and theoretical knowledge to academia. His research interests span NLP, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning, with a focus on sentiment reason mining and healthcare analytics. Rasika’s recent work includes developing a Twitter Sentiment Reason Mining Framework for the US healthcare industry. As a Data Analyst at EFL Global.llc, he has implemented data-driven solutions for automating business processes across global operations.
CASCADE is a collaboration between University College Cork, University of Sheffield, University of Helsinki, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, and Universität des Saarlandes. Funded by Horizon Europe under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Doctoral Networks and the UKRO.