2024 C2DH Thinkering Grant
The 2024 C²DH Thinkering Award went to the “Rust and Research” team, made up of four doctoral candidates: Zoé Konsbruck, Masha Meleshko-Sudina, Nicolas Arendt and Joé Voncken. They submitted a proposal to create a card game based on public history and the industrial history of Luxembourg. “Rust and Research” – the title of the game – takes players on a time-travel adventure on the University of Luxembourg’s very own Belval Campus, exploring both its unique industrial heritage and its transition to Luxembourg’s leading location for research. A key mechanism that underlies the game – which is still in early development – consists in switching between two timelines: Belval’s past and Belval’s present. This “time flip” frequently changes the gameplay, pushing players to adapt and react. The game is due to be released later this year.
EU Prize for Citizen Science: HistorEsch project receives an honorary mention
The EU Prize for Citizen Science recognises outstanding citizen science initiatives that enact change, expand knowledge and address social, political, cultural and environmental challenges through the involvement of citizens. The international jury for the prize described HistorEsch, led by Thomas Cauvin with the support of Joëlla Van Donkersgoed, as follows: “The project democratizes city history by engaging citizens in co-creating narratives via murals, audio tours, and exhibitions. It involves the community throughout, bridging historical gaps and deepening heritage connections.”
More about Historesch: https://historesch.lu/historesch
2024 Jean Monnet Fellowship for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute (EUI)
Elena Danescu, a research scientist at the C²DH, was awarded a competitive Jean Monnet Fellowship at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCS) within the European University Institute (EUI), Florence, for the research project “The female face of the EU”, which will be developed over a 12-month period (September 2024 – September 2025).
The aim of this comparative, interdisciplinary project, which will explore a wide range of existing archives, develop new multimedia primary sources and employ digital methods and tools, is to generate and disseminate new knowledge on the representation and influence of women in shaping European integration and democracy, through the lens of their individual trajectories, personal narratives and transnational networks. This research will foster specific synergies with the archival collections of other European institutions, generate innovative content for research and teaching – including through links with the ongoing oral history project at the C²DH, in cooperation with the Media Centre of the University of Luxembourg (UL), entitled “The role of women in European and international relations in Luxembourg” (2022-2025) – and stimulate debates and knowledge sharing with academia and the general public.
2024 Science Writing Competition
A paper by Gabor M. Toth, “History, Loss, and Your GPS – Fragments from the Past”, won second prize in the 2024Luxembourg Science Writing Competition.
Drawing on a surprising analogy between early modern handwritten news and NASA's Apollo programme, the paper explains what historical research has in common with modern navigation technology: both have to tackle the problem of fragmentation and loss. The short paper, written for non-specialists, also explains how digital historians solve this problem by applying mathematical models that empower modern navigation systems. These mathematical models belong to the family of Bayesian methods and are capable of reconstructing what is lost or missing.
Irène Portas Vázquez wins the “Conter et Rencontrer les Sciences” competition for the comic strip The Miner from Italy
Irène Portas Vázquez, who wrote the comic strip The Miner from Italy, is a laureate of the “Conter et Rencontrer les Sciences” competition, organised by AUF Western Europe to recognise the best French-language popular science content produced by young researchers.
“Amongst the countless Italian migrants living in the Minett in the first half of the twentieth century, some got involved in underground communist networks. Through secret meetings, clandestine propaganda and subversive actions, they attempted to overthrow a system deemed pernicious for the workers of the Minett. How far did the boundaries of legality extend in the Minett? How were these boundaries transgressed and by whom?” The story of Luigi, the main character in the comic strip, might hold some answers to these questions...
Myriam Piguet receives the Lombard Odier Prize
Myriam Piguet was awarded the Lombard Odier Prize by the Swiss Forum for International Affairs for her PhD thesis entitled “Gender Before Mainstreaming: The Integration of Women to International Civil Service in the Secretariats of the League of Nations and the United Nations, circa 1920-1975”. Dr Piguet is a historian of international organisations who recently joined the C²DH’s EHI team as a postdoctoral researcher. She completed her PhD in Geneva, under the supervision of the Professors Sandrine Kott and Monika Baar. The Lombard Odier Prize recognises the innovative aspect of Dr Piguet’s PhD thesis and its ties with the current challenges faced by multilateralism and the role of the city of Geneva within it.
Others
- 2024 FNR Mentoring Award: Shortlisted – Thomas Cauvin.
- 2024 Marie Speyer Seal of Excellence: DH-GPTeach project submission for the 2024 Marie Speyer Excellence Grant was awarded a special recognition.
- Minett Stories selected for The Best in Heritage 2024 online edition in the category Imagines: New technologies and multimedia.
- Nomination of the multimedia exhibition “Remixing Industrial Pasts: Constructing the Identity of the Minett” for the Compasso d’oro 2024 in the category Exhibition Design.
- 2024 Bronze Award in the Category “Magazines / Politics and Science” of the International Creative Media Award (ICMA – Germany) for the C2DH magazine Innovating & Sharing History.
