The John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation has always been a supporter of the operation and multifaceted work of the Research Centre for the Humanities (RCH) since establishment of the latter in 2015. The main purpose of the RCH is the support and funding of research in the Humanities through a wide range of activities, in order to be a springboard for young scientists who are preparing their own research initiatives. In addition, it organizes workshops, conferences and meetings with the aim of further disseminating research results to both the scientific community and the general public.

In 2021, with funding from the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation, activities were implemented in three areas:

1. Research Project “The Greek Revolution of 1821: Digital Archive”

On the occasion of two hundred years since 1821, RCH has been implementing since 2016 a large-scale bilingual (Greek/English) Research Project entitled “The Greek Revolution of 1821: Digital Archive”, which is funded, among others, by the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation. Under this Project, a digital platform about the Greek Revolution of 1821 was created, in which the public can search for evidence items, archival and audiovisual material, as well as digital exhibits related to the Greek Revolution, such as scientific studies, works of art, everyday objects, folk songs, heirlooms, etc. This digital endeavour is implemented in the framework of the actions of the “Initiative 1821-2021” and marks one of the most important collaborative initiatives in the field of Digital Humanities, with the participation of reputable institutions, such as the National Library of Greece, the General State Archives, the Library of the Hellenic Parliament, etc.

The official presentation of the 1821 Digital Archive took place on 26 March 2021 by the Academic Steering Committee of the project together with the opening of the exhibition on the same theme, and under the same title, which was held at the Benaki Museum - Piraeus 138 during the period March - July 2021. The exhibition was an installation that interpreted, from a spatial perspective, both the idea of archiving and classification, as well as the dynamic narrative that results from the fragmented approach to evidence related to the 1821 Revolution and presented the research results of the project through digital exhibits.

The 1821 Digital Archive in numbers:

• 13,804 documentation tabs (documents, arts, music, books)
• 13,487 items from 31 archival and museum institutions throughout Greece
• 60,000 digitised files (images of documents, images of works of art, images of objects, and audio material)
• 44,127 keywords (thematic terms, individuals and legal entities, families, locations)

2. RCH Digital Library

The new publishing endeavor of RCH in collaboration with the National Documentation Centre aims, on the one hand, to disseminate scientific knowledge in the field of humanities by creating a wider reading and research community and, on the other, to expand the field of digital publishing and its growing research potential. In 2021 the entirely new digital reading environment, designed and developed with the support of the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation, was enriched with a variety of publishing series, such as the annual volumes with the results of the research projects conducted with funding from RCH, the minutes from conferences workshops, as well as material from the 1821 Digital Archive.

3. Annual Research Projects

Each year, the RCH publishes public calls for the submission of proposals, inviting postdoctoral researchers and research groups to submit proposals for a period of one year. The applications are evaluated by distinguished, in their relevant disciplines, scientists from Greece and abroad, using criteria such as the originality of the research idea, the novelty of the proposed methodology, as well as the final deliverables. In 2021, with funding from the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation, 7 research projects were prepared in the categories: The Social World, Diversity, Institutions and Values, The Study of the Human Past and Cultures and Cultural Production.

• 170 applications for scientific research were submitted for funding in 2021 under the 6th Public Call.

Browse the 1821 Digital Archive here.