The Center for Digital Research in the Humanities is welcoming the fifth annual cohort of digital humanities fellows for the summer of 2026. Henrique Cassol Leal, a doctoral candidate in philosophy at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, is one of the four graduate students who will participate in the program designed to support research, scholarship, professional development and creative production skills.
Leal received a Master of Arts in philosophy from the University of Missouri–St. Louis and a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). His fellowship project, “The AI Moral Status Atlas: Mapping Concepts, Positions, and Argument Pathways in Contemporary Debate,” builds an “atlas” of key concepts, positions, arguments and objections in the debate about whether and how AI systems could have moral status.
This year's interdisciplinary cohort was selected through a competitive application process. The fellows receive a stipend and spend the first half of the summer in a dedicated shared workspace at the Dinsdale Family Learning Commons under the mentorship of Carrie Heitman, director of the Digital Humanities Summer Fellowship.
“Our goal with this program is to both support DH student projects and foster meaningful cross-disciplinary collaboration," Heitman said. "So many technical barriers are lower now than ever before. Students have access to things like AI-driven coding assistants that can really accelerate project development. I’m excited to help support another group of extraordinary scholars this summer.”
A mid-summer project showcase will take place at Dinsdale where students receive useful feedback from faculty and staff from across campus. During the second half of the summer, students continue to receive support through weekly Zoom meetings and cohort collaboration. In September, the students will present their final projects in a public DH Afternoons event sponsored by the center.
The fellows will have opportunities during their shared time together to discuss their projects, brainstorm ideas and solutions, meet with practitioners, learn about University of Nebraska–Lincoln support services, and meet with libraries and Center for Digital Research in the Humanities faculty and staff.
