The Team
Mary Chester-Kadwell
Cambridge University Library
Mary is a Senior Software Engineer at Cambridge University Library and Lead Research Software Engineer for Cambridge Digital Humanities. She has a PhD in the landscape archaeology and material culture of the early medieval period using computational methods, and worked in science publishing, heritage and museums before becoming a software developer.
Mary works on a wide range of library services and Digital Humanities projects, encompassing full-stack software development, DevOps and data science. For Cambridge Digital Humanities, she leads on Research Software Engineering strategy and infrastructure, advises researchers on the technical aspects of projects and teaches coding and software engineering practices. Mary is a keen hackathon practitioner: as well as co-directing Hands:On Hackathon she has been involved in many more. Mary is most likely to be heard saying “step outside your comfort zone!” and most likely to be found cooking Korean food.
James Freeman (2023)
Cambridge University Library
James is the Medieval Manuscripts Specialist at Cambridge University Library and is responsible for its collection of over 2,000 handwritten books, which range in date from the 5th to the 15th centuries. He is also Principal Investigator on the Wellcome-funded project Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries. Based at and led by Cambridge University Library, the project team are digitising, cataloguing and conserving over 180 manuscripts at the University Library, Fitzwilliam and twelve college libraries that contain unpublished medical recipes. In addition, the cataloguing team will be using Transkribus to produce full-text transcriptions of these recipes, in order to make their contents more discoverable and accessible to researchers.
Suzanne Paul
Cambridge University Library
Suzanne is Keeper of Rare Books and Early Manuscripts at Cambridge University Library. A medieval manuscript scholar by training, she is really interested in the physical and theoretical impacts of the digital shift on the curation and study of manuscripts. She has been involved with several large-scale manuscript digitisation projects including Parker on the Web and the Polonsky Foundation Greek Manuscripts Project. She is interested in learning about and applying all types of digital approaches to texts and textual objects and is particularly keen on using digital tools to share manuscripts with the widest possible audience in teaching and public engagement. The Hands:on hackathon brings together her favourite things: (1) manuscripts, (2) bright, creative people buzzing with ideas and (3) cake.
Eyal Poleg
Queen Mary University of London
Eyal Poleg is a reader in material history at Queen Mary University of London. He is a historian of premodern objects and faith. He has published widely on the late medieval and the early modern Bible, most recently in his latest monograph: A Material History of the Bible. England 1200-1553 (OUP, 2020). His work has explored the ways material culture can inform on the history of medieval and early modern religion. He often liaise with scientists, curators and conservators in the analysis of historical objects, advancing the use of new technologies, such as the use of DNA analysis and microscopes in the study of ancient books. He is a keen rower, and often found in a boat on the river.
Chris Sparks
Queen Mary University of London
Chris Sparks is Senior Lecturer in Digital History at QMUL. As part of this role he develops the School’s digital education strategy and works with colleagues who want to use digital techniques and tools in their research or teaching. He is a sometime software developer and a lapsed medievalist. In his spare time you will find him at the climbing wall.