DOHLab TU Darmstadt
Digital Oral History Laboratory
A physical research space within the International Digital Oral History Lab (IDOHL)
DOHLab provides professional audiovisual equipment, local computational infrastructure and digital research tools for recording, processing, analysing and preserving oral histories. In particular, it supports teaching in Humanities Data Science and Methodology (HDSM), the chair led by Professor Julianne Nyhan at TU Darmstadt. It also supports a small number of researchers and research students whose projects she has reviewed and agreed in advance.
About the laboratory
The Digital Oral History Laboratory (DOHLab) at TU Darmstadt is a physical research hub within the International Digital Oral History Lab (IDOHL), a collaborative initiative involving TU Darmstadt and University College London (UCL).
DOHLab was conceived and founded by Professor Julianne Nyhan, who secured funding for its establishment through TU Darmstadt’s ZVSL programme (Geräte für die Lehre), which supports the acquisition of equipment for teaching. The funding required a 50% co-financing contribution, which Professor Nyhan provided from the start-up funds allocated to her upon her appointment at TU Darmstadt. The laboratory was subsequently designed and developed through collaboration between the Humanities Data Science and Methodology (HDSM) team at TU Darmstadt and the directors of IDOHL at UCL.
Located at the Institute of History at TU Darmstadt, HDSM brings together historical research, digital methods, and computational approaches to the humanities. DOHLab provides professional audiovisual equipment, computational infrastructure, and digital research tools to support the collection, processing, analysis, and preservation of oral history materials.
More than a recording studio, DOHLab is a shared environment for research, experimentation, teaching, and methodological innovation.
Who can use the laboratory
DOHLab supports the teaching of HDSM in particular. Beyond this teaching, it supports researchers and research students only by prior review and agreement with Professor Julianne Nyhan.
The laboratory has limited capacity, so access is selective. It works with a small number of projects, chosen for their quality and their fit with the laboratory’s research profile. Professor Nyhan reviews each project and proposal in advance and agrees whether it may use the laboratory. Access to its equipment and expertise is not automatically available.
Students and research students who would like to propose a project can use the enquiry form on our Study & Supervision page. Researchers who would like to propose a research project or research fellowship should contact Professor Nyhan.
Recording and multimodal research
DOHLab supports oral history research in a range of settings, from individual interviews conducted in the field to studio recordings, online conversations, and multimodal documentation.
Its flexible equipment kits include professional Zoom audio recorders, Sennheiser and RØDE microphones, Canon mirrorless cameras, and portable Rotolight lighting systems. These resources enable high-quality audio and video recording in different research environments.
The laboratory also provides equipment for experimental forms of documentation, including 360-degree video and spatial audio recording, as well as tools for photogrammetry and audiovisual post-production.
Rather than functioning as a collection of individual devices, the equipment is organised around complete research workflows, allowing researchers to select and combine technologies according to their methodological needs.
Artificial intelligence and data sovereignty
A central feature of DOHLab is its capacity to explore emerging artificial intelligence technologies for oral history research.
The laboratory’s computational infrastructure includes GPU-equipped systems capable of running speech recognition tools such as Whisper and WhisperX, as well as locally deployed large language models (LLMs). These technologies support transcription, word-level alignment, speaker diarisation, and experimental approaches to analysing interview content.
Rapid developments in open and locally deployable AI models are continually expanding these possibilities. Quantisation and efficient inference technologies increasingly enable researchers to experiment with language and multimodal models on laboratory-scale hardware, opening new directions for audio understanding, semantic analysis, and the integration of speech, text, and video.
Local AI processing is central to the laboratory’s approach to data sovereignty. Running AI tools on local research infrastructure can reduce dependence on commercial cloud services and provide greater control over sensitive interview materials. This approach is aligned with IDOHL’s broader commitment to responsible research data management and ethical governance.
Teaching and research training
DOHLab primarily supports teaching and research within Humanities Data Science and Methodology (HDSM) at TU Darmstadt. It provides students with opportunities to gain practical experience in oral history methodology, professional recording technologies, audiovisual editing, digital transcription, and AI-assisted research methods.
The laboratory supports undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, master’s and doctoral research, and practical training activities connected to HDSM’s research and teaching programmes.
By working with the same infrastructure used in ongoing research projects, students develop both technical skills and a critical understanding of the methodological, ethical, and practical challenges of Digital Oral History.
Research collaborations and funding proposals
Researchers at TU Darmstadt, across the Rhine-Main Universities Alliance and more widely in Germany and internationally may approach the Digital Oral History Laboratory about its possible participation in research funding proposals. Such participation is selective and must be discussed and agreed in advance with Professor Julianne Nyhan. It will be considered where a proposed project is relevant to the laboratory’s research profile and would benefit substantively from its equipment, computational infrastructure and specialist expertise.
Relevant projects may extend beyond oral history to include, for example, multimodal and audiovisual documentation; field, studio or online recording; 360-degree video and spatial audio; photogrammetry; computational processing of audiovisual materials; local AI-supported transcription and analysis; or ethically sensitive approaches to the creation, interpretation and stewardship of research data. DOHLab is not a general-purpose recording, digitisation or technical-services unit, and access to its equipment and expertise is not automatically available.
Where collaboration is agreed, the proposal must include an appropriate and explicitly identified budget for the laboratory’s project-specific contribution, including relevant equipment use and specialist staff time, subject to TU Darmstadt’s institutional requirements and the rules of the funding body. Depending on the particular scheme and call, potentially relevant funders may include the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR), Horizon Europe and the European Research Council, and research foundations such as the Volkswagen Foundation.
Researchers who wish to investigate this possibility should contact Professor Nyhan at an early stage of proposal development.
Funding for research visits
Researchers who would like to come and work with IDOHL may be able to seek funding from schemes such as those below, once their proposed research stay or fellowship has been agreed with Professor Nyhan. Eligibility rules and deadlines differ between schemes and change over time, so please check each funder’s current guidance. Most schemes require a letter of invitation or support from the host, so please contact Professor Nyhan well before any deadline.
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German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
Funds research stays in Germany for international academics and researchers, and supports joint bilateral projects with partner organisations in a number of countries.
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TU Darmstadt
The university’s Welcome Centre advises international researchers on practical arrangements for their stay.
Contact DOHLab
Researchers and research students interested in proposing collaborative projects, research visits, fellowships, or funding applications involving DOHLab are invited to contact the laboratory through one of the two routes below.
Prospective collaborators are encouraged to make contact at an early stage to discuss their research ideas, potential contributions, and resource requirements.
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Students and research students
To propose a project, please use the enquiry form on our Study & Supervision page. Professor Nyhan reviews every proposal before any use of the laboratory is agreed.
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Researchers
To propose a research project, research visit or fellowship, or to discuss DOHLab’s participation in a funding proposal, please contact Professor Julianne Nyhan.