On Tuesday, 16 June, the Cabinet of Ministers approved the national research programme “Digital Humanities and Social Sciences”, developed by the Ministry of Education and Science. The aim of the programme is to ensure the development and preservation of Latvian culture and the Latvian language in the digital environment by creating resources that are accessible and freely available to anyone interested, including researchers and public authorities.
“The National Research Programme ‘Digital Humanities and Social Sciences’ is an investment in Latvia’s future – it will help ensure the sustainability of our language and culture, as well as their connection with European and international digital environments. The programme will provide solutions to contemporary challenges such as disinformation and the decline of linguistic diversity, ensuring that our cultural heritage remains alive, accessible and understandable to future generations,” emphasises Minister of Education and Science Ilze Indriksone.
Digital humanities and social sciences constitute an interdisciplinary approach in which research questions in the humanities and social sciences are analysed using digital technologies, data analysis and computational methods. The programme is particularly focused on developing publicly accessible, easy-to-use digital solutions, as well as involving society in research and digitisation processes. Digital humanities already provide useful solutions for society – the digital archive of the folklore repository Garamantas.lv, the digital knowledge platform letonika.lv, the unified electronic dictionary platform tezaurs.lv and others, which need to be further developed, expanded and explored.
As part of the programme, a solution will be developed for providing consultations on the Latvian language and processing data, helping anyone interested to obtain high-quality and rapid online answers about language use – spelling, punctuation, stylistics and other matters concerning the correct use of Latvian. At the same time, with the programme’s support, scientific publications will be produced, innovative digital tools will be developed, and proposals will be submitted to policymakers. This will include the development of solutions for analysing messages disseminated in digital media and social networks that threaten Latvia’s statehood and culture, and for providing scientifically grounded recommendations to strengthen the resilience of the state and society in the face of informational and psychological threats. Digital resources for the Latgalian written language and various eastern borderland dialects of Latvian will also be developed, such as learning resources for young people and children, as well as a machine translation tool for Latgalian–Latvian and Latvian–Latgalian written language.
As a result of the implementation of the programme, a range of practically applicable solutions will be created, digital research methodology in the fields of culture and art and visual cultural artefacts will be developed, the renewal and professional development of researchers will be promoted, and the accessibility of Latvia’s cultural and artistic resources, as well as the Latvian language, will be enhanced. The programme will also promote human capital development – young researchers, students and diaspora researchers are planned to be involved in the research. Society will gain access to the latest research results, which will strengthen understanding of the Latvian language, culture and social processes.
The state budget funding is planned to be allocated through a single project competition. Funding of EUR 1,309,380 from the state budget is planned for the implementation of the programme from 2026 to 2029.
The Programme’s Strategic Management Council participated in the development of the project, including representatives and sector experts from the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Culture, the State Language Centre, the Latvian National Commission for UNESCO, the Latvian Umbrella Body for Disability Organisations “SUSTENTO”, the association “Artificial Intelligence Centre”, Tilde Ltd, the association “Latvian Information and Communications Technology Association”, and the association “Shared Information Technology Services Centre for Higher Education and Science”.
More information about the draft order “Par valsts pētījumu programmu “Digitālās humanitārās un sociālās zinātnes” 2026.–2029. gadam” is available on the website of the Cabinet of Ministers.
