DAHL Hall of Fame

Celebrate!

We have many great people in the Arts Faculty at Warwick, doing great work applying digital technologies in research, teaching, and public engagement. The Digital Arts and Humanities Lab supports our staff and students in advancing our use of these techniques. This Hall of Fame records and celebrates those people. We are starting this in October 2023, but will also work backwards, adding people from previous years.

2025

📃Ahmad Ismail, IDG

Ahmad has experience with a wide range of tools and techniques. He plans to use Raspberry Pi for Smart Home automation. He is developing a project aimed at locating and preserving historical records from the Kurdistan Region. This will use AI tools such as Transkribus. He is also planning to start online workshops collaborating with local talent to teach AI basics and its different applications.

🎖📃João Faustino, Centre for Cultural and Media Policy Studies

A member of the DAHL team in 2025, Jaõa developed the 2026 DAHL Strategy and communications designs. He also completed the DAHL Certificate.

🎖Sharla Peters, Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies

A member of the DAHL team in 2025, Sharla developed the 2026 DAHL Strategy and communications designs.

🏆🎖Rebecca Capel, History

A member of the DAHL team in 2025, Rebecca developed the 2026 DAHL Strategy and communications designs. Rebecca also presented a workshop about Zines (watch online), and is a past winner of the Showcase.

🏆🎖📃Isabella Jeong, English and Comparative Literary Studies

DAHL Showcase winner, DAHL Certificate completion, and DAHL Student Champion team member.

VR Cabinet of Curiosity
For Isabella's project she created a prototype of a short VR experience that was developed using Godot Engine. In this experience, the user is standing in front of the cabinet exhibit in the University of Warwick Faculty of Arts Building (FAB). The cabinet slowly opens, and the user can interact with the ammonite. Grabbing the ammonite transports the user into a shallow ocean, while releasing the ammonite transports the user back into the FAB.

The judges said: "This was an extremely ambitious project. The idea for the VR production was highly imaginative and not something many people would have encountered before. There was then a process of seeking a feasible route to implementation, with two highly complex systems being considered. Isabella worked amazingly well to come up with a series of solutions to challenges that required sophisticated technical abilities. The result is impressive, even though not yet fully operational in a headset – this is pioneering work using systems that should work, but which are new and as yet not entirely reliable. Isabella’s reflective account is also excellent, demonstrating an awareness of the practices that are essential to creative digital work."

🏆Sophie Bundock, School of Modern Languages and Cultures

DAHL Showcase winner for The Song That Shaped A Nation

"My creation is an educational textbook-style page for ALevel students based on the 12th-century poem, La Chanson de Roland, one of France's earliest and most influential examples of national mythmaking. Designed using PowerPoint, this medium allowed me to digitally replicate the format of an online textbook page and create a visually engaging resource for students. To avoid cramming the page with dense writing, and instead focus on presenting interactive and essential information, I included features such as audio buttons, external links to relevant podcasts and videos, and pictures. My creation also features clear sub-sections, textboxes, icons, and bold headings to further reflect the design conventions of online educational resources."

The judges commented: "You have managed to fit a lot into a small space, but it tells the story well and provokes the right kind of response from the reader. Well done. Nicely designed and constructed."

🏆Emilia West, School of Modern Languages and Cultures

DAHL Showcase Winner for Perrault's Contes as video game characters

"This was a student-devised assessment with the goal of responding creatively to one of the texts studied in the module. I chose to respond to Perrault's Contes by creating character designs for a video game based on the Contes- specifically Peau d'Ane and le Petit Chaperon Rouge. The aim was to design effective and recognisable characters for a video game that would be both entertaining and educational (as Perrault chose to write the stories with 'une manière qui instruisît et divertît tout ensemble' [Charles Perrault, Contes (1697)]). The audience would thus be those playing the video game; potentially adults as well as children as the Contes were intended to be shared within families and communities."

The judges commented: "Digital Arts and Humanities is a combination of critical (with out values motivating our work) and creative (putting them into practice, reflecting, and redesigning). You have demonstrated this perfectly. Well done. A great contribution to the theory and practice of “critical game studies” and the emerging genre of socially-aware inclusive game design."

🏆Thomas Beeching, History

DAHL Showcase Winner for Bracero: A Journey Across the U.S. Border

"This game is designed for many players, particularly those interested in history, U.S. immigration, and the personal narratives that shaped the Bracero Program (1942-1964). The primary audience includes students, educators, and history enthusiasts, focusing on high school and individuals seeking a deeper understanding of the complexities of immigration and labour history in the United States.

The game immerses the player in the journey of a Mexican labourer navigating the Bracero Program, combining historically accurate events with decision-based gameplay to engage players in a real-world scenario. The immersive storytelling, through various story paths, allows players to experience the challenges faced by those who seek to work in the program. The game achieves its educational goals by presenting accurate historical facts interspersed with personal choices, allowing players to understand the program's difficulties and harsh realities. It integrates essential elements such as medical inspections, labour conditions, and the broader socio-political context while ensuring the emotional and human side of the story is felt through character interactions and the presentation of direct photography from the time."

The judges commented: "Great work. I really enjoyed that and learned a lot. It helped me to empathise with the people. It also reminded me of similar stories of migrant workers from South Africa. It works well online, and it would make a good interactive exhibit in a museum."

🏆Jadesola Atiko, Isabelle Vaughan, Jasmine Malicay, Ozobialu Mbanefo,

Safiyyah Mansoor, Cultural and Media Policy Studies

DAHL Showcase Winners for SOLUS✆

"As a transmedia project, SOLUS✆ took on many forms - including a mixed media canvas with AR animation, a video documentary and student interviews, photography, an original song, poetry, creative writing and a strategic marketing plan. All of these were created with the shared goal of hosting an event that embodied a third space‚ as a way to encourage community building at Warwick. The culmination of our work is hosted on our website to preserve the memories made throughout the project and to continue spreading awareness of an issue that is so often overlooked."

The judges commented: "Amazing work. Well researched, designed, and implemented. The presentation on the website is comprehensive and compelling. The site itself is well designed, and has a strong and consistent visual theme, making it memorable. I think the ideas will stick and grow. We need to build on this, maybe with something more permanent in the FAB."

🏆lanairea aderemi, Theatre Studies

DAHL Showcase Winner for "record found here".

"10 years ago, my grandmother told her about the Egba Women’s Revolt, a resistance movement against colonial taxation in the late 1940s in Abeokuta. Inspired by a story my grandmother shared about the Egba Women’s Revolt, I explored archival documents, historical sites and oral testimonies to document the imaginative and revolutionary spirit of Abeokuta women in the 1940s." An 18 minute historical documentary film.

The judges commented: "Wonderful and beautiful. A very professional but also personal and complelling film. World class worK! All of the classic documentary techniques are there, perfectly done. The use of music is especially effective."

🏆Katie Unsworth, SMLC

DAHL Showcase Winner for Women in the Creation of a French Female Identity

"A two-page resource for an A-Level textbook that explores the idea of French identity, with particular attention to French female identity.

The intended audience for this resource would be A-Level students, and it was designed to be something you might find in a textbook, which can be seen with the layout of the different points and elements like the 'questions to consider' and 'key words' boxes. It would be best suited to students studying French who are learning more about French history and culture, but it would also be appropriate and potentially useful for students studying history who wanted to research this particular area. I use three texts from history to do this (La Chanson de Roland, La Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne, and Le Cœur à rire et à pleurer), focusing on female characters and ideas about femininity from each of them. The aim of this resource was to answer the following question that I set for myself: 'What influence do women have in the creation of French female identity?'. However, I wanted the audience to consider more than just the surface level of 'what' their influence is, but 'why' these women have this particular contribution, and where it comes from. The impact I wanted this resource to have was to highlight the changing nature of this identity, as well as the positive and negative contributions that different texts from history can, and have, had on how women are seen, and see themselves, in France."

The judges commented: "You have managed to get a lot into the two pages, exploring well a fascinating and significant history in a way that is engaging and enjoyable."

🏆Tudor Barratt, Film & TV Studies

DAHL Showcase Winner for Cameron Winter's 'Cancer of the Skull'

"Originally intended as a fan-made music video (now officially licensed!). Shot on Sony Digital Handycam DR-PC100E onto MiniDV tape. A young man dons a suit and sets off on an urban pilgrimage through industrial sprawl, accompanied by Cameron Winter's 'Cancer of the Skull'. We follow his excursion to an unknown location where he will have an enlightening, but disheartening, experience attempting to perform to a vacant auditorium. The early digital aesthetic provided by the MiniDV tapes helps to visually convey the disjuncture experienced by the young man; the footage seems simultaneously dated and timeless, just as the young man appears out of place but is attempting to meet social expectations."

The judges commented: "A paradoxical film, as it should be! You’ve captured a sense of alienation and the strangeness of the world, but also a charming, and sometimes whimsical personality that traverses it as our guide. Artistically great work. Logistically very impressive. Well done."

🏆Shuangshuang Cai, Theatre Studies

DAHL Showcase winner for BigArt & Moments·片刻 and a DAHL Hero for her podcasting.

"I started BigArt in 2019, which includes theatre performances, theatre festivals/art festivals, character interviews, theatre education workshops, etc., and try to bring the power of life to a wider audience with a variety of art forms. In 2025, I started experimenting with Podcasts, named ‘Moments - A Moment’ to engage in dialogue with artists, practitioners, academics, and entrepreneurs from all over the world to imagine a more imaginative future. As my podcast is created in both China and the UK, not only do I invite international and diverse guests, but I also hope to use this opportunity to attract people from different countries and cultures to listen to each other's stories, improve mutual understanding, and create a more harmonious and imaginative tomorrow together."

The judges commented: "Amazing work Shuangshuang, not just a single digital artefact, but a whole career presented in an inspiring and engaging web site and podcast. You’re a brilliant example for other students in the Faculty.

🏆Warwick Masters Programme Cohort 2025 anthology team

DAHL Showcase Winners for Tales from Tarot: An Anthology from the Warwick Writing Masters Cohort 2025.

Elizabeth Bell, Alexandre Bonello, Aleksandra Belokon, Ana Boroceanu, Claire Cunningham, Charlie Quirk, Irem Yesildag, Sally Deighan, Jamie Hammond, Emma Kuhnen, Thomas Braddock, Marion Donnellier, Belle George, Jack Grocott, Allie Hatton, Sadie Mullard.

"Every year the masters students of the Warwick Writing Programme have the option to undertake the creation of an anthology of their works, usually based on a theme. A smaller group of students take on the main responsibility of bringing the anthology to life with minimal input from the department. With roles ranging from editors-in-chief to fundraisers, every aspect of the piece is a result of the voluntary labour of the students. All of the hard work will coalesce into a published book which is a showcase of the talents of the 2025 cohort.

Our entry is an anthology of creative work based on tarot, from loose inspiration to complete adherence to the cards. It will exist both as a digital and physical book with no specific genre owing to the fact that every piece of poetry or prose is its own unique work. The digital copy will be a reflowable eBook format and contains images that correspond to the pieces. The format adheres to the industry standard, from font and indentations to the order of the sections."

The judges commented: "I always say to the University’s leadership that Creative Writing is the most entrepreneurial course with students who perfectly combine creativity, innovation, and practical ability. You guys get things done, even quite complicated things. And publishing is a surprisingly complicated business. This is a great example. Beautifully constructed too, so as to make it as readable and enjoyable as possible. Simple and clean design. In your reflective account, it’s good to hear that it was not all plain sailing. Challenges arose and you adapted as needed."

📃Dr. Craig Gent

Craig researches the social, political and ethical consequences of digital technology, often using work/labour as a site to explore these dynamics. He also pursuing a research interest in livestreaming, building on a longer involvement with tactical media. Across these areas, he is interested in interfaces, screens, real-time streams, human/nonhuman encounters, agency, temporality, power, computation, contestation and solidarity.

📃Dr. Kadriye Bozkurt

"For the project currently in progress, we are mainly using archives and data recourses, but we also plan to make use of Miro, an important tool for exchanging ideas and providing an interactive environment. It will be used effectively both in the research and the following presentations and training of students. In this collaborative online whiteboard tool, we as researchers from different locations can work together in real-time to share ideas, annotate research findings. Also, it helps create interactive, visual lessons that will be useful for presentations. In teaching, our students will be using Miro to work in groups collaboratively or to build presentations."

2024

📃🎖Raad Khair Allah (English)

PhD researcher and Senior Graduate Teaching Assistant, English.

Raad used the Miro online whiteboard platform to lead an international project with women from Arab countries sharing their experiences following a well designed structure and process scaffolded by the board's structure. This form of scaffolded and visual collaboration originated in the design industry, but is a great tool in research, teaching, and outreach. Raad presented her work and described her use of Miro in a DAHL Shorts session (watch onlineLink opens in a new window). She has since had awards from Harvard University and Duke University, the Barker Visiting fellowship from Durham University, and was shortlisted for the Paula Svonkin Creative Award, The Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association (PAMLA), USA (2022). DAHL Director Robert O'Toole says "Raad combined her curiosity about digital tools with academic rigour, creativity, and empathy, to take the methods I had introduced to a new level. Great work! We are awarding her the DAHL Hero medal."

🏆 Ruth-Anne Walbank (English)

Weaving History podcast seriesLink opens in a new window

Postgraduate researcher, winner of the best production prize in the DAHL Showcase competition, 2024

""Do you remember the first time you read poetry?"" This question greets listeners to the Weaving History podcast. Remembering is essential to the miniseries as it invites listeners to recover a forgotten piece of working-class history. Yet, I started this podcast with a personal narrative, with a recording of my grandma talking about weaving before she died in 2019. The story of the Cotton Famine told by this podcast is rooted in my family history and cultural memory. This combination of personal connection and radical literature makes Weaving History unique and resonated with over 200 listeners in its first week."

🏆 Jadesola Atiko, Molly McGoldrick, Qiyue Miao, Yishu Jin (CMPS)

Memoria

Undergraduates, best overall in the DAHL Showcase competition, 2024

"Our project, Memoria, stemmed from the prompt ‚'visions of the future‚'. We aimed to explore the universal theme of memories, specifically, the fact that in the 21st century, memories aren‚'t as valued as they were in the past, perhaps because preservation is much easier today thanks to technology. Memoria's purpose was, therefore, to encourage meaningful memory preservation for individuals in whatever way they saw fit, not just capturing the 'picture-perfect' moments that social media platforms have boasted."

🏆 Inca Hide-Wright (Liberal Arts) and Nikita Asnani (WIE)

Designing Together Diaries podcast seriesLink opens in a new window

Postgraduates, best reflection in the DAHL Showcase competition, 2024

"Our podcast is an extension of the WIHEA- and IATL-funded project "Designing Together" which aims to create a community of practice of colleagues from Warwick and beyond who are interested on using design thinking tools to enhance the student experience."

📃 Dr Yinghong Shang, Digital Arts and Humanities Certificate

Assistant Professor, Modern Languages.

"I have watched most of the videos listed for the DAHL certificates. The course is very informative and inspiring and I have learned a lot.

It is fascinating to see how Copilot compose an essay. I will try the features of Copilot and ChatGPT and see how I can apply it to language teaching and learning. I have used Miro in online teaching, but not much in classroom due to the limited Chinese fonts. I have emailed Miro AND asked them to add more fonts for Chinese and hope this can be sorted soon. Mindomo is a very useful tool. I have installed it on my laptop and would like to try to use it more."

📃 Shazana Shajahan, Digital Arts and Humanities Certificate

Undergraduate, English and Comparative Literary Studies, 2022-2025.

"After watching the DAHL shorts and longs, and completing the summaries after each video, I found that I was introduced to many new, different online software. I was particularly intrigued by the coding DAHL short which explained the process behind curating multiple choice questions, and this is a pathway which I would like to potentially put more research into. To add to this, the virtual reality platforms, especially the AI comedy show would be a platform I am keen on exploring in the future. However, for my final report, I decided to pursue the software Miro and Mindomo."

📃 Ruth-Anne Walbank, Digital Arts and Humanities Certificate

Doctoral Researcher (2022-2026), English and Comparative Literary Studies.

"Uncover a forgotten piece of working-class history through poetry, newspapers, and more.
Join Ruth-Anne to explore the Lancashire Cotton Famine in a six-episode mini-series of podcasts. Learn from
Lancashire locals and leading experts about how the cotton weaving industry in North-West England
connected to the American Civil War, the fight against slavery, and Victorian literature."

2023

📃 Dr Emrah Atasoy, Digital Arts and Humanities Certificate

EUTOPIA-SIF Fellow / Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow in the Institute for Advanced Studies.

Emrah was the first of this year's cohort to complete the certificate. In his reflective essay he wrote:

"This project questions why dystopia today is more powerful (pessimism and despair) than utopia (optimism and hope). It highlights the need to adopt a different approach for a possible paradigm shift and to shape the future more innovatively. Through the illustration of various utopian & dystopian portrayals in fiction and film via the use of Miro & mapping, the promotion of utopian, hopeful, and imaginative thinking in an age of climate crisis and other types of crises in a way that is accessible to both an academic audience and the general public
is aimed."

📃 Dr Ute Oswald, Digital Arts and Humanities Certificate

IAS Early Career Fellow and Associate Fellow, Centre for the History of Medicine

In her reflective essay Ute wrote that:

"I discovered Miro and its different templates and used a couple to get random ideas on sticky notes, just to collect them. I also used one of the templates to reflect on the difficulties I had with the project. The more I used Miro, the more the ideas flowed. I find this way of digital brainstorming very liberating, in a strange way. I then used Mindomo, to take this further. I really enjoyed creating the mind-map and all of a sudden, the structure of my chapter became clear, as I was able to add sub-topics and then sub-sub topics."

📃 Maialen Maugars, Digital Arts and Humanities Certificate

Doctoral researcher (2024), collaborative Doctoral Award project between the University of Warwick and Birmingham Museums

"Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is currently undergoing refurbishment, and parts of the collection will soon be re-displayed in the galleries. However, some objects will inevitably remain in storage, preventing visitors from understanding how large, and varied the collection is. My project will therefore consist in a digital exhibition featuring my thesis’ ten case studies. It will be built on Omeka S and will include pictures, metadata about the objects, a 200-words description of each object, and a glossary of the art dealers who supplied items to BMAG. I am also considering, if the technology allows it, to add a map and a timeline created on KnightLab to illustrate the collection’s acquisition and provenance."

📃 Hadijah Namyalo-Ganafa, Digital Arts and Humanities Certificate

Doctoral Researcher (2024)

"The most fascinating thing about Miro (online collaborative whiteboard platform) was its ability to secure virtual contributions from researchers and collaborators. This is a breakthrough for populations in Africa especially workers in Public Service whose travel budgets were scrapped to deal with the economic difficulties that were brought forth during the Covid-19 period. I utilised Miro in one of my seminars because some students are shy and feel too uncomfortable to express themselves in class. The shy students showed confidence and they willingly participated without being prompted. I hope to use Miro for conferences, collaboration projects, and teaching. I plan to use the cone of plausibility and empathic journey map while making presentations about my PhD field work findings."

📃🎖 Dr Tara Morton

Honorary Research Fellow, History Department. Fellow, Warwick Institute of Engagement.

"Mapping Women’s Suffrage (MWS) is a digital web mapping project set within a public facing website with social media facilities. Its aim is to plot and record the lives and locations of votes for women campaigners in villages towns and cities across the country at the height of the women’s movement in 1911. The project has developed organically, is open ended and ongoing. I developed the idea for the project and worked with a member of the academic technologies team at Warwick University to create it. Currently, I manage the project which chiefly entails inputting all submitted data for the project into Omeka; creating website content and digital media; maintaining existing and establish new relationships with experts and volunteers, nationally and locally for public project work." Tara presented her project at a DAHL Shorts session (watch onlineLink opens in a new window). DAHL Director Robert O'Toole says "Tara has consistently demonstrated an imaginative approach to the effective use of technology in Humanities research and outreach, having produced one great project, she is now exploring further opportunities with VR and GIS, showing an excellent understanding of the possibilities, but also a solid ability to collaborate with experts from academic and professional disciplines."

📃 Shekinah Vera-Cruz

Doctoral Researcher, Classics (2024)

"I’m glad that I participated in the project and that I attended the DAHL learning sessions. I learned a lot about the tools that are available for pursuing the digital humanities and the sessions offered by experts certainly helped to demystify these softwares, tools, and applications, allowing me to feel more confident in approaching them. Additionally, if I’m unsure about a particular tool, many of those who ran sessions expressed that they would be happy to be contacted for further discussion and consultation. As such, my network of academics and students who are interested in digital humanities has expanded, which is an invaluable resource, well beyond the scope of the specific project I decided to pursue."

🏆 Rebecca Capel (History)

Cobwebs (digital fanzine)

Undergraduate, best overall winner of the DAHL Showcase competition, 2023

"Last Summer, I created this zine, which focuses on Cobwebs, a magazine created in the late 1980s by Warwick University students. Initially, I was going to write an essay - throughout my research I realised that, as Cobwebs was deeply creative, my research translated much better to a zine. Unfortunately, Cobwebs, and the community which formed around it, have been largely forgotten - even feminist academics at Warwick were largely unaware it had existed. My zine attempts to emulate Cobwebs's spirit - its colour scheme, logos, lettering, and art."

🏆 Olivia Wildblood (English)

"Not Really British" (podcast)

Undergraduate, best production in the DAHL Showcase competition, 2023

"My podcast "Not Really British" explores my mum's experiences growing up and forming her identity in Britain as a Sri Lankan migrant in the 1970s. The podcast uses my mum’s story to tell a larger narrative of post-migration history- how host nations respond to ‘visible’ immigrants. I hope that by centring my narrative on intimate anecdotes shared first-hand by my mum, this podcast will provide listeners with fresh insights about the political and cultural moment that Commonwealth migrants found themselves in during the 1970s.

🏆 Emma Kühnelt (History)

Review of the exhibition "Jewish Resistance to the Holocaust" (podcast)

Undergraduate, best reflection in the DAHL Showcase competition, 2023

"In my podcast I reviewed an exhibition and my central question was: how does the exhibition narrate history and whose voices are in- and excluded? This question afflicted on my work and I tried to make my podcast as inclusive as possible. This gave me practice in critically selecting information and enabled me to approach research differently. E.g., I visited an archive and interviewed an eyewitness. For the technical side, I learned to use music to structure my content. Additionally, trying to make the content accessible for a wide audience, expressing my ideas in simple words and tone helped me writing more concisely and I also understood my own points better: when rephrasing a sentence, I sometimes self-critically realized that I myself hadn’t fully understood something yet."

📃 Certificate

Digital Arts and Humanities Certificate for postgraduate research students, early career academics, and staff. To achieve this award requires participation in at least 6 DAHL Shorts sessions, a Design Thinking session, the completion of a project, and writing a reflective account of how the participant uses technology in research, teaching and student experience.

🏆 Showcase

Our annual competition for undergraduates and taught postgraduates.

🎖 Heroes

Recognising individuals who have made a significant contribution towards developing the digital capabilities of the Arts Faculty and its members.