The Center for Advanced Research in Computational Humanities is a research center at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, located within the College of Liberal Arts.
We understand the humanities capaciously, as the ongoing work of asking big questions about what it means to be human, what it means to create for humans, what it means to study humans, how advanced technologies affect human life and culture, and how to better understand the technologies that humans have created. The ARCH supports research across the College of Liberal Arts, whose schools include Philosophy and History; Africana and Multicultural Studies; Languages and Linguistics; Anthropology, Political Science, and Sociology; Communication Studies; and Literature, Writing, and Digital Humanities. We also work with schools and colleges across SIU and with libraries, museums, communities, and research partners elsewhere. If you believe your research or interests align with ours, we invite you to contact us.
At ARCH Main, faculty, students, and visiting researchers can experience the Center’s current spaces, including our VR lab, game studies area, and digital post-production space. Beginning in Spring 2027, student and faculty researchers will also be able to book sessions in the AI Learning Lab, where they can interact with local AI models operating offline, without sending prompts to remote data centers.
The ARCH Annex will open in 2027, expanding the Center with VR research booths, an AV podcast center, and a humanities-driven robotics and wearables maker space. Together, ARCH Main and the ARCH Annex will support a research culture centered on computational humanities, including investigations into artificial intelligence, immersive technologies, public scholarship, and experimental forms of humanistic inquiry.
The Center for Advanced Research in Computational Humanities
Faner Hall 1229
1000 Faner Drive Carbondale, IL 62901