Digital Science Center

Digital procedures, methods, and media are transforming all aspects of our society including science, education, economy, and social relations, a process known as digitalisation. Growing data processing capacities and progress in analytical methods and artificial intelligence are motivating entire branches of science to raise new questions and to develop new approaches. This transformation requires progressive, interdisciplinary synergies between computer science, mathematics, and statistics on the one hand and virtually all other scientific disciplines – from the humanities via the social sciences through to the natural and life sciences – on the other hand.

The Digital Science Center (DiSC) at the University of Innsbruck was founded in 2019 to meet this challenge. It integrates and promotes digitalisation of scientific research, spearheading new research directions and supporting high-quality science. DiSC staff researchers represent diverse disciplines that, at first glance, have little in common. At the same time, they are experts in specific aspects of digital science. They are affiliated with their respective scientific departments where they contribute their expertise in digital science while forging new research synergies at the DiSC.

The DiSC also offers courses for students to promote competence in digital science, ranging from programming via data management and data analysis to non-technical aspects of digitalisation. These courses are open to students from all scientific disciplines. In this way, the DiSC acts as a multiplier of methodological skills.