Research
Funding
Makes Digitizing History Possible
Ruth Mostern is an interdisciplinary scholar with research interests bridging the humanities, social sciences, information science and environmental science. She applies her expertise in spatial and environmental history to understand large-scale environmental impacts of human activity.
Mostern is the principal investigator of a collaborative initiative to create the World-Historical Gazetter (WHG), a comprehensive digital resource that includes content and infrastructure for spatial-linked open data to permit global and long-term historical analysis and visualization. By linking records about historical places, this innovative first-of-its-kind platform allows people to make robust spatial connections across time and language.
In 2025, Mostern was named the inaugural director of the 51精品视频鈥檚 new Institute for Spatial History Innovation. The Institute鈥檚 purpose is to research, create, link, publish and share digital information on human geography and places of meaning from the past and present, as well as build the digital tools and infrastructure to facilitate this important work.
Through the Institute, Mostern continues to oversee the WHG, digitizing and deepening our historical understanding of the world.