The Trinity team from ADAPT at the School of Computer Science and Statistics and the School of History, has won two Gold Standard awards at the 2025 Digital Media Awards for their work on the Knowledge Graph for Irish History, part of the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland (VRTI). Now in its 22nd year, over 600 attendees filled the sold out event on Friday 10th of October in Dublin.
The project team includes Dr. Alex Randles, Dr. Lucy Mc Kenna, and Prof. Declan O’Sullivan of ADAPT and the School of Computer Science and Statistics, together with Dr. Lynn Kilgallon, Prof. Peter Crooks, and Dr. Ciaran Wallace of the School of History.
Their innovative work on the Knowledge Graph was recognised in partnership with VRTI’s web partner eBow in two categories - ‘Best Collaboration’ and ‘Best in Government and Not-for-Profit’.
The Knowledge Graph for Irish History, accessible at kg.virtualtreasury.ie, connects centuries of Irish historical data through a semantic web of linked information. This digital resource enables historians, educators, and the public to explore relationships between people, places, and events that shaped Ireland’s past, providing new insights into the nation’s archival heritage.
Prof. Declan O’Sullivan, Principal Investigator at ADAPT, said: “The Knowledge Graph for Irish History shows how advanced digital technologies can open new pathways to understanding our past. This collaboration brings together expertise from computer science and the humanities to create a lasting resource for research and public engagement.”
Launched three years ago, the Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland (VRTI) is now home to over 350,000 records and 250 million words of searchable Irish history. Led by Trinity College Dublin and supported by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport, the project brings together historians, computer scientists, archivists, and librarians working to digitally recreate Ireland’s destroyed public record office and its lost collections.