College of Humanities

Bringing together engineering and the humanities

About the CDH

The College of Humanities (CDH) encourages joint research and educational programs that combine the human and social sciences with engineering, life sciences, natural sciences and the other technical fields taught at EPFL. We work through a variety of teaching, research and public outreach programs as described below.

About the CDH

CDH in brief

This year our school has 74 employees, seven faculty members and 130 teachers, and offers 146 classes on a wide variety of topics. We are also home to two research centers – the Digital Humanities Institute (DHI) and the Institute for Area and Global Studies (IAGS) – as well as ArtLab and the CDH-Culture program, which puts on a range of artistic and cultural events.

Our teaching, research and public outreach activities are carried out using what we call a POLY-perspective approach based on the principles of:

  1. cross-disciplinary thinking
  2. big-picture awareness
  3. responsible citizenship
  4. creativity
Education at CDH
Research at CDH
Art, culture and society

News

The DCML’s approach is unique because it is the first time that unlabeled data have been used to analyze modes. © iStock/Jocelyn Baker

Machine learning helps retrace evolution of classical music

— Researchers in EPFL’s Digital and Cognitive Musicology Lab in the College of Humanities used an unsupervised machine learning model to ‘listen to’ and categorize more than 13,000 pieces of Western classical music, revealing how modes – such as major and minor – have changed throughout history.

The students created posters that addressed a complex climate or energy issue and examined potential solutions. © Desjardin/Martin/Guegan/Riff/Zilm

Global Issues students win Act for Change LAB award

— Four teams of students in last year’s edition of the Global Issues course, offered by the College of Humanities (CDH) Social and Human Sciences (SHS) program, have received the Act for Change LAB award, given by EPFL Sustainability.

© 2021 EPFL

EPFL student creates a new language-analysis program

— Jonathan Besomi, a Master’s student at EPFL, has developed a program called Texthero that lets users generate representations of textual data with just a few lines of code, thereby simplifying the analysis of natural languages.

All news

ArtLab EPFL - photo Adrien Barakat

ArtLab EPFL – photo Adrien Barakat

EPFL Pavilions

Learn more about ArtLab

EPFL Pavilions, located in the middle of EPFL’s Lausanne campus, consists of three pavilions that bring together art, research and technology. The exhibitions held by ArtLab explore the many ways that digital technology and engineering are changing the way we experience art and our cultural heritage. Entry free of charge.

Learn more about ArtLab

CDH events

Next events

See all events

UniL-EPFL Seminar Series "CLIMACT Ideas & Actions" – Samuel Jaccard & Dimitrios Lignos

Seminar series hosted by “CLIMACT Ideas & Actions”, a joint forum for discussing research and action on the climate crisis. The webinars take place every other Monday from 12-1 pm CET via Zoom. Please register for…

01-02-202101-02-2021

With: Prof. Samuel Jaccard, Paleoclimatic Sedimentology, UNIL Prof. Dimitrios Lignos, Resilient Steel Structures Laboratory, EPFL
Place and room: Zoom
Category: Conferences – Seminars

Comparative musicology: The science of the world’s music – Talk by Prof Patrick Savage – Keio University SFC

10-02-202110-02-2021

With: Prof. Patrick Savage
Place and room: By Zoom
Online: https://epfl.zoom.us/j/82569959049
Category: Conferences – Seminars

Philosophy Hour: Ask philosophy teachers your existential questions!

24-02-202124-02-2021

With: Dr Johan Rochel, specialist in philosophy of law and applied ethics  
Category: Cultural events

Nature of Robotics: An Expanded Field

01-03-202125-04-2021

With: EPFL: Prof. Auke Ijspeert’s Biorobotics Laboratory (BioRob), Prof. Herbert Shea’s Soft Transducers Laboratory (LMTS), Prof. Selman Sakar’s MicroBioRobotic Systems (MICROBS) Laboratory, Prof Jamie Paik’s Reconfigurable Robotics Laboratory (RRL). Artistes: Haseeb Ahmed, Claudia Comte, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg, Agnes Denes, Melissa Dubbin & Aaron S. Davidson, Urs Fischer, Basim Magdy, Jürg Lehni, Adrien Missika, Katja Novitskova, Trevor Paglen, Léa Pereyre & PATHOS, Jean Tinguely et Suzanne Treister
Place and room: EPFL pavilions
Category: Exhibitions

Rohrwerk, pavillon sonore

ROHRWERK – pavillon sonore

27-04-202129-04-2021

With: Compositeurs: Beat Gysin (idée et concept), Nicolas Buzzi, Emilio Guim, Marianthi Papalexandri, German Toro-Perez et Denis Schuler Architectes: Bureau Made In (François Charbonnet et Patrick Heiz) Scénographe: Peter Affentranger Musiciens : Shuyue Zhao, Jens Bracher, Stephen Menotti, brise Anne, Jeanne Larrouturou – Studio-klangraum
Place and room: Patio extérieur du Rolex Learning Center
Category: Cultural events