Curriculum vitae

Positions, education, grants, teaching, and the methods and languages I work in.

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Profile

I use computer vision, text mining and large language models to study colonial Korean print culture at scale. My dissertation takes two connected domains: typographic variation and printshop practice, and the visual culture of mass advertising in colonial-era newspapers. With Steven Denney, I also study how Korean national identity is constructed and transmitted through state-authored history textbooks, with computational text analysis.

Leiden, the Netherlands · Dutch citizen · hello@aronvandepol.com

Positions

  • PhD Candidate, Digital Humanities and Korean Studies
    2022 to present · Leiden University, LCDH and LIAS
  • Researcher, Leiden HumAN
    Current · Humanities and AI Network, Leiden University
  • Managing Editor, Korean Histories
    Current · Editorial and production coordination
  • Board Member, Research Planning (연구기획 이사), KADH
    Current · Korean Association for Digital Humanities (한국디지털인문학협의회)
  • June 2024 to March 2025 · Seoul National University
  • Web Developer, AKSE
    Full stack · Association for Korean Studies in Europe

Education

  • PhD, Digital Humanities and Korean Studies
    2022 to present · Leiden University
  • M.A. East Asian Studies, Korea specialisation
    2021 to 2022 · Leiden University
  • Exchange student, Sogang University
    February to August 2020 · Seoul · Korean to Sogang Level 5, coursework in digital humanities and Korean historical research
  • B.A. Korean Studies
    2019 to 2021 · Leiden University · final grade 8.2
    Thesis: Quantifying the left. Examining the development of socialist thought inside the Korean colonial magazine Kaebyŏk.

Grants and fellowships

  • Overseas Korean Studies Grant
    2026 · Academy of Korean Studies (한국학중앙연구원) · KS-2026-R-094 · with Steven Denney, PI
  • Junior Research Fellowship
    2024 to 2025 · Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies, Seoul National University

Publications and talks

  • Four journal articles, one published, one under review, two in preparation, with DOI, code and citations on the page
  • Conference presentations, invited lectures and workshops since 2021, with slides where they exist

Teaching and guest lectures

Other work

  • Student Assistant, Leiden University Centre for Digital Humanities
    2021 to present · introductory Python and digital text analysis courses, Digital Humanities Lab support for students and staff
  • Student Mentor, Department of Korean Studies, Leiden University
    2019 to 2021 · a cohort of about 25 students, study methods, planning and progression

Methods, skills and languages

Methods

  • Computer vision and visual feature extraction
  • Text mining and corpus analysis
  • Large language models for historical annotation
  • Historical dataset construction and curation

Tools

  • PyTorch, NumPy, Pandas, OpenCV
  • Matplotlib, Plotly, Seaborn, Tableau, QGIS
  • Python, Git, Django, NLP workflows, Unix administration

Languages

  • Dutch, native
  • English, C2 (CEFR, all skills)
  • Korean, advanced (Sogang Level 5)
Aron van de Pol, Leiden © 2026