CALL FOR ABSTRACTS LLMs and the Social Sciences and Humanities: Research, Resources and Infrastructures
November 30, 2026 – Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Portugal
Large Language Models (LLMs) are creating new opportunities for research in the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH), while raising important questions about research methodology, data, interpretation, reliability, integrity, ethics, and reproducibility. From analysing historical documents and cultural artefacts to studying social phenomena, language, and human behaviour, LLMs are now opening new avenues for research while challenging established paradigms to knowledge production.
How can SSH researchers meaningfully integrate LLMs into their research? What can these models contribute to established research methods, and what are their limitations? What resources, tools, and research infrastructures are needed, alongside critical thinking, to support reliable, transparent, and reproducible LLM-based research?
This one-day symposium aims to bring together researchers working across the Social Sciences and Humanities to share experiences, present ongoing work, discuss methodological challenges, and explore emerging research opportunities involving LLMs. It will also introduce participants to CLARIN, the European research infrastructure for language resources and technologies, and PORTULAN CLARIN, its Portuguese national infrastructure, highlighting how these infrastructures can support research involving language data, digital resources, and LLM-based methods.
We welcome contributions from researchers at all career stages and from a broad range of SSH disciplines. Contributions are encouraged both from researchers already working with LLMs and from those critically examining their potential, limitations, and implications for SSH research.
Topics of Interest
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
* LLMs in SSH research: Applications of LLMs in the social sciences and the humanities, including linguistics, history, philosophy, political science, sociology, communication, psychology, digital humanities, cultural heritage, and related fields. * LLMs as research tools: Using LLMs for qualitative and quantitative analysis, text interpretation, classification, annotation, information extraction, summarisation, and other research tasks. * Research methodology and evaluation: Methodological frameworks, evaluation strategies, validation, reproducibility, and the reliability of LLM-assisted research. * LLMs, language, and meaning: Language understanding, interpretation, discourse analysis, multilingualism, cultural context, and knowledge representation. * Data and research resources: Corpora, datasets, digital collections, data curation, synthetic data, and the role of language resources in LLM-based research. * Ethical and societal implications: Bias, fairness, privacy, transparency, accountability, research integrity, and the broader societal consequences of LLM adoption. * Critical perspectives on LLMs: Theoretical and conceptual perspectives on the capabilities, limitations, and epistemological implications of LLMs. * Research infrastructures and open science: The role of CLARIN, PORTULAN CLARIN, and other research infrastructures in supporting resource discovery, data sharing, sustainable research practices, and reproducibility. * LLMs and research practice: Changes to scholarly workflows, interdisciplinarity, human–AI collaboration, and the role of researchers in LLM-assisted knowledge production.
We particularly welcome work that connects substantive SSH research questions with methodological reflection, empirical evidence, or the use of research resources and infrastructures. Work in progress, preliminary results, case studies, and critical reflections are also encouraged.
Submission Guidelines
Researchers are invited to submit abstracts describing original research, ongoing projects, methodological contributions, empirical case studies, or conceptual perspectives relevant to the symposium.
* Abstract length: 300–500 words * Language: English * Submission format: online submission form * Submission deadline: November 15, 2026 * Notification of acceptance: November 20, 2026 * Submission link: https://forms.gle/iT84kjLVq4ZwaxB96
Submissions should briefly describe the research question or motivation, the approach adopted, and the main findings, expected contributions, or issues to be discussed, as appropriate.
Accepted contributions will be presented as short oral presentations, followed by discussion. The symposium aims to foster interdisciplinary exchange and welcomes contributions that may not fit traditional computer science, NLP, or SSH conference formats. About the Symposium The symposium is organised in connection with CLARIN, the European Common Language Resources and Technology Infrastructure. Alongside research presentations and invited talks, the programme will introduce participants to CLARIN and PORTULAN CLARIN, their resources and services, and their potential to support research involving LLMs. A dedicated session will explore how research infrastructures can contribute to more transparent, reusable, and sustainable SSH research.
We invite the SSH research community to contribute to the discussion and help shape the future of LLM-based research.
Organising committee:
* Henrique Lopes Cardoso, FEUP / LIACC * Rui Sousa-Silva, FLUP / CLUP * Gil Rocha, FEUP / LIACC
* David Freitas, FEUP / LIACC
Contact: hlc@fe.up.ptmailto:hlc@fe.up.pt