معرفی
Drew Thomas is a Postdoc Research Fellow Level II in the School of History at University College Dublin, where he leads the SFI-IRC Pathway Programme project "Applying Artificial Intelligence to the Printing Press: Transforming Visual Communication During the Protestant Reformation." His research integrates digital methods with historical inquiry to analyze early modern print culture, particularly in the Holy Roman Empire during the Reformation era.
- BA, St Louis University, MO
- MA, Harvard University, USA
- PhD, University of St Andrews
Dr. Thomas specializes in the history of communication, book history, and the material culture of the Protestant Reformation. His work explores how religious ideas were disseminated through print, with a focus on Wittenberg as a publishing hub and the role of counterfeiting in spreading Martin Luther’s works. He investigates the economic structures of the early modern printing industry, including design, production, distribution, and reception of printed materials.
His recent publications demonstrate a strong trend in analyzing counterfeit texts, provenance, and the mechanics of print networks across Reformation Europe. Using AI and image repositories like Ornamento, his current project classifies visual elements in religious propaganda, revealing how visual communication shaped religious identity and conflict.
- SFI-IRC Pathway Programme Research Fellow
- Irish Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow
- Richard C. Kessler Reformation Virtual Fellow, Emory University
- Research Fellow, Folger Shakespeare Library
- Research Fellow, John Rylands Research Institute
- Economic History Society Grant recipient
Drew Thomas has advised and collaborated extensively across international institutions, including the University of St Andrews, Emory University, and research libraries in Wittenberg and Manchester. He has curated exhibitions on early modern printing and counterfeiting, demonstrating public engagement with his research. His grants include funding from the Irish Research Council, Science Foundation Ireland, and multiple bibliographical societies, supporting sustained interdisciplinary research in print culture and digital history.
He is affiliated with the Ornamento image repository project, co-developed with Professor Alexander Wilkinson, which catalogs over 5.6 million illustrations from early modern European printing. This digital infrastructure supports large-scale analysis of visual communication in religious texts.
