Joe Nockels is a PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh, Glasgow and National Library of Scotland. His work focuses on how handwritten text recognition (HTR) is changing access to digitised material; both from a user and institutional perspective.

With artificial intelligence becoming readily used in the recognition of handwriting, he works closely with READ (recognition and enrichment of archival documents) especially in their development of the software Transkribus. He has a background in archival science and history. His research is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and Scottish Graduate School for the Arts and Humanities (SGSAH).