Author: René van Weeren

On 3 to 5 November 2025 the 2025 edition of the ESTER Research Design Course (RDC) will be held. This year’s edition will be hosted by the University of Seville under the guidance of Dr Germán Jiménez Montes (photo). The N.W. Posthumus Institute (as secretariat of the ESTER Network) and the local organisers of the University of Seville welcome abstracts for this RDC.

The Research Design Course (RDC) is a format promoted by ESTER (The European graduate School for Training in Economic and Social Historical Research, a European platform for postgraduate teaching involving over 60 universities throughout Europe) since the late 1990s. The RDC assists candidates in setting up a high quality and well-designed plan for their dissertation under the guidance of a team of senior researchers and research design specialists whose task it is to provide comments and feedback. Thus, the RDC is not a “course” in which an instructor will give a lecture or that you will discuss historical theories in a seminar setting. Instead, it is focused on presentations of individual projects and the ensuing discussions on how to improve them.

Therefore, selected participants will be asked to write a paper in which the design of your research will be discussed. The aim of this methodological reflection is to investigate the scientific procedures that historians use to reach scientific explanations and to combine all analytical elements into a synthetic and coherent historical account. In this paper, the participant will also prepare a detailed work plan for the dissertation.

Please note that in case a selection between suitable applications is needed, PhDs currently enlisted in the PhD Training Programme of the N.W. Posthumus Institute will have priority.

Registration is now closed.

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Op 16 mei 2025 organiseert de Stichting Ontstaan van Holland in samenwerking met Archeologie Rotterdam de Holland Dag 2025. Het thema van deze bijeenkomst zal zijn ‘Stedelijke ontwikkeling in de middeleeuwen’.

Tijdens deze bijeenkomst zullen diverse sprekers hun licht laten schijnen over de vroege geschiedenis en archeologie van het middeleeuwse graafschap Holland. Dagvoorzitter is dr. Roos van Oosten, universitair docent in middeleeuwse eb stedelijke archeologie aan de Universiteit van Leiden.

Aanmelden voor deze dag is mogelijk tot en met 6 mei 2025; er geldt een entreeprijs. Meer info over het programma en de toegangsprijs vindt u op de website via de knop hieronder.

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The EMES International Research Network, in partnership with the Rotterdam School of Management of Erasmus University Rotterdam and Utrecht University announces the 10th EMES International Research Conference on Social Enterprise on the theme ‘Scaling Through Communities: The Role of Social Entrepreneurs and Social Enterprises in Boosting Societal Transitions’.

The conference will take place from 3-7 November 2025 and will take place in two different cities: Rotterdam (3-5 November) and Utrecht (5-7 November).

In the face of unprecedented ecological, social, democratic, demographic and economic challenges, there is a growing need for transformative change that moves beyond incremental improvements. The ‘SE field’ (social enterprises, social entrepreneurship, the social and solidarity economy, and social innovation) with its community-centered approaches, is increasingly recognized as a key actor in fostering a deep transition towards a more equitable, sustainable and just society. The conference seeks to explore the strategies, innovations, partnerships and contexts that enable SE to drive systemic change while scaling its impact across diverse contexts, rooted in the historical resilience seen in institutions for collective action, spanning a millennium and highlighting the potential of community self-governance as both a scalable and sustainable model. At the core of this conference is the recognition that SE does not take place in isolation but is embedded in complex networks of relationships with communities, public institutions, for-profit businesses, non-governmental organizations and social movements.

Abstract and panel proposals should be submitted ultimately 21 April 2025 (extended deadline) according to the guidelines in the call; consult the conference website for more details.

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De Stichting Geschiedenis van de Overheidsfinanciën (SGvdO) organiseert een symposium over sociale zorg en lotsverbetering bij zeevarenden, 1700-1900.

Zeelui werkten en leefden in een bijzondere omgeving. Gevaar lag constant op de loer en ze waren soms weken of zelfs maanden met elkaar opgescheept, zonder dat ze van boord konden. Op reizen buiten Europa lag de sterfte hoog. Armoe was troef en er werd soms tot hoge leeftijd doorgewerkt. Sinds de zeventiende eeuw zou het lot van zeevarende slechts langzaam verbeteren. Wat begon met een schamele vergoeding voor een verloren ledemaat en tehuizen voor invalide en afgedankte zeelieden, mondde eind negentiende eeuw uit in de organisatie in vakverenigingen, om misstanden aan de kaak te stellen en om voor lotsverbetering te strijden.

De vier presentaties gaan over ziekenzorg op de oorlogsvloot en kaperschepen in de achttiende eeuw (Johan Francke), arbeidsvoorwaarden bij de Nederlandse marine, 1795-1813 (Hugo Landheer), het College Zeemans Hoop, opgericht in 1822 (Cor Scholten) en sociale strijd bij de Koninklijke Marine rond 1900 (Johan van der Worp).

Opgeven voor de bijeenkomst kan via een mail aan de SGvdO.

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On 15 May 2025, the Utrecht University Centre for Early Modern Studies (UUCEMS), in cooperation with Utrecht University’s Descartes Centre for the History and Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities organises its annual lecture. This year’s lecture will be delivered by Professor Jake Soll (University of Southern California) and is titled ‘Richard Price’s Prudence and the Unintentional Invention of Modern Capitalist Values (1758-1790)’.

Historians have typically traced the tradition of Machiavellian Classical Republicanism as a political and moral movement opposed to commercial values. While recent research has shown pro-commercial strains of republicanism — in the Dutch Republic for example — Professor Soll’s presentation will show a more complex relationship between republican ideas of liberty and capitalist traditions. The example of Richard Price shows a remarkable attempt to use capitalism to create an innovative form of prudence to mitigate the dangers of finance and complex trade.  Paradoxically, by trying to balance greed and finance with accounting and probabilistic prudence, Richard Price helped build essential elements that would support the rise of financial capitalism.

Attendance is free of charge, but prior registration is required; visit the lecture webpage via the button below for more info and the registration form.

MORE INFO AND REGISTRATION

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Op 20 juni 2025 vindt in Zutphen het Middeleeuwen Symposium 2025 plaats. Dit symposium wordt gezamenlijk georganiseerd door de Historische Vereniging Zutphen, Erfgoedcentrum Zutphen en Musea Zutphen, in nauwe samenwerking met de Radboud Universiteit en de Stichting Walburgiskerk. Het thema dit jaar is ‘Oorlog en Vrede in de Middeleeuwen – Realiteit, Herinnering en Mythe’, dagvoorzitter is prof. dr. Johan Oosterman, hoogleraar Oudere Nederlandse letterkunde aan de Radboud Universiteit.

Het symposium besteedt aandacht aan recent onderzoek en richt zich op geschiedenisliefhebbers, professionals en studenten. De sprekers zijn werkzaam aan Nederlandse, Vlaamse en Britse universiteiten.

Voor deelname aan het Middeleeuwen Symposium 2025 geldt een bijdrage, voor studenten geldt een gereduceerd tarief.

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