Research School for Economic and Social History

Category: News

  • Vacancy: Postdoc ERC Synergy project TASTADE (IISH; 2 years) – deadline 29 June 2026

    Vacancy: Postdoc ERC Synergy project TASTADE (IISH; 2 years) – deadline 29 June 2026

    The research team of the ERC-funded project The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the Development of Europe (TASTADE) is looking for a postdoctoral researcher.

    TASTADE aims to build the largest possible repository of names and biographical information about investors in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. After completion, it will comprise tens of thousands of names for the entire period of the trade’s duration (16th-19th centuries) and all the regions involved (Europe, Africa, the Americas). This database lays the foundations for re-examining key analytical questions about the nature, social embedding and long-term impact of the slave trade from a truly trans-national perspective.

    The two-years postdoctoral position is geared towards participating in and overseeing the first phase of data collection and data organization. The postdoctoral candidate will steer a team of 4-6 junior researchers based in the Netherlands gathering data on investors in the Dutch slave trade and Dutch investors in the slave trade of other nations. The postdoctoral candidate will function in an international team with two other postdoctoral candidates leading similar teams of junior researchers in France and Brazil. Because the postdoctoral candidate is based in Amsterdam where the development of the digital infrastructure of this project takes place, the candidate is also expected, with the four principal investigators, to act as the conduit between the three data gathering teams and the digital designers working on the further development of the database.

    Applications should be submitted ultimately 29 June 2026.

    FULL INFO

  • Call for book proposals new book series on Historical Demography

    Call for book proposals new book series on Historical Demography

    Central European University Press (CEU Press) and Amsterdam University Press (AUP) are announcing the launch of a new book series on Historical Demography, published under the auspices of the European Society for Historical Demography. Series editors are Tim Riswick, Assistant Professor of Economical, Social and Demographic History at Radboud University and Michel Oris, Professor of investigation at the Spanish Research Council, at the Institute of Economics, Geography, and Demography, both fellows of the N.W. Posthumus Institute.

    This book series provides a forum for research on population dynamics between 1750 and 2000. Historical Demography includes both monographs and edited volumes and welcomes manuscripts from emerging and advanced scholars alike. Particular attention is given to work that connects these demographic patterns to wider historical developments, including industrialization, economic change, colonisation, and the formation of welfare states in order to situate population change within broader historical processes.

    Book proposals can be submitted to Commissioning Editor Lea Greenberg.

    MORE INFO

  • Moving Humanities Conference 2026 – Call for Proposals – deadline 31 July 2026

    Moving Humanities Conference 2026 – Call for Proposals – deadline 31 July 2026

    The organisers of the Moving Humanities Conference 2026 welcome proposals for presentations and expositions.

    On 26 and 27 November 2026, the Moving Humanities Conference 2026 will be hosted by Radboud University in Nijmegen. The conference is co-organised by Radboud University and the University of Groningen and will be hosted by Radboud University and offers a podium to graduate students from all disciplines in the humanities, and aims to promote cross-disciplinary collaborations. The centarl theme of the 2026 edition is ‘Crossing(s)’, taken in its broadest sense.

    Alongside talks and posters, the conference will feature a debate (all attendees will have the opportunity to take part) and a special panel discussion during which experienced academics will share their wisdom with the next generation.

    The organisers welcome submissions from (research) master and PhD students, and will give special consideration for those which fit the broad theme of Crossing(s). Proposals should be submitted ultimately by 31 July 2026; directions on how to submit are to be found in the full call (via the button below).

    FULL INFO

  • PhD Defence Posthumus alumnus Cécile Bruyet

    PhD Defence Posthumus alumnus Cécile Bruyet

    On 26 June 2026, Posthumus alumnus Cécile Bruyet will defend the PhD thesis ‘A Taste for Land: How Access to Land Shaped Access to Food in Late Medieval Antwerp (1430-1530)’ at the University of Antwerp. Supervisors are Preofessors Tim Soens and Peter Stabel (both University of Antwerp).

    This thesis contributes to long-lasting debates on food provisioning, challenging, however, their macro-scale approach through a study of short food chains and access to land. These last have only been considered for smaller towns, yet, to what extent were they part of the foodscape of urban dwellers in larger towns as well? And, most importantly, of which urban dwellers? Antwerp in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries offers a unique case study as the city grew from a medium-sized town to the commercial gateway of the North Sea grain trade, generating rapid processes of urbanisation and demographic growth. The results of this thesis invite to rethink town-countryside relationships and past urban foodprint in light of the unequal access to land, and provide knowledge to historicise present-day solutions on how to feed a growing urban population.

    Those who wish to attend the defence in person, should inform Cécile by e-mail ultimately by 19 June 2026. Please note that the defence ceremony will be at the location Kattenstraat 10 in Antwerp.

    The N.W. Posthumus Institute staff wishes Cécile a successful defence!.

  • Vacature: 2 Junior Onderzoekers in project TASTADE over investeerders slavenhandel (VU Amsterdam) – deadline 22 juni 2026

    Vacature: 2 Junior Onderzoekers in project TASTADE over investeerders slavenhandel (VU Amsterdam) – deadline 22 juni 2026

    ~ because of required proficiency in Dutch only ~

    Het onderzoeksteam van het ERC-gefinancierde project TASTADE (The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the Development of Europe) zoekt twee junior onderzoekers.

    Taak van de junior onderzoekers zal zijn het identificeren van investeerders in de slavenhandel vanuit Nederland (van de zestiende tot de negentiende eeuw), en het verzamelen van gegevens over hun zakelijke, politieke en culturele functies en connecties. Beide onderzoekers zullen werken onder begeleiding van een postdoctoraal onderzoeker en een team van ervaren wetenschappers uit Nederland, Frankrijk, Brazilië en Groot-Brittannië.

    Deze vacature staat open voor studenten met een afgeronde of zo goed als afgeronde Master opleiding Geschiedenis. Sollicitaties dienen uiterlijk 22 juni 2026 ingediend te zijn. Wijze van solliciteren en een link naar het sollicitatieportal van de VU Amsterdam zijn te vinden in de volledige vacature (zie knop hieronder).

    MEER INFO

  • Call for papers Jaarboek De Achttiende Eeuw 2027 – deadline abstracts 31 juli 2026

    Call for papers Jaarboek De Achttiende Eeuw 2027 – deadline abstracts 31 juli 2026

    ~ because of scope in Dutch only ~

    De Werkgroep Achttiende Eeuw publiceert sinds 2017 jaarlijks in het najaar het jaarboek De Achttiende Eeuw als opvolger van het sinds 1968 verschenen gelijknamige tijdschrift. Voor de editie van 2027, met als gastredacteur Posthumus fellow Alberto Feenstra, nodigt de redactie uit tot het inzenden van abstracts voor artikelen rond het thema ‘Geld en krediet: van John Law tot Greshams Law’.

    Onderwerpen kunnen variëren van de rol van bankiers, geldschieters en de media tot die van de overheid als producent van muntgeld en regulerend orgaan dat economische stabiliteit en vertrouwen bevorderde, toezicht hield op het economische verkeer en fraude bestreed. Bijdragen over financiële crises (zoals de Mississippibubbel of de South Seabubbel, waaraan de naam van John Law nauw verbonden blijft) en speculatiedrift zijn welkom. Ook verwelkomt de redactie cultuurhistorische bijdragen over economie, geld en krediet en hun weerslag in de literaire, wetenschappelijke en kunsthistorische wereld van de achttiende eeuw.

    Abstracts met voorstellen voor artikelen (max. 300 woorden, met korte bio van de auteur) dienen uiterlijk 31 juli 2026 toegezonden te zijn per e-mail aan zowel gastredacteur Alberto Feenstra als aan het redactieadres.

    MEER INFO

  • Successful PhD Defence Posthumus alumnus Max-Quentin Bischoff

    Successful PhD Defence Posthumus alumnus Max-Quentin Bischoff

    On 10 June 2026, Posthumus alumnus Max-Quentin Bischoff successfully defended the PhD thesis ‘Merchants’ Futures: Plans and expectations in the Tucher family company, c.1520-c.1550′ at the FelixArchief. Supervisor was Jeroen Puttevils (University of Antwerp).

    Drawing on the annotation and analysis of 178 letters, the dissertation explores how the Tuchers anticipated, discussed, and managed future developments in commerce, organisation, and family strategy. The research demonstrates that almost half of an average business letter concerned future actions or events, revealing a predominantly short-term and action-oriented future horizon shaped by both practical concerns and rhetorical conventions.

    The dissertation further examines internal planning processes within the company, ranging from servant coordination and organisational adaptation to the long-term education of sons intended to secure the continuity of the family business. Finally, it analyses market expectations surrounding interest rates, exchange rates, and saffron prices, as well as the controversial attempt by servant Christof Kurz to develop a prognostic system combining astrology and market mechanisms.

    The N.W. Posthumus Institute staff congratulates Max-Quentin with the successful defence!

  • Posthumus website ‘frozen’ from 18 June

    Posthumus website ‘frozen’ from 18 June

    Please note that, because of the transfer of the N.W. Posthumus Institute to the new penholder Leiden University in July 2026, this website of the N.W. Posthumus Institute will remain ‘static’ after 17 June 2026 until the transfer has been completed. This will mean that as of 18 June 2026, no additions and no changes will be made to the content of the website.

    In case you have any news you want to share, please send it via e-mail to us, we will then discuss with you how to communicate the news further.

  • Vacancy: Professor of Europe in a Global Context (University of Amsterdam) – deadline 12 August 2026

    Vacancy: Professor of Europe in a Global Context (University of Amsterdam) – deadline 12 August 2026

    The Department of History, European Studies, Religious Studies, and CEDLA-Latin American Studies of the University of Amsterdam is looking to appoint a full Professor of Europe in a Global Context.

    This professorship in European Studies focuses on Europe and its relations in a global context. This chair will strengthen the interdisciplinary profile of European Studies in the Faculty of Humanities by focusing on Europe’s connections, interdependence and post-colonial legacies with other world regions. In doing so, it will also study the long-term changes in global dynamics and their political, cultural and social consequences for Europe’s position in the global world.

    The professor will be participating in the bilingually-taught (English and Dutch) teaching programme of the BA European Studies/Europese Studies and the English taught MA European Studies, consisting of the three tracks: European Policy, Identity & Integration, and East European Studies and is able to further develop these educational BA and MA programmes in collaboration with colleagues. The chair is expected to further shape the expertise of Europe in a global context and to transfer this agenda into the teaching programmes. Importantly, the candidate has a vision on how to make the European Studies curriculum more diverse and inclusive, specifically in a global context.

    The professor is part of the Amsterdam School for Regional, Transnational and European Studies (ARTES) and initiates, stimulates and develops research that addresses Europe in a global context, specifically on the shifting power balance between Europe, former colonies and other world regions and its political, cultural and/or social consequences.

    Applications should be submitted ultimately by 12 August 2026.

    FULL INFO

  • Valedictory lecture Professor Leo Lucassen

    Valedictory lecture Professor Leo Lucassen

    On 28 September 2026, Professor Leo Lucassen, Professor of Global Labour and Migration History at the Leiden University Institute for History, director of the International Institute of Social History (IISH) in Amsterdam, and longstanding fellow of the N.W. Posthumus Institute, will deliver his valedictory lecture titled ‘Wat hebben we eigenlijk aan u?’ Historische migratiestudies in tijden van polarisatie’ [transl. ‘What use are you to us, really?’ Historical studies on migration in times of polarisation] at Leiden University.

    Those wanting to attend this lecture are requested to register beforehand via the registration form on the website of Leiden University (see button below).

    REGISTRATION FORM