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  • Research Workshop ‘Mortality, Morbidity, and Medicine: Historical Health and Demography across the Atlantic’ – deadline 30 April 2026

    Research Workshop ‘Mortality, Morbidity, and Medicine: Historical Health and Demography across the Atlantic’ – deadline 30 April 2026

    On 8 June 2026, preceding the PhD Defence by Posthumus alumnus Dinos Sevdalakis, Dinos will organise the Research Workshop ‘Research Workshop ‘Mortality, Morbidity, and Medicine: Historical Health and Demography across the Atlantic’ at the Academy Building of the University of Groningen. This workshop is supported by the Research Network ‘Life-Courses, Family, and Labour’ of the N.W. Posthumus Institute and the COST Action Greatleap Network.

    Content

    The historical roots of today’s health outcomes remain poorly understood, yet tracing them is essential to make sense of the world we inhabit. This workshop brings together scholars at the intersection of historical demography and the history of health to examine how mortality, morbidity, and medicine have evolved across Europe, Africa, and the Americas in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By tracing these historical trajectories, the workshop aims to deepen our understanding of how the past continues to define health and healthcare in the present.

    Programme

    09:30-10:00 Opening and introduction
    10:00-11:30 Session 1: Morbidity and mortality, and medicine in historical Europe
    Mayra Murkens (University of Groningen) – Syphilis morbidity and institutionalisation in the Amsterdam hospital 1856-1896
    Adrien Remund (Population Research Centre, University of Groningen) – The young adult excess mortality: a historically universal trait
    Alice Reid (University of Cambridge) – Medical attention at death in nineteenth century rural Scotland
    11:45-13:00 Lunch (Eeterie De Globe, Akerkhof 22, Groningen); only for participants who have registered by 30 April
    13:15-14:45 Session 2: Health(care) and mortality across Africa and South America
    Hilde Bras (University of Groningen) – New African health histories: (E)merging lines
    Björn Quanjer (Radboud University) – The mortality transition in Suriname: Analysing cause-specific mortality, 1903–1949
    Jutta Bolt (University of Groningen) and Jeanne Cilliers (Lund University) – Legacies of colonial maternal health services in Africa

    Participation

    Participation is free of charge, but prior registration is requested. If you want to join the lunch, make sure to register ultimately by 30 April 2026.

  • RIAS-POSTHUMUS PhD Workshop: From Research to Publication (Middelburg, 8 May 2026) – deadline 1 May 2026

    RIAS-POSTHUMUS PhD Workshop: From Research to Publication (Middelburg, 8 May 2026) – deadline 1 May 2026

    The Roosevelt Institute for American Studies (RIAS) and the research network ‘Societies in Context’ of the Posthumus Institute (research network) invite PhD candidates to an afternoon workshop focused on a core question of doctoral life: how to build and use scholarly networks to strengthen your research and translate it into publishable work.

    This seminar is designed for researchers working on (or adjacent to) social, labor, and environmental history, and it will combine practical discussion, methodological reflection, and concrete publishing guidance. Featured speaker will be Professor Marc Rodriguez (Portland State University), editor of the Pacific Historical Review and a leading scholar of Mexican American/Chicanx history, social movements, migration, and US legal history.

    While the workshop is primarily aimed at PhD candidates, it is open to all interested students and scholars, subject to space availability. In case there will be more applications than places available, Posthumus PhDs will have priority.

    Applicants are asked to submit their application ultimately 1 May 2026.

    FULL INFO

  • Nieuw Oral History Portal BHIC gelanceerd

    Nieuw Oral History Portal BHIC gelanceerd

    ~ because of scope in Dutch only ~

    Onlangs heeft het Brabants Historisch Informatie Centrum (BHIC) het Oral History Portal gelanceerd.

    De portal is opgezet door masterstudenten Geschiedenis Jetze Boon en Rosa Raeijmaekers (beiden Radboud Universiteit) en bundelt zogeheten oral history-interviews: geluidsopnames van gesprekken over persoonlijke herinneringen. Deze opnames waren al onderdeel van de BHIC-collectie, maar zijn nu voor het eerst overzichtelijk samengebracht op één plek.

    Bezoekers starten op een introductiepagina en kiezen via een themaoverzicht een onderwerp. Per collectie is er aandacht voor achtergrond, historische context en de totstandkoming van de interviews. Van daaruit is eenvoudig door te klikken naar de afzonderlijke gesprekken.

    Binnen de portal zijn verschillende interviewcollecties te vinden. Zo zijn er gesprekken met oud-kostschoolbewoners en interviews uit het project ‘Javanen in de Polder’, een initiatief dat de geschiedenis en het erfgoed van Javaanse contractarbeiders in Nederland zichtbaar maakt en hun bijdrage aan de Nederlandse samenleving belicht. Ook de Tweede Wereldoorlog komt aan bod, bijvoorbeeld via herinneringen aan de bevrijding van Brabant en verhalen over politieke bewegingen uit die tijd, zoals de fascistische organisaties Zwart Front en Nationaal Front. Daarnaast bevat de portal bijdragen uit recente onderzoeksprojecten, zoals interviews met Oekraïense vluchtelingen en hun Nederlandse gastgezinnen, of bijvoorbeeld interviews met zwarte, migranten- en vluchtelingenvrouwen in Noord-Brabant. Per interview is een audio-opname beschikbaar, vaak aangevuld met een transcript. Bezoekers vinden daarnaast informatie over de geïnterviewde en de inhoud van het gesprek.

    De Oral History Portal te vinden op de website van het BHIC

    NAAR PORTAL

  • PhD Defence Posthumus alumnus Dinos Sevdalakis

    PhD Defence Posthumus alumnus Dinos Sevdalakis

    On 8 June 2026, Posthumus alumnus Dinos Sevdalakis will defend the thesis ‘Tracing the roots of population growth: Fertility and mortality transitions in West Africa (1880-1980)’ at the University of Groningen. Supervisors are Professor Hilde Bras and Dr Adrien Remund (both University of Groningen) The N.W. Posthumus Institute wishes Dinos a successful defence!

  • Public Lecture ‘Project 1834’ by Dr Kate Ekama

    Public Lecture ‘Project 1834’ by Dr Kate Ekama

    On 24 June 2026, Dr Kate Ekama (Stellenbosch University) will deliver a public lecture on the brand-new ‘Project 1834’, which relates to Stellenbosch University’s broader transformation policy and efforts toward research, restitution, and social justice.

    Dr Kate Ekama is a Senior Researcher at Stellenbosch University and the Laboratory for the Economics of Africa’s Past (LEAP). Her work addresses aspects of the lived experience of colonialism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries across the Indian Ocean World. Kate’s research contributes to better understanding the transformative period of emancipation in the Cape Colony and its legacies.

    The lecture is delivered as part of the Masterclass ‘Social Histories of Dutch Colonialism in the Indian Ocean World’ held on the same day.

    Those wanting to attend, may contact Dries Lyna and Paul van der Linde for further details.

    FULL INFO

  • Masterclass ‘Social Histories of Dutch Colonialism in the Indian Ocean World’ with Professor Nigel Worden

    Masterclass ‘Social Histories of Dutch Colonialism in the Indian Ocean World’ with Professor Nigel Worden

    On 24 June 2026, the research groups ‘Colonial Relations and Structures’ and the ‘Radboud Group for Historical Demography and Family History’ (both Radboud Institute for Culture and History), in cooperation with the N.W. Posthumus Institute, organise the masterclass Masterclass ‘Social Histories of Dutch Colonialism in the Indian Ocean World’.

    Keynote speaker at this masterclass will be Emeritus Professor Nigel Worden (University of Cape Town). The aim of the workshop is to bring together Dutch junior and senior researchers working on social histories of VOC territories in the Indian Ocean World.

    Also, Dr Kate Ekama (Stellenbosch University) will present her new ‘Project 1834’ during the break of this lunch seminar.

    Those wanting to participate, may contact Dries Lyna and Paul van der Linde for further details.

    FULL INFO

  • Symposium ‘Facing Crisis: Interdisciplinary Symposium in the Humanities ‘ (Nijmegen, 16 April 2026)

    Symposium ‘Facing Crisis: Interdisciplinary Symposium in the Humanities ‘ (Nijmegen, 16 April 2026)

    Continuing a tradition that started only last year, the students of Radboud University’s Research Master in Historical, Literary and Cultural Studies will be organising another symposium this year. The symposium, titled ‘Facing Crisis: Interdisciplinary Symposium in the Humanities’, will take place on 16 April 2026 on the campus of Radboud University.

    Approaching ‘crisis’ through the shared fields of history, literature, and art/visual studies encourages us to think about what we conceptualize as ‘crisis’, how we deal with it, and how it impacts us. Researchers Dr Jacob Engelberg (University of Amsterdam), Professor Lotte Jensen (Radboud University), and Professor Sandra Ponzanesi (Utrecht University) will each shine their light on the topic of crisis before entering a roundtable discussion with several students from Radboud University’s Research Masters in Historical, Literary and Cultural Studies to discuss it in further detail and draw connections between the various fields.

    For more info, you can contact Emma Zijp at Radboud University.

    FULL INFO

  • TSEG Special Edition in honor of Marlou Schrover and Leo Lucassen out now

    TSEG Special Edition in honor of Marlou Schrover and Leo Lucassen out now

    Cover TSEG2026.1, displaying women and child seeing train depart

    The TSEG – The Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History recently published a special issue on the theme ‘Pioneers in Migration History’. This special edition is dedicated to Marlou Schrover and Leo Lucassen, both retiring in the course of 2026.

    Marlou Schrover and Leo Lucassen are both widely recognised as pioneers in migration history, not only because of the topics they addressed, but also because of how they fundamentally reoriented the field. Their work challenged static, nation-centered, and often ahistorical approaches by treating mobility as a normal, structural, and historically embedded feature of social and economic life. Long before migration became a dominant object of public and political controversy, they demonstrated that it is neither exceptional nor inherently disruptive, but constitutive of societies across time and space.

    This special issue contains cotributions from Ad Knotter, Peter Scholten, Patrick Manning, Annemarie Steidl, Lex Heerma van Voss, Marijke van Faassen, Rik Hoekstra, Colin Pooley, Manon van der Heijden, Ariadne Schmidt, Eveline den Hollander, and Ymke Vreeburg. Their articles do not merely pay tribute, but also actively extend, test, and interrogate the analytical frameworks that Marlou and Leo helped to establish.

    The TSEG – The Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History is an open-access journal, whci can be read free of charge online. Hard copies are sent at request and after payment.

    TO SPECIAL EDITION

  • Valedictory lecture Professor Jan Kok

    Valedictory lecture Professor Jan Kok

    On 25 June 2026, Jan Kok, Professor of Economical, Social and Demographic History at the Faculty of Arts, Radboud University, and longstanding member of the N.W. Posthumus Institute, will deliver a valedictory lecture (in Dutch), titled ‘Homo Dipisiensis: Over de historische demografie van ontheemden’.

    The lecture can be attend in-person, in that case pre-registration is requested. The lecture will also be streamed online via the live stream of Radboud University.

    MORE INFO AND REGISTRATION
     
    LIVESTREAM

  • Book workshop (Leiden, 4 June 2026) – deadline applications 1 May 2026

    Book workshop (Leiden, 4 June 2026) – deadline applications 1 May 2026

    On 4 June 2026, the N.W. Posthumus Institute, organises a book workshop, to be led by initiator Viola Müller, postdoc researcher and lecturer within the Economic and Environmental History Group at Wageningen UR.

    Aim of the workshop

    This workshop aims to bring together a community of researchers struggling with similar issues, e.g. writing for a broader audience, developing your own ‘style of writing’, and how to compose a convincing book proposal. The programme is intentionally informal in nature and mainly strives to create opportunities for conversations and exchange of experiences.

    Invited speakers

    The following speakers have confirmed to share their experiences regarding the writing process, dealing with editors and publishers, and developing a book proposal.

    Portrait photo Janna Coomans Janna Coomans is Assistant Professor with the Department of Medieval History at Utrecht University. Janna’s research mainly focuses on social history, urban history, and public health in premodern cities. In 2021, she was awarded a NWO Veni-grant for her research project ‘Inflammable cities: how fire risks transformed the Low Countries, 1250-1600’. In 2026, her book Dievenland: Overleven in de middeleeuwen (De Bezige Bij, 2025) was awarded the Libris Literatuurprijs.
    Portrait photo Maarten Prak Maarten Prak is emeritus Professor (although, in his own words, “still very active”) of Economic and Social History at Utrecht University. Maarten is regarded as a key expert on the subject of the Dutch ‘Golden Age’ and as such has been involved as expert in several Dutch public broadcast series like De Gouden Eeuw (2012) and 80 Jaar Oorlog (2018). In addition to his extensive publications record, in 2026 he was the general editor of the 3-volume publication The Cambridge Urban History of Europe (CUP, 2026).
    Portrait photo Wendy Wauters Wendy Wauters is doctor of Art History (KU Leuven) and has received several awards for the publication of her dissertation on the perception of late-medieval visitors of churches. Her research resulted in the publication De geuren van de kathedraal (Lannoo, 2023), aimed at the general public, and several scientific publications. After a career as art director in advertisement she moved to a position where she was responsible for the collection of non-fiction literature for the Antwerp public libraries. Wendy is a renowned speaker at many events and is keen to shed more light on the ‘small stories’ of sixteenth-century people.

    (Preliminary) programme

    10:00-10:15 Welcome
    10:15-10:45 Janna Coomans
    10-45-11:15 Maarten Prak
    11:15-12:30 Conversation with Janna and Maarten
    12:30-13:45 Lunch
    13:45-14:15 Online Q&A with Wendy Wauters
    14:15-15:00 Working in small groups (e.g., on writing process, on organising your writing, etc.)
    15:00-15:30 Plenary session by Maarten Prak on differences between publishing your first book and your next book(s)
    15:30-16:30 Hands-on session on how to compose a sound and convincing book proposal
    16:30 Closing words

    How to apply?

    Participation is free of charge, prior application however is required because of limited capacity and catering. You can apply via the button below. A maximum of 30 participants will apply; in case of exceeding this number, Posthumus PhDs will have priority placement, other applications will be dealt with on a ‘first come, first served’-basis. Application deadline is 1 May 2026; you will be informed about the result of your application in the first week of May.

    APPLY HERE