Research School for Economic and Social History

The N.W. Posthumus Institute (NWP), currently hosted by the Department of History & Art History of Utrecht University, is named after Nicolaas Wilhelmus Posthumus (1880-1960), the first professor in economic and social history in the Netherlands.

The NWP promotes innovative and advanced interdisciplinary research in economic and social history by stimulating joint research programmes of participating institutes. To this purpose, the NWP provides a PhD training in economic and social history, as well as a four course-programme for Research Master students. Annually, the N.W. Posthumus Institute also organises its Annual Posthumus Conference.

The NWP is also participating in the European graduate School for Training in Economic and social historical Research (ESTER), a Europe-wide network of leading scholars in the field of social and economic history and as such co-organiser of Research Design Courses and Advanced Seminars within the ESTER programme.

Please check out our contact page for contact details.

News

Workshop ‘Spaces of Formal and Informal Diplomacy in the Premodern Mediterranean’ – pre-registration requested

The members of the DiplomatiCon Project (Power in History: Centre for Political History, and Centre for Urban History), in cooperation with the Research ...

ESTER RDC (University of Seville, 3-5 November 2025)

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 ...

4th Regional History Society of Southern Africa Conference

The Regional History Society of Southern African (RHSSA) is hosting a conference on the theme ‘Independences and post-colonialism in Southern ...

Seminar ‘Sources, silence and the senses in the study of the history of global Chinese Labour’

Jens Aurich (junior researcher at the IISH), Koen van der Lijn (Johan Huizinga Fellow at Rijksmuseum Amsterdam) and Fresco Sam-Sin (founder and creative ...

The N.W. Posthumus Institute congratulates PhD Basic Training graduates

At the Posthumus Conference 2025 in Nijmegen, the PhD students present who completed the Posthumus PhD Basic Training Programme received their diploma ...

Posthumus Writing Retreat in Abdij van Berne (Berne Abbey)

From 16 until 21 June 2025, seven Posthumus PhD candidates gathered in Berne Abbey in Heeswijk-Dinther for the annual Writing Retreat of the N.W. Posthumus ...

Symposium ‘Bracing for impact: Junior scholars on the Anthropocene’

On 27 June 2025, the Network for Environmental Humanities (NEH) celebrates the pioneering, socially engaged research being conducted by our junior scholars ...

PhD Defence Posthumus alumnus Dániel Moerman

On 11 September 2025, Posthumus alumnus Dániel Moerman will defend the PhD thesis ‘A hydrosocial history of drought and societal resilience in the ...

Several Posthumus fellows receive NWO-XS Grant

The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded several fellows of the N.W. Posthumus Institute an NWO XS Grant. This grant is awarded for ideas with a ...

New publication by Peer Vries

Posthumus Fellow emeritus Professor Peer Vries and Annelieke Vries-Baaijens recently published their book The rise of the modern state in Europe, ...

New issue of TSEG – The Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History out now

Recently, Leuven University Press has issued a new edition of TSEG – The Low Countries Journal of Social and Economic History, the Dutch-Flemish ...

Successful PhD Defence Posthumus alumna Robin Rose Southard

On 23 June 2025, Posthumus alumna Robin Rose Southard successfully defended the PhD thesis ‘Biting the hand that feeds: contesting the food guilds in ...

3 Postdoc positions on Dutch Colonial Social and Economic History (Utrecht University) – deadline 29 August 2025

For the NWO-funded Vici-project ‘Care and Coercion. Patriarchy, (Forced) Labour and Caregiving in the Household in the Dutch Empire, c. ...

Successful PhD Defence Posthumus alumna Heleen Blommers

On 2 June 2025, Posthumus alumna Heleen Blommers successfully defended the PhD thesis ‘Deconstructing the War on Poverty: why a failure narrative ...

Volkskrant-IISH Thesis prize 2025 for MA Students – deadline submissions 19 September 2025

The news magazine de Volkskrant and the International Institute of Social History (IISH) are welcoming submissions for the Volkskrant-IISH Thesis prize ...

Successful Posthumus Conference 2025 in Nijmegen!

On 27 and 28 May 2025, the Posthumus Conference 2025 was held in Nijmegen at Radboud University, hosted by Dr Dries Lyna and Dr Joris van den Tol and ...

Posthumus fellow Dr Kristof Loockx receives FWO Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship

The Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) has awarded a FWO Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship to Dr Kristof Loockx, fellow of the N.W. Posthumus Institute and ...

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