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 cities of Deventer and Zutphen, 1500-1900’ at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Supervisors are Professor Petra van Dam (VU Amsterdam), Dr Milja van Tielhof (Huygens Institute), and Dr Bob Pierik (VU Amsterdam).

The main aim of Dániel’s study was to find out to what extent premodern urban societies in the eastern Netherlands developed risk-mitigating strategies to alleviate the possible damaging effects of drought-induced water shortages, and whether this displays a certain level of resilience, using two cities in the eastern Netherlands: Deventer and Zutphen, between 1500 and 1900 as case studies.

The research provided valuable insights into the specific effects of drought on the micro-infrastructures of urban water provisioning and the development of risk-mitigating strategies, which serve as an indicator of resilience to drought over time. The implementation of risk-mitigation strategies, such as deepening wells and pumps, restricting the use of water for certain purposes, and storing water in barrels and reservoirs for emergency use, ensured that water shortages and their societal effects generally remained limited.

The N.W. Posthumus Institute wishes Dániel a successful defence!