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PhD ‘Women in the Early Modern Language Sector’ (Leiden University) – deadline 15 February 2026
The Faculty of Humanities of Leiden University is offering a PhD position within the project LangPro: Professional Opportunities in the Early Modern Language Sector (1550-1650) on the topic ‘Women in the Early Modern Language Sector’.
The LangPro project examines the notion of the language sector in early modern North-West Europe: that part of early modern societies and economies which relied primarily on language skills. LangPro’s central research question is: What professional, financial, and social opportunities did the early modern language sector offer to men and women in the Low Countries, France, the German lands, and England, between 1550 and 1650? Laying the groundwork for a new research domain on the history of the language sector, the project team will develop a prosopographical database that makes it possible to gain insight into the characteristics of professionals in the past whose core business was language and the nature of the sector that employed them.
The PhD researching the topic of ‘Women in the Early Modern Language Sector’ will conduct a collective analysis of a selection of early modern female language professionals from England, the Low Countries, France, and the German lands to explore to what extent women could benefit from employment in the language industry. Although women (with only a few exceptions) did not have access to academic education, language skills offered them a way to pursue intellectual professions, such as translator or language teacher. For each of these women, The PhD will examine their biographical data, personal writings, and correspondence in order to find patterns in the language skills they professed, the ways in which they found and secured employment, and the financial and social benefits they obtained through their language work.
Applications should be submitted ultimately 15 February 2026.
