News
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.
