On 27 March 2026, Posthumus alumna Alessandra De Mulder (University of Antwerp) successfully defended the thesis ‘Embedding a consumer revolution: Shifting values in the language of London auction advertisements, c. 1730-1830’ at the FelixArchief in Antwerp. Supervisors were Professor Bruno Blondé and Professor Ilja Van Damme (both University of Antwerp. Alessandra’s dissertation examines the emergence…

The Tensions of Europe Early Career Scholars Network welcomes applications from both PhDs and Postdocs for the Summer School ‘Tensions of Europe 2026’ on 6-7 July 2026, which is organised in connection to the XII Tensions of Europe Conference ‘The meaning of the past in sustainable futures’, which will be held on the next days…

On 15 and 16 January 2027, the international coe ‘Households as Coercive Labour Regimes II’ will be jointly organised by the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies (BCDSS) of the University of Bonn and the International Institute of Social History (IISH). Organisers of this event are Stephan Conermann (BCDSS) and Posthumus fellows Ulbe Bosma…

On 6 March 2026, Professor Marlou Schrover, who has been a member of the N.W. Posthumus Institute from the very start, delivered her valedictory lecture at Leiden University, titled Verleden, heden en toekomst: hoe we het verleden kunnen gebruiken om het hedendaagse migratiedebat en -beleid te begrijpen, en bij te sturen. With her retirement, Marlou…

On 15 April 2026, the Stichting Nederland-Sri Lanka in collaboration with the Research Network ‘Routes and Roots in Colonial and Global History’ of the N.W. Posthumus Institute will organise a book launch event for Lives, Land, and Labour. A Social History of Eighteenth-Century Sri Lanka (Leiden: Brill, 2026), authored by Posthumus fellow Luc Bulten. The…

Recently, there have been some changes in the General Board of the N.W. Posthumus Institute. Because of her retirement, Professor Marlou Schrover also retired from the General Board as well as from the Executive Committee of the N.W. Posthumus Institute. Her place as representative of Leiden University in the General Board has now been taken…

On 11 March 2026, Posthumus alumna Yannis Skalli-Housseini successfully defended the thesis ‘In the Name of Distributive Justice: Debating Fiscal Reform in 18th-Century Flanders’ at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Supervisor were is Professor Wouter Ryckbosch (Ghent University) and Dr Klaas Van Gelder (VUB). Yannis’ dissertation contributes to the recent historiographical re-evaluation of the rise of…

~ because of scope an required proficiency in Dutch only ~ Het Departement Erfgoedstudies van de Faculteit Ontwerpwetenschappen aan de Universiteit van Antwerpen zoekt een voltijdse (100%) doctoraatsbursaal in het kader van het FWO project ‘Labore et Constantia. Continuïteit en verandering in de werkritmes in de Plantijnse drukkerij (ca. 1580-1840)’. Hoeveel uur werkten vroegmoderne mensen…

Palgrave Macmillan recently published a new open-access publication, authored by Posthumus fellow Dr Gijs Dreijers, Private Entrepreneurship and European Imperialism: Dutch Entrepreneurs in the Scramble for Africa, 1830s-1910s in the Palgrave Studies in Economic History book series. This open access book presents a new perspective on European imperialism in Africa, by focusing on the role…

On 3 and 4 December 2026, Ghent University will host the conference, ‘Bridging Boundaries: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Environmental History of the Low Countries’. The conference is a collaboration between researchers on the medieval and (early) modern Low Countries and the Roman Society Research Center. The conference wants to encourage the exchange of recent research,…