🏆 Quiz champions! 🏆 Once again, our SHOC members showed they’re experts in more than just history at the annual VUB staff quiz.

On 26 May, the Faculty Research Day @VUB brought together PhD students from the Faculty of Languages and Humanities for a full day of exchange, inspiration and academic discovery🎓✨

Last Tuesday, 19 May, SHOC celebrated its third anniversary with an inspiring lecture by Prof. Andreas Malm (Lund University).

Recently, our SHOC colleague Brent Huygh published his first academic article, titled "Commercialisation from below: the Brussels gateway roads in the eighteenth century", in the journal "History of Retailing and Consumption".

📣 Call for Papers: People on the Move in Late Medieval Europe 🌍 SHOC member Bart Lambert is guest editing a special issue of the peer reviewed, Web of Science–indexed journal Histories on late medieval human mobility.

In the beginning of April, SHOC-member Charlotte Van Riet attended the UK Archaeological Sciences Conference 2026, hosted by the University of Bristol. She presented the first results of her PhD research in a poster titled "Isotopes and Urbanisation".

SHOC‑collega’s Dennis De Vriese en Matthijs De Graeve traden mee op als editors van het nieuwe boek "Brusselse plaatsnamen".

SHOC turns two — and we’re celebrating with something special! We’re delighted to welcome Prof. Dr. Andreas Malm for an lecture exploring the longue durée of capitalism and its environmental foundations: “The Political Ecology of Charlemagne – Or, What, If Anything, Is Special about Capitalism?”

Join us for our last seminar of this semester! Katja Bruisch on Burning Swamps: Peat and the Forgotten Margins of Russia’s Fossil Economy. Click here for more info 👇 shoc.research.vub.be/nl/shoc-semi...

Episode 2 of The Foragers is out today 🌿 In this new conversation, artists Samah Hijawi and Juliette (Kin Hands) join Gosie Vervloessem to reflect on foraging as part of their creative practice—sharing the plants they grow, cook with, and gather in their surroundings.

🎙️Something new is in the air... @foragency.bsky.social launches a second podcast series! 🎙️

❗Tot en met 22 april kan je je inschrijven voor de Dag van de Nieuwste Geschiedenis met als thema Ctrl-Alt-History: (Digital) humanities meets AI.

Don't miss out on our next SHOC Seminar! Monday, 23 March: Hannes Ziegler (Technische Universität Dresden): "What was the State? Officiating and Litigating in Early Modern England". Everyone welcome, but please register via [email protected]. shoc.research.vub.be/en/shoc-semi...

News from our colleagues of the MOTC project! Read all about it: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

This Friday and Saturday 13/14 March: First International Conference of the Medieval Caucasus Network. "Studying Non-Elites in the Medieval Caucasus"

Upcoming seminar: Mark Bray on Fascism and Anti-Fascism in Trump’s United States - 2 April 2026

Don't forget - Monday 9 March 2026 is our next SHOC seminar!

In maart 2025 verscheen het boek 'Wereldsteden van de Lage Landen: Stadsgeschiedenis van Nederland en België'. Verschillende auteurs, waaronder SHOC-historici Anne Winter en Klaas Van Gelder, schrijven in dit werk over vijftig steden die bij uitstek een wereldstad waren.

🎓📚 Among Fellows and Footnotes: Bart Lambert in Cambridge 🏛️🌿 From January to April, our colleague Bart Lambert is a Visiting Fellow at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge — one of Cambridge’s institutes for advanced study, dedicated to supporting postgraduate researchers and international scholars.

Drum roll… 🥁 🥁 🥁 Registration for the international conference 'Studying Non-Elites in the Medieval Caucasus' is now open!

SHOC-collega's over vreemde vogels in de middeleeuwen 🏰 In het voorjaar van 2026 organiseren Vzw Familiares de Dunis en het Abdijmuseum Ten Duinen de lezingenreeks ‘Kleurrijke vreemde vogels tussen abdijen en kastelen. Gelijkheid en uitsluiting binnen de middeleeuwse samenleving.’

Another publication, another reason for SHOC to be proud—congratulations to Rein Vander Hulst! Rein has recently published a new article "Military Justice in the Field: Law, Order and Violence in the Prosecutors’ Archives of Belgian Colonial Troops at ‘War’".

SHOC is pleased to welcome Jens Van Mieghem as a new doctoral researcher. Jens does a joint PhD in History at VUB and Ghent University and is supervised by Klaas Van Gelder (VUB) and Thijs Lambrecht (UGent).

SHOC member Bob Pierik wins the Prof. Van Winter Award 2025 for best local or regional history book in the Netherlands! Read all about it on our website 👇 shoc.research.vub.be/en/shoc-memb...

GEZOCHT: documenten en verhalen van vrouwen die in het federaal parlement zetelden tussen 1921 en 1995. Heb jij dagboeken, schriftjes, brieven, aantekeningen, foto's of gelijkaardige documenten die stof liggen te vangen op zolder?

You are very welcome to join South African professor Premesh Lalu on his lecture about The Herds, a groundbreaking public art and climate initiative designed to inspire action and renew our bond with the natural world.

SHOC member Jolien Gijbels and Chanelle Delameillieure Demailleure were guests on VRT’s Voorproevers, where they spoke about their new book "Consent: a history of coercion and free will and everything in between." Tune in here 👇 www.vrt.be/vrtmax/podca...

Do you remember that a few weeks ago we proudly announced the new publication of ‘Consent: A history of coercion and free will and everything in between’, co-authored by SHOC colleague Jolien Gijbels? Well, it is now time to invite you to the book launch event for this inspiring work!

We are thrilled to unveil our seminar programme for the coming semester! Join us for our first lecture by Stephan Strunz: Air, Alleys, and Affection: The Politics of the Housing Survey between Basel, Liège, and Berlin, which promises to set the tone for an exciting series of discussions.

Call for sessions/papers & workshops: Ctrl-Alt-History – (Digital)Humanities meets AI

New FORAGENCY publication by SHOC member Thijs Costers: “Banana beer in Belgian Burundi: a social metabolist history of intoxication (1916–1962)”

🎉 Happy New Year from SHOC Research Group! 🎉 We wrapped up the year with great end-of-year celebrations and even better memories. Thank you to our wonderful team and collaborators for a fantastic year!

Three new FWO projects for SHOC! We’re thrilled to announce that three members of the SHOC research group have secured funding in this year’s FWO/Research Foundation–Flanders project competition.

Welcome, Lieke Bes! Lieke joins us as a PhD student working on the iBOF project LOCO (The Low Countries: Crossroads of Europe from the Neolithic to the Late Middle Ages). We’re happy to have you on board! 🎉 shoc.research.vub.be/nl/new-shoc-...

Since November, SHOC researcher William Torbeyns has been in Bologna for a three-month international research stay.

Curious about security and trade in the Late Middle Ages? Check out the blog Jurriaan wrote for Maritime Portal based on his dissertation. maritiemportal.nl/blog-het-thu...

Come join us! 📣

We are delighted to share an invitation for a book presentation by SHOC member Jolien Gijbels and Chanelle Delameillieure: ‘Consent: A history of coercion, free will and everything in between’.

Introducing Leonie: Uncovering Resistance to Women in Belgian Politics We’re excited to welcome Leonie Vanlerberghe as she begins her PhD journey exploring the opposition faced by female politicians in twentieth-century Belgium.

The SHOC Seminars are back! We are delighted to welcome Alessandro Stanziani for a lecture entitled: Earth Capital: ‘The Long History of Capitalism and its Aftermath’. Join us on 15 December for this fascinating event. Registrations are now open via [email protected].

🚨 New publication alert! In her latest article for Diplomatica, SHOC member Imma Petito (joint PhD VUB-Università di Salerno) uncovers the dynamic strategies behind Anglo-Neapolitan diplomacy in the late Middle Ages.

🎓 Congratulations, Dr Vanruysseveldt! 🎉

🎓 Congratulations, Dr Vanruysseveldt! 🎉

Save the date – 18 November 2025! SHOC member Jolien Gijbels and Chanelle Delameillieure will give a lecture “A forgotten history of consent” at the MIRY Concert Hall in Ghent on 18 November. Both historians will discuss how ideas about consent, power and the body have changed over the centuries.

The Foragers #2: Preview Screening 'Summer Grass, Winter Worm', of Matjaz Pinter, BoZar, Brussels, 12 Nov. 7 PM. Details and registration here: tinyurl.com/3ntntw5b

In a new article titled ‘Bomen en palen aan de kust van vroegmodern Amsterdam. De fluïde grens van de stad aan de hand van smokkelpraktijken’ [Booms and Poles on the Coast of Early Modern Amsterdam. The Fluid Boundary of the City Based on Smuggling Practices] for Holland Historisch Tijschrift,

Historians by Day, Snipers by Night Last Monday, our research group kicked off the week with an exhilarating team-building adventure! Right after work, we headed to Space Laser Games in Etterbeek for an intense round of laser tag 🔫

🎓 SHOC at the VUB Graduation Ceremonies! Last Monday, several members of the SHOC research group took part in VUB’s graduation celebrations at the iconic Grand Place in Brussels.

Exciting new stage of the Make-Up of the Cities project, involving SHOC members Bart Lambert, Patxi Perez Ramallo and Charlotte Van Riet! 👇 www.linkedin.com/posts/make-u...

🎉We have a champion in our midst!🎉 On 4 October, palaeographers from Flanders & the Netherlands gathered in St-Truiden for the finals of the Wat Staat Daer? Palaeography Contest. After an online preselection, the finalists had to transcribe 3 texts from the 14th, 15th & 17th centuries.