iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

🎉 A warm welcome to Matthis Aelbrecht, who is joining SHOC as a TVO student! We look forward to supporting his learning journey and wish him a successful and inspiring experience with our team. Welcome aboard, Matthis! 👏 shoc.research.vub.be/en/shoc-welc...

SHOC Welcomes Matthis Aelbrecht as TVO Student! | Paddle

Matthis Aelbrecht (b. 2006) is a History student at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), having begun his studies in 2024. His lifelong fascination with the

000

Reposted by SHOC VUB

Bob Pierik @bobpi.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

New dog-toral student in the office @shoc-vub.bsky.social

041

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

What did Belgium’s takeover of the Congo Free State in 1908 mean for the widespread violence inflicted on rainforest communities in the pursuit of wild rubber?

130

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

📣 Join us for an inspiring presentation: "Colonial Archives in the DRC", by Ngalo Masua Neré of the Institut National des Archives du Congo, taking place on 28 September at 10:20 AM.

210

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Op 16 oktober neemt SHOC-lid Benoît Henriet het woord op een seminarie georganiseerd door SHOC-collega Leonie Vanlerberghe en de redactie van het Contemporanea. Na zijn keynote volgt een panelgesprek waarin uitdagingen en vragen besproken worden aan de hand van concrete onderzoekservaringen.

100

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

❗Want to know more about Nel D.'s new ERC? ⭐ Check out this Vrije Universiteit Brussel page: www.vub.be/en/news/five... (in English) or www.vub.be/nl/nieuws/vi... (in Dutch)!

vub.be

Vijf ERC Grants voor de VUB

Grote Europese onderzoeksfinanciering voor veelbelovende jonge onderzoekers

010

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

New ERC at SHOC! 🎉📚 We are thrilled to announce that our colleague and VUB History Programme Chair, Nel de Mûelenaere, has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant for her project 'EVERYDAY REBELLIONS: Creativity and Domestic Care as Civilian Resistance in Occupied Europe, 1939-1945'.

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

📢 Just Published in Brood & Rozen by SHOC member Claudia Pelgrims! 📖

shoc-vub.paddlecms.net

100

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

CALL FOR PAPERS On 20-21 May 2027, the international conference “Premodern State Formation: New Themes and Directions”, a joint initiative of the Technische Universität Dresden and VUB, will be held in Dresden, Germany.

tu-dresden.de

Konferenz

Call for Papers für die Tagung "Premodern State Formation: New Themes and Directions" (Dresden, 20.-21. Mai 2027)

100

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

🎉 Exciting (re)publication news! SHOC is proud to announce the republication of SHOC member Anne Winter's and Ellen Debackere's article, entitled “Non-Nationals between Belonging and Removal: Urban Practices of Policies towards Foreigners, Antwerp c. 1830–1880.”

perspectivia.net

Sicherheitsüberprüfung

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

📚🏆 From Book Launch to Prize Winner: Congratulations, John Latham-Sprinkle! 🎉👏 Ten months ago, we proudly launched The North Caucasian Kingdom of Alania, 850–1240, John Latham-Sprinkle’s groundbreaking study of a little-known medieval kingdom.

100

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

From Lisbon with medieval perspectives! 🏰 SHOC members John Latham-Sprinkle and Imma Petito took recently part in Small Worlds, Big Worlds: Medieval Mediterranean Perspectives, organised by the Society for the Medieval Mediterranean (SMM).

100

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Class and gender at the ballot box: revisiting the 1961 Belgian elections Why did an experienced female politician lose her place on the electoral list? And what role did class and gender play in that decision?

100

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Class and gender at the ballot box: revisiting the 1961 Belgian elections. Why did an experienced female politician lose her place on the electoral list? And what role did class and gender play in that decision?

100

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Medici Florence was a magnet for craftsmanship from the Low Countries!🏛️ Yesterday, Belgian newspaper De Standaard featured the migration research of SHOC members William Torbeyns and Bart Lambert, together with KU Leuven colleague Jelle Haemers 📰

bmgn-lchr.nl

Leaving the Promised Lands: Emigration from the Low Countries to Florence in the Fifteenth Century | BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review

BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review is the leading academic journal for the history of the Low Countries

142

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Last Friday, many SHOC members attended the opening of wOnderland in Ieper 🎉. This exhibition at the Yper Museum shows what archaeological finds from beneath the city, and the interdisciplinary research carried out on them, can tell us about the medieval urban environment and its inhabitants 🏛️

ypermuseum.be

wOnderland

Er was eens ... de Ruiter. Een man van vlees en bloed die eeuwen geleden door de Ieperse straten galoppeerde. Wat weten we nog over deze heer? Verbazingwekkend veel! In wONDERLAND graaf je diep in de ...

100

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Our second podcast featuring Bart Lambert is a treat especially for our French‑speaking followers🎧—but it’s just as fascinating for anyone interested in the historical impact of pandemics!

This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

111

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Get ready for the Big Bart Lambert Podcast Weekend! 🎧 Over the next few days, we’re excited to share not one but two brand-new podcast episodes featuring SHOC colleague Bart Lambert. 🎙️📚

english-heritage.org.uk

The English Heritage Podcast

Every object has a story to tell. But how can one mystery item lead us on a journey through history, people and places? In the English Heritage podcast, comedian and writer Amy Matthews brings you ...

100

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

On Wednesday 10 June, Imma Petito successfully defended her PhD on the relations between the Kingdom of England and Italian polities in the later Middle Ages 🎓.

111

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

SHOC member Leonie Vanlerberghe recently led an engaging workshop on “Gender in Personal Documents” at the Spring Conference of the Royal Netherlands Historical Society (KNHG),together with Stefan Kras (history teacher and PhD researcher) and Jessie Baerts (Master student Gender & Diversity, Ugent).

100

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

New vacancy! We are looking for 2 doctoral candidates to conduct research on the Brussels construction sector as a nexus of labour, materials, and capital, from the nineteenth century to the present.

VACANCY DOCOTRAL RESEARCHER: FLOWS IN THE CONSTRUCTION

We are looking for 2 doctoral candidates to conduct research on the Brussels construction sector as a nexus of labour, materials, and capital, from the

101

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

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

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

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🎓✨

100

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

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

100

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

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".

This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

101

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

📣 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.

mdpi.com

120

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

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".

100

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

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

111

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

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?”

This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

100

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

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...

000

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

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.

100

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

❗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.

This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

100

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

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 shoc@vub.be. shoc.research.vub.be/en/shoc-semi...

SHOC seminar with Hannes Ziegler (Technische Universität

What was the State? Officiating and Litigating in Early Modern EnglandResearch into early modern state-building has developed quite a bit over the past decades

000

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

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

100

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

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

brias.be

Thursday Seminars by Mark Bray – The Brussels Institute for Advanced Studies

100

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

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.

vgnkleio.nl

Stem voor de Kleio Klasseprijs! - VGN Kleio

Stemmen kan tot 1 maart 2026

100

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

🎓📚 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.

clarehall.cam.ac.uk

Bart Lambert - Clare Hall

100

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

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.’

tenduinen.be

Lezingenreeks 2026: 'Kleurrijke vreemde vogels tussen abdijen en kastelen'

In maart-april-mei 2026 De middeleeuwen bestonden uit meer dan monniken in abdijen en ridders in kastelen. Zes boeiende sprekers bewijzen dit in deze lezingenreeks die je niet wil missen! Organisatie:...

100

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

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’".

131

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

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 welcomes new PhD student Jens Van Mieghem! | Paddle

Jens studied History at Ghent University (2025), with a focus on the Early Modern period. He wrote his Master’s thesis on local police regulations in Ghent in

SHOC VUB @shoc-vub.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

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...