SHOC VUB

We’re also excited to see that Camille Lacorne (VUB AMGC) and Noah Gaens (KU Leuven), whose doctoral work will be co-supervised by SHOC members, were awarded PhD funding.

William, under the guidance of Bart Lambert and Jelle Haemers (KU Leuven), will investigate the selectivity and drivers of migration from the Low Countries to London and Florence during the later Middle Ages.

Congratulations to SHOC members Brent Huygh and William Torbeyns, who both secured PhD funding in this year’s FWO competition🥳 Brent, supervised by Klaas Van Gelder and Hannes Ziegler (TU Dresden), will explore how villagers in 17th/18th-century Brabant & Limburg engaged with political expectations.

In parallel, he is preparing an FWO application for a PhD project on the emergence and application of “mental sciences” (psychology and psychiatry) in colonial French-speaking Central Africa between 1900 and 1960.

Drawing on military tribunal archives, Lukas will examine how murder and violence were legally addressed in early colonial Congo, as well as the methodological challenges posed by these sources.

This collaborative initiative between ULB, VUB, and the Belgian State Archives investigates themes such as colonial violence, subaltern agency, impunity, and military misconduct in both the Congo Free State (1885–1908) and Belgian Congo (1908–1960).

About Context Building on the promising results of the pilot project DIGICOLJUST (2020-2022), the project DIGICOLJUST-2 “Military Violence and its (Dis)Contents in Colonial Congo: Sharing the Records, Writi...

As a member of SHOC, Lukas is contributing to the DIGICOLJUST 2 project, “Military Violence and Its (Dis)Contents in Colonial Congo” (digicoljust.hypotheses.org).

About Context Building on the promising results of the pilot project DIGICOLJUST (2020-2022), the project DIGICOLJUST-2 “Military Violence and its (Dis)Contents in Colonial Congo: Sharing the Records, Writi...

His thesis was later adapted into the article “After Red Rubber: Violence and Early Colonial Governance in Belgian Congo (1908–1914)”, submitted to The Journal of Belgian History.

About Context Building on the promising results of the pilot project DIGICOLJUST (2020-2022), the project DIGICOLJUST-2 “Military Violence and its (Dis)Contents in Colonial Congo: Sharing the Records, Writi...

Lukas' MA thesis explored everyday forms of violence in the early years of the Belgian Congo, following the end of Leopold II’s notorious red rubber regime.For this work, he was awarded the Dr. Renée De Bock-Doehaerd Prize in 2025, recognizing the best master’s thesis with a historical focus at VUB.

Lukas Van Oost starts at SHOC

Lukas (b. 2000) studied History at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (2022–2025) and Art History at Ghent University (2018–2022). His research centers on the colonial history of Central Africa.

VACATURE: doctoraatsonderzoeker aan de VUB (onderzoeksgroep Social VACATURE voor een doctoraatsonderzoeker aan de VUB (onderzoeksgroep

Voor de volledige vacature en meer informatie, klik op deze link: shoc.research.vub.be/nl/vacature-...

VACATURE voor een doctoraatsonderzoeker aan de VUB (onderzoeksgroep Social History of Capitalism) en de UGent (Vakgroep Geschiedenis) in het FWO-project “Beschuldigingen en smaad op de dorpsvergadering: rurale perspectieven op sociale controle in Vlaanderen, ca. 1400–1600”.

Fascinating blog post about the early modern port of Amsterdam by SHOC member Bob Pierik (in Dutch)! 👇

A proud SHOC delegation was there to cheer him on and celebrate the occasion with some well-chosen gifts. Huge congratulations, Dr Wink!

His research—part of a joint doctoral project supervised by Bart Lambert (VUB) and Louis Sicking (VU Amsterdam)—explored how merchants in 15th-century Kampen, Utrecht, and Zutphen were supported by their hometowns.

Hora est: Drs Wink becomes Dr Wink!

On Monday, 22 September, our colleague Jurriaan Wink successfully defended his PhD in Amsterdam.

Dr. De Mûelenaere obtained a PhD in political history (2016) from Antwerp University. Her disssertation explored forgotten militarization processes in Belgian society between 1890 and 1914, and was published by Leuven University Press in 2019.

This chair to promote and share academic and citizen science on the Belgian resistance during the Second World War, as well as make this knowledge accessible to the public.

In 2024, she co-founded the 'Traces of the Resistance' chair (2024-2028) in collaboration with the non-profit organization Heroes of the Resistance.

She has published in journals including European Review of History, Nature Sustainability, and Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis on the history of food crises, international development, and militarization.

We're thrilled to welcome Nel de Mûelenaere as the newest member of our research group!

Nel de Mûelenaere is Associate Professor of Contemporary History, holder of the chair Traces of Resistance, and head of the VUB history program.

Dr. De Mûelenaere obtained a PhD in political history (2016) from Antwerp University. Her disssertation explored forgotten militarization processes in Belgian society between 1890 and 1914, and was published by Leuven University Press in 2019.

This chair to promote and share academic and citizen science on the Belgian resistance during the Second World War, as well as make this knowledge accessible to the public.

In 2024, she co-founded the 'Traces of the Resistance' chair (2024-2028) in collaboration with the non-profit organization Heroes of the Resistance.

She has published in journals including European Review of History, Nature Sustainability, and Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis on the history of food crises, international development, and militarization.

Alongside this project, Axel will participate in the research group’s weekly meetings and seminars. He is also working on his bachelor’s thesis, which investigates the mobility of soldiers and deserters in the early modern period.

Through this work, he’ll contribute to developing new methodological approaches to studying the history of passports from a bottom-up perspective. His research will be supervised by Anne Winter.

In the upcoming academic year, Axel will take part in the Talent for Research programme, where he’ll explore the possibilities and limitations of automatic transcription for analysing and transcribing handwritten documents from the drossaard of Brabant.

Axel began his history studies at VUB in 2023, with academic interests spanning social, criminal, and military history—particularly focused on the early modern period and the 19th century.

Axel joins SHOC's TvO team!

We’re pleased to announce that, starting in September 2025, Axel Van der Maelen will be joining SHOC as a TvO student.