Originally a social scientist from Tilburg University, I have worked for more than fifteen years in the IT and financial sector. In 2016 I returned to the academic world as PhD student on the GIStorical Antwerp Project. I worked as postdoctoral researcher on research projects Virtuafort and The Social History of Finance. Over the years I have built extensive expertise in using socio-spatial research methodology and applying GIS tools in historical research.
I am currently co-promoter of research project:
Mapping the Market. The Credit Transactions of Antwerp's Business Community in the 19th Century
With Ruben Peeters, Marc Deloof and Oscar Gelderblom, financially supported by the National Bank of Belgium (NBB), I study the evolution of social and spatial credit networks in Antwerp between 1800 and 1900. We compare credit relationships through notaries and so-called private (peer to peer) contracts.
Our first publication has been accepted:
Ruben Peeters en Rogier van Kooten (2024). "Looking for Dark Matter Credit: Exploring Notarial Credit Markets in Antwerp and its Surroundings ca. 1835 ", in: Elise Dermineur en Matteo Pompermaier (red.), Networks, Behaviour and Strategies in Early Financial Markets (forthcoming), nr. Palgrave Studies in the History of Finance, Londen: Palgrave Macmillan, 2024
The Social History of Finance
From October 2021 to December 2023, I worked as postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Urban History on research project The Social History of Finance. This project breaks new ground as it offers a structural, long-term perspective on the role of the financial sector and alternative arrangements used by households to organize payments, loans, savings, and insurance.
Premodern Healthscaping - Plague, Religion and Urban Space in Sixteenth-Century Antwerp
Social and spatial study of a forgotten plague epidemic exploring disparities between socio-economic, spatial and religious groups. This resulted in: Plague, Religion and Urban Space in Sixteenth-Century Antwerp | Social History of Medicine | Oxford Academic (oup.com)
(With Claire Weeda (LU), Janna Coomans (UU) and Léa Hermenault (UvA / UA)
N.W. Posthumus Institute
At the University of Utrecht I work as Education Programme Director of the N.W. Posthumus Institute (Utrecht University)
