SHOC research group - Vrije Universiteit Brussel

19/10/2026

What happens to freedom, democracy and human dignity when a city falls under foreign occupation? And what can the past teach us about the conflicts of today? During the First World War, the people of Brussels lived under German occupation for four years. More than a century later, their experiences raise questions that remain as relevant and urgent as ever.

Join us for an inspiring evening with Sophie De Schaepdrijver as she presents Dance with a Bully: Occupied Brussels in the First World War, part of the Ties That Bind Us lecture series.

📅 12 November 2026
🕕 18:00–19:30
📍 VUB Main Campus Etterbeek (Pleinlaan 2 - 1050 Brussels), Building I, Room I.0.02

More info via this link:

What happens to freedom and human dignity when a city falls under foreign occupation? Guest lecture with Sophie De Schaepdrijver. Book your tickets now.

13/10/2026

Mark your calendars: SHOC member Bob Pierik will be presenting his research at the Low Countries Seminar on 23 October 2026!

12/10/2026

🎉 A warm welcome to Eliska Bujokova, who has recently joined SHOC as a postdoctoral researcher!

Eliska's research explores the history of care, welfare and labour in the eighteenth-century British Empire, with a particular focus on the intersections between capitalism, social reproduction and work. 🌍⚓
At SHOC, she is developing her first monograph, Caring at Sea: Naval Welfare in the British Atlantic Empire, c. 1700–1780, which examines the infrastructures that sustained colonial naval power. She also leads a community archiving initiative and researches the enduring legacies of empire in archival collections.
Before joining SHOC, Eliska studied at the University of Glasgow and the University of Cambridge, earned her PhD at Glasgow in 2024 and held a Leverhulme Trust-funded postdoctoral fellowship at the University of New Brunswick.
We are delighted to welcome Eliska to the team and look forward to her contributions to SHOC's research community! 🚀📚

06/10/2026

Flemish archives, museums and heritage institutions are being disproportionately affected by the Flemish government’s budget cuts. Many institutions that are essential to the study of our history, and that have been crucial partners of the SHOC research group, are facing budget reductions of up to 50% or even the complete withdrawal of funding. Their very existence is now under threat.

We are deeply concerned about this incomprehensible decision and its potentially far-reaching consequences for the preservation and study of our shared past.

06/10/2026

🌍📚 We're delighted to welcome Jabulani Shaba to the SHOC research group as a postdoc researcher at VUB!

Jabulani's work explores the intersections of resource extraction, political ecology, gender and environmental history. His PhD, completed at Stellenbosch University in 2024, examined changing gendered labour relations and the socio-environmental histories of women involved in artisanal gold mining in Zimbabwe.

Having conducted archival and ethnographic research in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia and Nigeria, Jabulani brings extensive expertise on the histories and politics of gold, copper and oil extraction. Prior to joining SHOC, he was a postdoctoral researcher on the ERC-funded AFREXTRACT project at the University of Groningen.

At VUB, Jabulani will pursue his FWO postdoctoral research project Just Energy Transition from Below: Lithium, Everyday Life and Spiritual Entanglements in Zimbabwe, c.1950 to the Present, exploring critical minerals through the lens of everyday experiences and local knowledge. He is also developing a monograph based on his PhD research on gendered labour and artisanal gold mining in postcolonial Zimbabwe.

Beyond academia, Jabulani is passionate about photography and environmental storytelling 📷, and recently co-edited Abundance/Extracted: Living with Mining and Oil in Africa.

Please join us in giving Jabulani a warm welcome to SHOC! 🎉👏

05/10/2026

SHOC is proud to announce that SHOC member Inès Glogowski will publicly defend her doctoral dissertation on 13 October!

« Un objet qui intéresse l’humanité et la justice ». Occuper les lieux d’enfermement à Bruxelles et dans le duché de Brabant : espaces, acteurs et surveillance au XVIIIe siècle.

01/10/2026

🎉 Before heading into the new academic year, SHOC members gathered for two days of team building in beautiful Melden, near Oudenaarde!
From team challenges (skillfully sabotaged by a mischievous mole 🕵️) and a quiz to conquering the legendary Koppenberg (of cyclist fame 🚴) and discovering the rich history of Oudenaarde during a guided city tour, the retreat offered the perfect mix of fun, teamwork and exploration.
A great opportunity to reconnect, welcome the new academic year and strengthen the bonds that make SHOC such a vibrant research community! 🚀📚

29/09/2026

Earlier this month, SHOC members Rhea Mertes and William Torbeyns had the pleasure of representing VUB at the AHRC International Conference on Power and Possession at The Queen’s College, University of Oxford 🎓🏛️. As part of a VUB delegation led by Rik Vosters, they joined researchers from the AMGC, VISU and FOST research groups to present their PhD projects and exchange ideas with early career researchers from a wide range of disciplines 🌍🤝.

🍽️ Rhea shared her research on food in the late Middle Ages, focusing on food safety, urban regulations and the crucial role of smell in assessing the quality of fish.

🚶‍♂️ William explored how unequal access to power and resources influenced people's opportunities for migration in the late medieval period.

✨ The conference was an enriching experience, providing fresh perspectives, stimulating discussions and renewed inspiration for their ongoing research. 📚💡

29/09/2026

SHOC seminar with SHOC member Inès Glogowski!

On Monday 5 October, SHOC member Inès Glogowski will present her upcoming public PhD defence, entitled: « Un objet qui intéresse l’humanité et la justice ». Occuper les lieux d’enfermement à Bruxelles et dans le duché de Brabant : espaces, acteurs et surveillance au XVIIIe siècle.

Over the past years, Inès has pursued a joint PhD at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain). During this seminar, she will discuss the main findings of her doctoral research on places of confinement in eighteenth-century Brussels and the Duchy of Brabant, examining their spatial organisation, the actors involved, and mechanisms of surveillance.
The presentation will last approximately 45 minutes and will be delivered in French, with PowerPoint slides in Dutch.

We warmly invite all interested colleagues and students to attend this seminar and learn more about Inès's research.

We kindly ask you to register if you wish to attend the presentation via [email protected]

Photo credits: KBR, Prentenkabinet, SII 5982

21/09/2026

📢 New publication! 🚨

In a new article, SHOC member Janny van Doorn examines how the urban authorities of late medieval Bruges responded to food provisioning crises and social unrest surrounding the sale of venteghoedt (affordable but highly perishable fish products) 🐟
Rather than reflecting divisions between merchant and craft guild representatives, Bruges' urban councils pursued remarkably similar strategies. Faced with mounting socio-economic pressures, they experimented with regulatory, financial and coercive measures to safeguard social stability.
The study shows that late medieval authorities were not merely constrained by existing institutions and privileges. They acted as pragmatic agents of institutional change, invoking the common good to reshape market practices in times of crisis 🐠

🔗 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03585522.2026.2721253

History

This article examines how the moral economy shaped the actions of urban authorities in late medieval Bruges, one of the leading urban centres of north-western Europe. While E.P. Thompson and subseq...