Suzanne Ros wins Digital History Thesis Award

History student Suzanne Ros recently won the Digital History Prize for the best bachelor thesis of the academic year 2020-2021. Suzanne's thesis focuses on the origins of the term 'Anthropocene' and how it was slowly taken over from geology by other sciences. In her thesis she examines how this migration took place and to what extent it was accompanied by a politicisation of the concept.

Suzanne's research

Research on the Anthropocene usually focuses on issues of periodisation from the perspective of specific disciplinary interests. As a result, the historicity of the concept itself, such as questions of conceptual change and drift, is neglected, Suzanne argues. Her research aims to contribute to the historiography of conceptual history and knowledge history by examining the concept 'Anthropocene' as it appears in scientific and public discourse.

In her research, Suzanne traces the history of the word and examines the geological debate surrounding the concept. Through digital analyses of the Anthropocene, she shows how the academic debate has developed between 2000 and 2020, and how the term has been transformed in the process. Through a case study of Dutch newspapers, she shows how scientific knowledge became increasingly politicised, providing insight into how a scientific concept migrates to the public debate and ultimately to the political sphere.

Exemplary performance

"This thesis is a fine example of the digital history type, where the emphasis is less on methodological innovation than on answering a substantive scientific question. This is an excellent approach, and the execution is exemplary in many respects, both in terms of the historical craftsmanship and the digital approach", the jury report states. 

Digital History Thesis Award

The Digital History Thesis Award is awarded by the Department of History and Art History. The prize aims to stimulate digital history research among students. The best bachelor thesis receives 500 euro and the best master and research master thesis 750 euro each. Theses are eligible for the prize if the student successfully applies digital methods or techniques.