Third Year PhD Candidate working on the project: Air Pollution and its socio-economic and health consequences in Dutch cities, 1850-1950. This PhD position is part of the interdisciplinary UU PhD programme of the Faculty of Humanities, funded by the administrative agreement (‘bestuursakkoord’) between the Ministry of OCW and the universities.  

This project is part of an interdisciplinary supervisory team consisting of Liesbeth van de Grift (Professor of International History and the Environment), Swantje Falcke (Assistant Professor Economic and Social History), Auke Rijpma (Assistant Professor Economic and Social History) and Kees Klein Goldewijk (Assistant Professor Land Use). The supervisory team has strong ties to the UU strategic theme “Pathways to Sustainability” which offers access to a network of interdisciplinary colleagues and is based at the Economic and Social History (ESH).

The project will analyse the impact of air pollution on health and other well-being outcomes (such as locational choices, occupational change, and schooling) in Dutch cities during a period of rapid technological change and economic growth (c. 1850-1950). Using individual-level data, this relationship will be examined in general but also differentiated by socio-economic status. The project will make use of digitised Dutch archives, providing us with a  dataset of vital records and high-precision data on factory locations.

Linkedin: https://nl.linkedin.com/in/catherine-simpson-987908203