Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk

I am Prof. dr. Elise van Nederveen Meerkerk (1975), a professor of economic and social history, specializing in the history of labour relations, particularly women’s and children’s work. In 2007, I obtained my PhD in Economic and Social History, focusing on women’s work in the early modern Dutch Republic. I have published in leading economic and social history journals, such as the Economic History Review, Feminist Economics, and the International Review of Social History. I have also directed several comparative labour history projects, including studies on textile workers, child labour, domestic workers, and sex workers.

Since 2025, I have been a member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2026, I was elected as a scientific member of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences. I am also an honorary fellow of the International Institute of Social History (IISH) and was a fellow at NIAS (Amsterdam) in 2017–2018. Additionally, I serve as chair of the Prof. Van Winter Fund and the NEHA/Unger van Brerofonds.

Between 2018 and 2024, I led the ERC Consolidator project “Race to the Bottom? Family labour, household livelihood and consumption in the relocation of global cotton manufacturing.” This project examined the role of households in the global relocation of the textile industry from circa 1780 to 1990, resulting in several publications.

My involvement in SOCION started since its inception as a member of the writing group for this program and I currently serve as one of the eight Principal Investigators and a member of the SOCION Executive Board.

Since September 2025, I have directed the NWO-Vici Project “Care and Coercion” which will last until 2030.