About

I am a cultural, religious, and intellectual historian of early modern Europe. I am Reader in Early Modern History at Cardiff University. During 2020/2021, I was a Humboldt Research Fellow at the TU Dresden in Germany. I arrived at Cardiff in January 2016, having previously taught at Balliol College (2011-2013) and New College (2013-2015), Oxford. After completing my undergraduate degree in The Netherlands, I spent most of my academic career in the United Kingdom, with visiting fellowships and studentships at Cornell, Princeton, and the British School at Rome.

At Cardiff, I have been my School’s Director of Recruitment and Admissions as well as its Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead. I chaired the School’s successful Athena SWAN application and organised a series of events promoting women’s and LGBTQ history.

In my spare time I love travelling. Every winter, you can find me hiking on one or more of the subtropical Canary Islands for a week. The El Teide National Park is a personal favourite. My favourite holiday was to India’s Ladakh region, where watching the stars at night I finally understood how the Milky Way got its name. I have become a bit of an amateur runner over the last few years. I started in 2016 with the NHS Couch to 5K podcast. In October 2018, I ran my first half-marathon.