About me

I am a historian and sociologist, currently working as a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University, Belgium. My work focuses on the history of history-writing, the history of science and humanities, and public uses of the past.

Since 2016, I have been doing research in the history of history-writing and the history and sociology of knowledge at Ghent University (MA in History 2017, PhD in History 2024), Lund University (postdoc, 2025) and The University of Chicago (MA in the Social Sciences 2018). My academic work questions the past and present conditions in which knowledge is used and produced. Many of my publications deal with the politics and production of twentieth-century historical knowledge, while my work also extends to the history of science and to the history of universities. I have been awarded several grants and fellowships (including a B.A.E.F. Baillet Latour and Fulbright Grant), and was a visiting fellow in Florence (Vibeke Sørensen Grant 2018), Leiden, Roskilde and Utrecht (Descartes Fellowship).

I strongly believe in the significance of making academic research accessible to the broader public and in the power of narratives to touch people and transform our beliefs. In my roles as an academic, a history-enthusiast and as a feminist art-lover, I frequently share my thoughts through various public platforms. I worked as heritage consultant for KU Leuven Libraries and published a public version of my dissertation, Wetenschap is geen wedstrijd (Houtekiet, 2026). Up to 2016, I was a freelance art critic, writing mostly about contemporary art, but also at times about theatre and performance arts. I also work(ed) as a volunteer, freelancer, and intern in a variety of cultural institutions and festivals in Flanders.