hosted by Professor Mark Gilbert


Liesbeth van de Grift is Professor of International History and the Environment at Utrecht University.

She specializes in the history of political representation through the lens of rural and environmental governance in the twentieth century. A guiding question in her research is how the rise of 'nature' and 'the environment' on the political agenda has changed ideas and practices of democracy and interest representation. Her VIDI project 'Consumers on the March' studies the role of (public) interest groups and bottom-up mobilisation in the history of European governance. Topics that she has worked on before include practices of land reclamation and rural resettlement in interwar Europe and the post-1945 political transitions in Soviet-occupied Europe.

At Utrecht University, Van de Grift is involved in the interdisciplinary research programmes Institutions for Open Societies and, as programme board member, within Pathways to Sustainability. She is the initiator of the Network for Environmental Humanities at the UU and a member of the De Jonge Akademie (Dutch Young Academy). van de Grift teaches in the BA programs History and International Relations, the MA History of International Relations, and the Research Master History.