Marlies Couch MA

PhD candidate

Cohort/Start PhD: 2025-2026

Immigration and social mobility: the case of the eighteenth-century Dutch Republic

Huygens Institute/Radboud University Nijmegen
Supervisors: Prof Jelle van Lottum, Dr Lodewijk Petram
Duration of appointment: 1 February 2025 – 31 January 2029

This research project aims to explore how maritime migrants navigated the challenges and opportunities of the eighteenth-century Dutch labour market. Which factors determined their chances of economic improvement? Which obstacles did labour migrants face in attempting to improve their living conditions? What is the significance of urban social networks in seeking social and economic advancement? What information can we uncover about the women who stayed behind while their husbands went to sea? Tracing the lives and social networks of the workers will be the central focus of this project. The movements, connections and career trajectories of VOC employees will be explored by utilising preexisting extensive Dutch East India Company datasets and the Amsterdam city archives.