Programme Description
The Summer School will take place online from 17th of September to the 19th of September 2025
For a long time environmental history was a relatively small and specialized field of historical research. Most historians interested in political, social, economic, or cultural issues did not incorporate the natural world into their accounts, nor did they consider environmental histories relevant to their own work. Growing concern about climate change and discussions about the notion of the Anthropocene have changed this situation dramatically. In recent years, environmental history has become a very popular field, with many historians from other backgrounds drawing on its findings and adapting their research agendas to include environmental questions.
In this summer school, we intend to provide participants with ideas on how environmental history can be brought into conversation with research on European and global history in the early modern and modern periods. Given the History Department’s expertise in these fields, we aim to highlight the opportunities to be gained from engaging with environmental history as a transversal approach. For example, we will investigate the ways in which European encounters with the early modern world can benefit from studying how notions of ‘exotic’ nature informed (or misinformed) colonial policies and approaches. We will study the role and perception of natural resources in mid-twentieth century international discussions about global trade and economic policies. Furthermore, we will analyze the history of transregional and transnational environmental protection efforts and their contributions to the emergence of a sense of planetary responsibility and international climate governance efforts.
Contributions by leading environmental historians will be combined with hands-on research opportunities. Participants will have the chance to work with digital visual sources related to environmental themes housed in the Historical Archives of the European Union. They will also be able to present their own research projects and receive feedback from their peers.
Fee waivers are available for selected applicants from countries included in the EUI Widening Europe Programme
Photo Credits: ©European Communities, 2000
Research Themes