Michael Serruys

Michael-W. Serruys studied early modern history at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and international relations at the Université catholique de Louvain.  He is mostly interested in (geo)political, economic, interurban and maritime history of the Austrian Netherlands, that is eighteenth century Belgium.  Currently he is researching the Austrian Netherlands’ transport and trade policy (The Austrian Netherlands’ transit policy.  Geopolitics of trade and transport in eighteenth century Belgium), first at Leiden University, today at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (HOST research Group).  He has written several international publications on this topic.  Together with Miki Sugiura (Tokyo International University) and Giovanni Favero (Università Ca’Foscari Venezia) he coordinates the ‘Gateways and Hinterland’-project.  This project aims to deepen our knowledge on the relations between urban networks and commodity flows in Europe (Middle Ages up till today).