• Research interests
  History of Science and Learning, History of Universities, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Studies, Enlightenment Studies, Comparative and Transnational History, Spatial History, Digital Humanities, Prosopographical Studies

• Projects

Institutionalising the law of nature and nations: The universities of Kiel, Greifswald and Rostock 1648–1806
The project is about the history of the teaching of natural law at the three north German universities in Kiel, Greifswald and Rostock during the period 1648–1806. It is concerned with why, how and to what extent this academic discipline developed in three different political settings along the Baltic coast. The project is based on the general presumption that natural law was of great significance for the period’s intellectual development and state building endeavours. The general aim of the project is to show that “modern” natural law, even at smaller north German universities, was playing an important role in this matter

Funding: DFG (€ 350.000), Period: 01.07.2022-30.06.2026
For more information see project webpage

Natural Law 1625-1850: Database
The natural law database is first and foremost a detailed open reservoir of knowledge that contains not only structured biographical and bibliographical data but also links to digitalised source material as well as commentaries made by individual specialists. Building upon this reservoir, a long-term goal is to develop and implement analytical visualisation tools in the database, so users easily can conduct both general and specialised data explorations. The creation of such a database is in essence a transnationally collaborative and open-ended digital enterprise, which also means that populating and expanding the database rely on contributions from the already established research networks within the Natural Law 1625-1850 project and on widening the circle of contributors in the field. The basic aim of the database is thus to provide an essential tool for the Natural Law project to compile and structure data and conduct research on early modern natural law scholars, their works and their institutions.

For more information see project webpage

Selected bibliography concerning Natural law

“Teaching Natural Law at the University of Kiel: The History of an Academic Discipline 1665–1773” in History of Universities 35, vol. 2, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022).

(ed.), Natural Law 1625-1850: Database [Online Database], (Erfurt, Gotha, Jena: ThULB, 2019-), URL: http://naturallawdatabase.thulb.uni-jena.de
     Selection of published entries: Emer Vattel; Jean-Jacques Burlamaqui; Jean Barbeyrac; Johann Christian Gottlieb Heineccius; Gottfried Achenwall; Francis Hutcheson; Hugo Grotius;  
     Christoph Heinrich Amthor; Erhard Weigel; Ernst König.