dr. DR (Daniel) Curtis

Biography

Trained at the universities of York (BA), Cambridge (MPhil), and Utrecht (PhD), I am an Associate Professor at the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication. My research addresses critical societal questions by using historical data to understand long-term impacts of epidemics and other hazards and disasters on society, with a specific focus on how they are affected by and contribute to inequalities. I also have a strong interest in rural history and development.

More specifically, I have tried to better understand how societies interpret and cope with epidemics, and how epidemics help shape societies that experience them—developing a new paradigm for epidemic-society interaction whereby I suggest the big question is not why epidemics cause substantial structural change but why, given that mortality is often so great, change is often so minimal and temporary?

Over my career, I have published widely across many different disciplines of history and related fields – I have more than 40 international peer-reviewed articles and chapters and have 3 books (with a 4th on the way, and a 5th under contract) including an open access synthesis of all the most up-to-date thinking on historical disasters with CUP library.oapen.org/bitstream/id/93f950ad-464d-4002-9aaa-3e1a3b3fe823/Disasters_and_History.pdf and an open access study on how epidemics have been visualized across the long term of cinematic history with Routledge library.oapen.org/bitstream/id/6c39960d-e611-4418-a697-1b6e6b1a2140/9781000540765.pdf. In recognition of my contribution to historical research, I am a fellow of the Royal Historical Society (UK).

I am happy to hear from any prospective students (BA/MA/PhD) interested in the broad domain of environmental hazards, famines, and diseases in the past, and their implications for social and economic development over the long term.