In February 2018, Ingrid de Zwarte completed her PhD in History at the University of Amsterdam and the NIOD under supervision of Professor Peter Romijn and Dr Ralf Futselaar. The summary of the dissertation can be found here.

The dissertation skillfully sheds new light on existing views on the Hunger Winter. De Zwarte's approach is highly interdisciplinary, combining historical research with methods and insights from criminology, demography and epidemiology. Her PhD research also led to contributions to an exhibition on the Dutch food crisis in 1944-1946 at the Dutch Resistance Museum, which resulted in Ingrid winning the ASH Valorisation award in 2015. 

The dissertation is also an important stepping stone for Ingrid's next research project on the politics of famine and relief in wartime, which she will carry out at the University of Oxford with the support of a Niels Stensen Stipend. She has also received a Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Grant for writing a Dutch monograph on the Hunger Winter.

About the award

The ASH dissertation award is presented annually to the author of the best doctoral dissertation of the Amsterdam School for Historical Studies. The award is accompanied by a prize of € 500.