Why a Institute of Biography in Groningen?

The Faculty of Arts of the RUG has a long and venerable tradition and a reputation to live up to with regard to innovation in the historical sciences. The plan to associate a Biography Institute with the RUG fits in with the ancient Groningen belief that studying culture is inextricably linked with historical research as a whole. The biography matches this starting point and has thus been welcomed into the university fold as a fully-fledged academic genre. Since 2004 under the auspices of the Biography Institute several biographies resulted in a dissertation.

The Biography Institute is affiliated to the Faculty of Arts of the University. The establishment of the institute in 2004 was financially supported by Stichting Democratie en Media. On March 1, 2007 the chair History and Theory of Biography was founded, financially supported by Stichting Democratie en Media. Hans Renders was appointed professor. On March 1, 2012, courses are given by the newly founded Department of History and Theory of Biography.