dr. L.K. (Leonieke) Vermeer
Leonieke Vermeer (1975) is cultural historian. She studied piano at the Prins Claus Conservatory (1999) and History (2004, cum laude) at the University of Groningen. In 2010 she completed her thesis Geestelijke lenigheid. De relatie tussen literatuur en natuurwetenschap in het werk van Frederik van Eeden en Felix Ortt, 1880-1930 (‘Mental sinuosity’) on the relationship between literature and science.
After receiving her PhD, she was curator of the National History Museum (2009-2011). From 2011 to 2015 she worked at the Open University as lecturer in Cultural History and managing editor of the OU Heritage Platform, a website with information about courses, activities and developments in the field of cultural heritage.
Since 2012, Leonieke Vermeer has been working as a lecturer at the History department of the University of Groningen, where she has been Assistant Professor since 2015. She lectures on modern history, Dutch history, cultural history, life writing and the history of the body, illness and health, queenship, public history, museums and heritage. She also supervises dissertations, theses and internships.
Her research focuses on ego-documents and life writing, particularly in relation to the history of the body, health and illness. She is co-editor of Amsterdam Diaries, Life Writing and Identity: Urban Lives (London: Routledge, 2025). She is currently writing a biography of Sophie of Württemberg (1818–1877), wife of King William III and queen consort of the Netherlands. The biography is part of the larger research project Four Dutch Queens in a Time of Nation Building (1774-1934), which aims to produce four comprehensive biographies of Dutch queens who originated from German and Russian royal houses. The project is funded by the Cultuurfonds and carried out in collaboration with Utrecht University, the University of Groningen and Boom Publishers. In connection with this project, she has also researched personal archives as a form of autobiographical practice. This research formed part of her fellowship at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS) in 2024-2025.
Leonieke Vermeer is an editor of the European Journal of Life Writing and the Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis (Journal of History).