Introduction

Isabelle Devos is a historian (Ghent University) and demographer (Université Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve). She is Associate Professor at the History Department of Ghent University. Over the years her research has revolved around social and economic issues of the early modern period and the long nineteenth century in a comparative perspective, with a particular focus on demography, health and living standards. 

Angélique Janssens is professor of Historical Demography at Radboud University Nijmegen and Maastricht University. She is a member of the Radboud Group for Historical Demography and Family History. She is PI of the Genes, Germs and Resources project on familial factors of early death and exceptional survival, and the European research network SHiP which studies health in port cities. She has published widely on topics ranging from family history, women’s life courses, infant and child mortality and male breadwinning. Currently she is also the Scientific Director of the N.W. Posthumus Institute.