Research group Political Culture and History
Specialisation Dutch foreign policy; Dutch emigration (especially to Brazil), agricultural history, parliamentary history
Contact mari.smits@huygens.knaw.nl
+31 (0)20-2246827

Biography

Mari Smits studied history at Nijmegen Catholic University (now Radboud University Nijmegen), where he also obtained his PhD in 1996. He worked successively at the Catholic Documentation Centre (KDC) in Nijmegen, the Institute for Dutch History (ING) in The Hague, the Huygens Institute and the Centre for Parliamentary History (CPG) in Nijmegen. From 2001 to 2009, he was involved in the source publication ‘Dutch Development Cooperation’ at the ING. From 2008 – 2014, he was involved at Huygens Institute in the digital source publication on the Netherlands and European integration in period 1950-1986. This project was commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with foreign partners. After that, he was involved in the preparation of the CPG publication on parliamentary history in the 1970s.
Since spring 2023, he has been involved at the Huygens Institute in the project “Diplomatic Witnesses”, an oral history of Dutch foreign policy.