New UG Professor by special appointment in Cultural History of the southern North Sea region in the early Middle Ages and Viking Age

On 1 January 2025, Nelleke IJssennagger-van der Pluijm starts as Professor by special appointment of Cultural History of the southern North Sea Region in the Early Middle Ages and Viking Age at the Faculty of Arts, University of Groningen. The chair was established by the Fryske Akademy.

The chair will strengthen the teaching and research programme at the GIA (Groningen Institute of Archaeology). At the same time, as a research institute, the Fryske Akademy is further expanding relations with the academic world, including in the field of cultural heritage. Moreover, this chair contributes to closer interdisciplinary cooperation, because of its connection with Medieval History, Spatial Sciences, and Language and Culture studies, such as Frisiology and Scandinavian studies.

Regional culture and material traces

Nelleke IJssennagger-van der Pluijm is very pleased with the appointment: ‘It is a tremendous honour. The chair means a strengthening of interdisciplinary research into the role of coastal regions, and in particular Frisia and the Viking world, by linking it to UG education and research. It thus marks the importance of cooperation between the UG and the Fryske Akademy and in doing so it gives special expertise from small fields of study a place in the university landscape by making them available to students and researchers.”

The chair focuses on Northwest European coastal regions from the early Middle Ages to the Viking Age, ca. between the year 600 and 1100. This period was decisive for the formation of culture and society in the coastal areas, but also for Europe as a whole, which is reflected in historical sources and archaeological remains. Therefore, special attention is paid to objects and structures discovered by archaeologists, but also to stories, poems, and legal traditions: the building blocks in regional identity formation that collectively form a unifying cultural heritage of Northwest Europe.The chair will contribute to the renewal of curricula within archaeology and history, and the development of a curriculum in the field of Frisiology.

Prof. Daan Raemaekers is also very positive: "By appointing Dr Nelleke IJssennagger-van der Pluijm as professor by special appointment at the GIA, we strengthen the cooperation of the University of Groningen and the Fryske Akademy. Both institutions are knowledge institutions that conduct research on the archaeology and history of present-day Friesland, the northern Dutch coastal area and the larger southern North Sea area. Nelleke's appointment will enable both institutions to further expand their research by using each other's networks and initiating new projects together. We look forward to Nelleke spending one day a week with the Groningen colleagues.”

About Nelleke IJssennagger-van der Pluijm

Nelleke IJssennagger-van der Pluijm completed her studies in Scandinavian Studies, Archaeology and Old Germanic Studies at the University of Groningen, after which she focused on medieval history during her Research Master in Classical, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, which she finished cum laude. She combined these disciplines in her PhD-research: “Frisia in a Viking Age North Sea World”. Nelleke has been director of the Fryske Akademy since March 2021, where she is in charge of the Research Institute for the Frisian Case and the Mercator European Research Centre. Within the Fryske Akademy, her team conducts research on Frisian language, culture, history, heritage, multilingualism, and landscape. In addition, Nelleke holds several other supervisory/ administrative positions, amongst which the position of the Supervisory Board member of the Oude Groninger Kerken Foundation.