Maarten Prak is Professor of Social and Economic History at the Department of History and Art History, Utrecht University, Netherlands. He is an expert of early modern history, having authored and edited several publications on Dutch national history, comparative history of Europe, and global history. His research work has focused on a wide range of topics, including citizenship, institutions, cultural industries, guilds and human capital. In the past, Maarten Prak has been visiting scholar at prestigious universities around Europe. He chaired the Humanities Board of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research NWO (2014-16), and he presently serves as a member of the governing board of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).