Staff Profiles
Dr Soetkin Vervust
Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow
- Email: soetkin.vervust@ncl.ac.uk
- Telephone: +44 (0)191 208 4694
- Address: School of History, Classics and Archaeology
Room 6.21, Daysh Building
Newcastle University
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 7RU
Background
I started my academic career at Ghent University (Belgium) in 2004, where I obtained a Master’s degree in Archaeology and a Master’s degree in Geography, specializing in landscape archaeology, physical geography and geoinformatics. In 2010 I started working as a scientific researcher at the Department of Geography of Ghent University. One year later I received a fellowship of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) to pursue a PhD, focusing on the production process of the large-scale manuscript Carte de cabinet of the Austrian Netherlands by count de Ferraris (18th c.) and the use of digital techniques and GIS analyses for the study of old maps. After completing my PhD in 2016 I worked as a scientific researcher for the Archaeology Department of the Brussels-Capital Region using historic maps to better grasp the city’s history. Since 2015 I also serve as Executive Secretary of the International Cartographic’s Association’s Commission on the History of Cartography (https://history.icaci.org/), and am involved in the yearly organization of international conferences, workshops and exhibits.
In the summer of 2017 I started a [PEGASUS]² Marie Curie postdoctoral research project at Newcastle University and the VUB-Free University of Brussels, funded by the FWO and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme. The project’s aim is to assess the historic character of landscapes and their long-term development for sites in both the UK and in Belgium by integrating methods from remote sensing, scientific dating through OSL and digital data analysis using GIS.
Research
I am a landscape archaeologist with a background in physical geography, geoinformatics and historical cartography. My broad research goal is to pursue the development of multidisciplinary approaches that bridge the gap between conventional studies (in which printed and manuscript archive sources and maps play a prominent role), and archaeological investigations of landscape features using advanced remote sensing methods, field survey and scientific dating techniques, particularly OSL dating of earthworks.
Current research
Assessing the historic character of landscapes through integrated remote sensing, scientific dating and digital data analysis
Past research
Publications
- Vervust S, Claeys Boùùaert M, De Baets B, Van de Weghe N, De Maeyer P. A study of the local geometric accuracy of count de Ferraris’s Carte de cabinet (1770s) using Differential Distortion Analysis. Cartographic Journal 2018, 55(1), 16-35.
- Altic M, Demhardt IJ, Vervust S, ed. Dissemination of Cartographic Knowledge: 6th International Symposium of the ICA Commission on the History of Cartography, 2016. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2017.
- Vervust S. Studying the production process of the Ferraris Maps (1770s) and its implications for geometric accuracy. Maps in History 2017, 57, 18-22.
- Claeys Boùùaert M, De Baets B, Vervust S, Neutens N, De Maeyer P, Van de Weghe N. Computation and visualisation of the accuracy of old maps using differential distortion analysis. International Journal of Geographical Information Science 2016, 30(7), 1255-1280.
- Vervust S. Count de Ferraris’s Maps of the Austrian Netherlands (1770s): Cassini de Thury’s Geodetic Contribution. Imago Mundi 2016, 68(2), 164-182.
- Liebenberg E, Demhardt IJ, Vervust S, ed. History of Military Cartography. 5th International Symposium of the ICA Commission on the History of Cartography, 2014. Cham, Switzerland: Springer, 2016.
- Ooms K, DeMaeyer P, DeWit B, Maddens R, Nuttens T, VandeWeghe N, Vervust S. Design and use of web lectures to enhance GIS teaching and learning strategies: the students' opinions. Cartography and Geographic Information Science 2015, 42(3), 271-282.
- Vervust S. Een stukje Frankrijk. In: Bracke W; Leenders E, ed. Vlaanderen in 100 kaarten. Leuven: Davidsfonds Uitgeverij, 2015, pp.184-187.
- Vervust S. Habsburg cartography with French scientific flair. The circulation of mapmaking principles in the eighteenth century through the example of the Ferraris maps. Caert Thresoor 2015, 34(2), 88-97.
- Vervust S, Tallir S. De Belgische provincie Limburg op de Kabinetskaart van Ferraris (1770-1778). Caert Thresoor 2014, 33(3), 75-79.
- DeCoene K, Ongena T, Stragier F, Vervust S, Bracke W, DeMaeyer P. Ferraris, the legend. Cartographic Journal 2012, 49(1), 30-42.