Zoë Van Cauwenberg (°1995) holds a PhD in history from Ghent University and in literary studies from KU Leuven.
Her PhD research (2020-2024) on the role of women in shaping Scottish and Irish histories during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century was funded by the FWO (Research Foundation - Flanders). Through a paratextual approach, Zoë's dissertation challenges assumptions about women’s roles in historiography and highlights their engagement with antiquarian scholarship, national heritage, and historical progress.
In 2023, she was a visiting student researcher at UC Berkeley under the supervision of Prof. Ian Duncan. In 2024, she was awarded a Maddock Fellowship to conduct research at Marsh's Library in Dublin. She previously earned MA degrees in history (2017) and in historical linguistics and literature (2020) from Ghent University.
Questions about cultural heritage, canon-formation and gender are central to her research. She has presented and published on orality and history in the works of Anne Bannerman and Mary St. John, Romantic and Gothic connections in the lyrics of Taylor Swift and the Gothic heroine in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Broader research interests include British Romantic literature, intellectual and cultural history, gender studies, book history, and history of science.
