Dr Floris van Swet

Research Fellow

School: Humanities and Social Sciences

Floris is an historian of East Asia with a focus on early modern Japan. His research is particularly concerned with issues of identity, migration, and social change.

He joined Northumbria as Postdoctoral Research Fellow in 2021 as part of the UKRI 'Migration, Adaptation, Innovation' project. After receiving his PhD in History and East Asian Languages from Harvard University in 2019, Floris was Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Yale University as part of the Digital Tokugawa Lab. He has also held visiting research fellowships at Sophia University and Waseda University.

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Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Introduction: Migration and Technological Circulations in the Early Modern World, van Swet, F., Dewiere, R. 14 May 2026, In: Itinerario
Making Room to Grow: Rōnin and Rural Development in Early Modern Japan, van Swet, F. 1 Feb 2026, In: Journal of Japanese Studies
The Migration-Innovation Nexus in the Early Modern World, Gottmann, F., van Swet, F., Dewiere, R. 19 Mar 2026, In: Past and Present
Koreans Skilled Workers in Japan after the East Asian War of 1592–8: Pak Hoin and Tofu in Early Modern Tosa Domain, van Swet, F. 13 May 2025, In: Journal of World History
Migration and knowledge diffusion: lessons from the early modern world, Gottmann, F., van Swet, F., Dewiere, R., Gunning, O. 12 Sep 2025, A Research Agenda for Migration and Innovation, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar
Migration and Technological Dialogue in Early Modern East Asia: A Historiographical Review, van Swet, F. Aug 2024, In: History Compass