The members of the Roman Society Research Center are the four ZAP members at UGent and VUB. They are a young group (the oldest ZAP member is 46 years old), but enjoy a strong international reputation and can provide excellent publication lists (see Liège III of the application). They are active in international research programs, are invited as key-note speakers and have built up extensive international contacts with researchers at top universities around the world.
Each one works primarily on the history of the Roman world, including the Eastern (Greek) provinces. The intersection of social and economic structures forms a center of gravity in their research (see Liège III). From this, research lines go to cultural and social history (Laes), political-institutional and demographic history (Erdkamp), economic and monetary history (above) and socio-political history from a sociological point of view (Zuiderhoek). Research by PhD students and postdoctoral researchers at UGent and VUB is linked to the interest and expertise of their (co) promoters. (See Liège III)
Based on the expertise of the ZAP members, the RSRC aims to focus on the economic, social, political and mentality history of the Roman world (SE century BC - 6th century AD). This also includes the celestial East of the Roman Empire and Late Antiquity, as well as the auxiliary sciences dealing with the most sophisticated historical sources, such as epigraphy, papyrology and numismatics. Disciplines that fall outside of strict historical science, such as language and literature, are excluded. This also applies to archaeological studies insofar as they focus strictly on methodological aspects of archeology and not enroll in a broader historical research (eg, trade flows, food patterns, life expectancy, etc.)