William Torbeyns

William Torbeyns earned his Master’s degree in History from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 2024. During his studies, he joined the SHOC Research Group as a student-researcher through the Talent for Research honours programme (2023–2024). His master’s thesis explored late medieval migration from Flanders to Florence, with a particular focus on the motivations behind individual migration decisions. The thesis received both the De Bock-Doehaerd Award for the best history-focused MA thesis at VUB and the Prize for Historical Research onthe city of Ghent.

In 2024–2025, William was awarded the Caroline Pauwels Writing Mandate, a short-term fellowship designed to support promising graduates in preparing PhD applications. He also received a fellowship from the Collegio dei Fiamminghi—one of Bologna’s oldest university colleges—to conduct archival research in the city. 

In 2025, William secured a four-year PhD fellowship from the FWO-Flanders. His doctoral research, supervised by Bart Lambert and Jelle Haemers (KU Leuven), investigates migration from the Low Countries to London and Florence during the fifteenth century. By integrating archival sources from both the regions of origin and destination, his project develops an innovative methodology to reconstruct individual migration trajectories. It examines the societal, social, and personal factors driving migration, contributing to broader historiographical debates on the selectivity and motivations behind migration—both historically and in contemporary contexts.