The Quetelet Center for Quantitative Historical Research is an interfaculty and interdisciplinary service centre that offers advice and expertise on the use of historical data that can be studied statistically or in map form.
Researchers from all disciplines and the general public can come to us with questions about the use of quantitative and quantifiable sources on Belgium's past.
In the spotlight
The Quetelet Center not only shares research databases, but also its expertise. The knowledge gained in the SOS Antwerp project on citizen science and crowdsourcing now also supports other initiatives, such as War Sources from Archiefpunt.
Flanders has drastically changed its appearance over the past 250 years. AI-based research by INBO shows how heathland and dunes almost disappeared, fields gave way to grassland, and built-up areas grew to one-fifth of the territory. Thanks to historical maps and databases such as LOKSTAT, researchers were able to make precise comparisons and gain a clear picture of the evolution of our landscape.
Who made our medical instruments in the past? Researchers from ETWIE found the answer in LOKSTAT, where Belgian company data is presented clearly and in detail. This made it possible to bring a forgotten industry back into view.
The S.O.S. Antwerp database has been launched! It contains information on more than 480,000 deaths in Antwerp between 1820 and 1946 and was made possible thanks to 761 volunteers, who, under the guidance of the Quetelet Center unlocked the cause-of-death registers for both academic researchers and the wider public.