Biographical Summary

Ulrike von Hirschhausen is a historian of imperial and global history, who is particularly interested in writing global biographies of indigenous actors. Her book, Empires: A Global History, 1780–1920 (co-authored with Jörn Leonhard, 2023), was longlisted for the 2024 Austrian Academic Book Award. Ulrike studied history at Amherst College and received her M.A. from Stanford University and her Ph.D. from the University of Tübingen. She earned her habilitation (second book) from the University of Göttingen. Her forthcoming book, due out in 2026, examines so-called "frozen conflicts" in the 20th and 21st centuries. The book focuses on disputed de facto states and proposes a new conceptual framework applicable to conflicts with contested statehood worldwide. Before joining the GHI as director in October 2025, she was a professor of modern European and global history at the University of Rostock and a fellow of Harvard's Weatherhead Research Cluster on Global History in 2024/25.