Currently, I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Huygens Institute as part of the project “HEAT: Historische energietransities en AI-toepassingen”, where I study historical climate and energy transitions using large-scale digitized historical databases and Natural Language Processing analyses.
Previously, I was a postdoctoral researcher at the Tilburg Center of the Learning Sciences of Tilburg University (December 2023 - July 2024) and Tilburg School of Economics and Management (August 2024 - November 2025), where I worked on a research project into the future of Dutch academic education in economics and business economics. I also taught several courses and supervised bachelor theses on quantitative economics topics at University College Tilburg.
From 2018 to 2024, I was affiliated with the University of Groningen, within the Department of Economics, Econometrics and Finance, where I obtained my PhD in Economics in March 2024. My PhD thesis researches the effect of colonial rule on disease and health care in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire (ca. 1900-1955).
My research interests include history of climate and energy, African economic history, colonial history, and economics of education, using a variety of quantitative methodologies including econometrics and statistics (Python, R, and Stata), natural language processing (Python), and geographic information systems (QGIS).
Publications
Vrooman, A.C.E. (2025). The colonial response to the development of disease in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire (ca. 1900-1955): A comparative analysis of British and French colonial health policies. PLoS ONE, 20(8): e0329713. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.
pone.0329713
Vrooman, A.C.E. (2024). Here to Heal? The Effect of Colonial Rule on Disease and Health Care in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire: ca. 1900-1955 (Doctoral dissertation, University of Groningen). https://doi.org/10.33612/diss.902625484
Vrooman, A.C.E. (2023). The development of colonial health care provision in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire: ca. 1900-55. Economic History of Developing Regions, 38(3), 215-255. https://doi.org/10.1080/20780389.2023.2209284
Vrooman, A. C. E. (2026). Constructing a Dutch Historical Climate Vocabulary (v1.2) based on GLOBALISE. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20134102
Vrooman, A.C.E. (2026). Structuring Colonial Health Care Facilities: Understanding the Factors Behind their Spatial Diffusion
in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, ca. 1900-1950. Manuscript under review. Preprint at SSRN: https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.6446654
Vrooman, A.C.E. (2026). Constructing a Dutch Historical Climate Vocabulary (v1.1) based on GLOBALISE. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19608045
Vrooman, A.C.E. (2026). Constructing a Dutch Historical Climate Vocabulary (v1) based on GLOBALISE. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18246268
Vrooman, A.C.E. (2024). The Development of Colonial Health Care Provision in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, 1900-1955. Frontiers in African Economic History. https://www.aehnetwork.org/blog/the-development-of-colonial-health-care-provision-in-ghana-and-cote-divoire-1900-1955/