Dr. Bruno Gabriel Witzel de Souza

  • From Data to Data (I). Protocols from the Ibicaba Project: mechanical cleaning, imaging, and metadata with controlled vocabularies (jointly with Leonardo Gardenal).
  • From Data to Data (II). Reflections on researchers' choices in generating new sources and datasets for the Humanities and the Applied Social Sciences (jointly with Leonardo Gardenal).
  • "For how long still?" Counting yearly workdays and workday lengths in Brazilian agriculture (1890-1970): New micro-evidence (jointly with Thales Zamberlan).
  • Migratory responses to war and conflict in global, long-run perspective, 1820s-2020s (jointly with Jörg Baten)


  • 2024: Postdoctoral researcher at University of Göttingen – Institute for Economic & Social History
  • 2024: Associate researcher – DAAD-Prime Fellow at University of Tübingen
  • 2022-2023: Visiting assistant professor – DAAD-Prime Fellow at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
  • 2022: Lecturer: “Development Economics: Introduction & Applications” and Aarhus Summer School 2022 at Aarhus University
  • 2020: Lecturer: “Development Economics”, Spring 2020 at Jacobs University Bremen
  • 2019-2022: Postdoctoral researcher at University of Göttingen – Institute for Economic & Social History
  • 2019: Postdoctoral researcher at University of Göttingen – Ibero-American Institute


  • 2015-2019 Ph.D. – Development Economics from University of Göttingen
    DFG's Research Training Group 1723 – Globalization and Development
    Thesis: “From bonded laborers to educated citizens? Immigration, labor markets and human capital in São Paulo, Brazil (1820-2010)”
  • 2012-2014 M.A. – Development Economics from University of Göttingen
    Thesis: “The combined effect of institutions and human capital for economic development: a case study of German immigration to São Paulo, Brazil (1840-1929)”
  • 2007-2012 B.A. – Economics from University of São Paulo


  • Since 2024 Associate Researcher
    Brazilian Lab, Inequalities Hub – Princeton University
  • Since 2024 Academic & managerial coordinator
    Modern Endangered Archives Program (MEAP) – University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
    Reginal Grant: “Accounting for the countryside: rural & environmental history in the coffee economy of Southeastern Brazil (1890-1990)
  • Since 2023 Associate researcher & consultant
    German-speaking Press in Brazil: A Digital Humanities Approach – University of Tübingen
  • Since 2021 Associate researcher
    Grupo de Pesquisa em História e Evolução da Agricultura e Complexos Agroindustriais (GEPHAC) – University of São Paul
  • Since 2019 International correspondent
    Instituto Histórico e Geográfico de Campinas (IHGGC)
  • Since 2015 Associate researcher
    Historical Household Budgets Project
  • 2019-2022 Principal Investigator
    Modern Endangered Archives Program (MEAP) – University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
    Project "Labor, livelihood, and immigration in a Brazilian plantation: the archives of Ibicaba farm
  • 2018-2022 Associate researcher
    Centre for Global Migration Studies (CeMig) – University of Göttingen