Colin Rose

Colin Rose is an Associate Professor in the History Department at Brock University, specializing in early modern European history with a focus on north Italy during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. His research employs innovative digital methodologies, particularly Historical GIS, to analyze social structures, violence patterns, and urban dynamics in Renaissance Italy.

Dr. Rose's research interests center on social history, particularly how ordinary communities managed conflicts and adapted to new governance structures during the consolidation of ducal states. His current work focuses on homicide and everyday violence in Bologna under papal rule, examining how local populations reacted to centralized justice systems. He is the developer of DECIMA (Digitally Encoded Census Information and Mapping Archive), an SSHRC-funded research tool that allows historians to analyze spatial and demographic data from Renaissance Florence.

His publications reveal a strong focus on violence studies, geospatial analysis of historical phenomena, and digital humanities methodologies. Rose's work demonstrates consistent interest in how power, justice, and community interacted in early modern Italian cities, particularly through the lens of criminal justice and social conflict. His recent publications show increasing sophistication in combining traditional historical research with digital mapping techniques.

• Co-editor of "Mapping Space, Sense and Movement in Florence: Historical GIS and the Early Modern City" (Routledge, 2016)
• Developer of DECIMA: The Digitally Encoded Census Information and Mapping Archive
• Recipient of SSHRC funding for digital history research

As an educator, Dr. Rose teaches courses on the Culture of Warfare in Early Modern Europe, the Social History of the Renaissance, Digital History, and Histories of Crime and Violence. He supervises graduate students interested in late medieval and early modern Europe, with emphasis on archival research and digital methodologies, preparing them for doctoral study or careers leveraging humanities skills.