Monika Baár

Monika Baár is a Professor by Special Appointment in Central European Studies at the Institute for History, Leiden University. Her research spans the history of historiography, cultural history, and political thought in East-Central Europe, with recent focus on disability history and animal studies. She led the ERC Consolidator Grant project Rethinking Disability, producing scholarly outputs and a comics series on disability history.

Research Interests: Her early work includes Historians and Nationalism (Oxford UP, 2010) and co-authorship of A History of Modern Political Thought in East Central Europe. Recent projects explore disability under state socialism, such as the 2015 Past and Present article on Hungary's guide dog school scandal. She is editing a special issue on disability and Eastern European transitions for Problems of Post-Communism.

Grants & Projects: Current work includes the ERC-funded Rethinking Disability (2015–present), analyzing the global impact of the 1981 International Year of Disabled Persons. This project culminated in a comics adaptation (erccomics.com).

Professional Roles: Previously held the István Deák Visiting Professorship at Columbia University (2021–2022). Active in interdisciplinary collaborations bridging historical scholarship with public engagement.