Professor Christian Laes (°1973) studies the social and cultural history of Roman and Late Antiquity, paying particular attention to the human life course: childhood, youth, family, sexuality, and disabilities. His monographs and over fifty contributions have been published with internationally renowed publishers and journals. He is a member of several international research networks: Religion and Childhood. Socialisation in Pre-Modern Europe from the Roman Empire to the Christian World (2009-2012), Handwörterbuch der antiken Sklaverei (2011-   ), Roman Society Research Center (2010-   ), Structural Determinants of Economic Performance in the Roman World (2012-   ) and Tiny Voices from the Past. New Perspectives on Childhood in Early Europe (2013-   ).

For his research, Professor Laes has made extensive use of inscriptional evidence. His love for documentary philology, mainly epigraphy, caused him to be involved in the excavations of Grumentum.

Educated as a classical philologist, he has kept his zeal for Latin language and literature, occasionally publishing on Neo-Latin writers as Nodot, Schnur, De Groot, De Laet, Van Torre, Pascoli. As a Sodalis of the established Academia Latinitati Fovendae, Christian Laes promotes the use of the Latin language.

Other interests include didactics of Latin and Ancient Greek. As the president of Classica Vlaanderen he actively supports the cause of ancient languages in the Flemish secondary school system.

Since June 2013, Christian Laes has been granted the title of Adjunct Professor/ Docent in Ancient History at the History Department of the University of Tampere (Finland). 

In his free time, Christian Laes is a keen traveller. A taste for fine dining is one of his weaknesses.