Cécile Bruyet graduated from the KU Leuven in 2021, with a master's thesis on late medieval travellers' perception of the Mediterranean environment. She is currently a PhD candidate at the Centre for Urban History at the University of Antwerp; there she works in a research project on alternative food networks in late medieval towns. Her research focuses on fifteenth-century Antwerpenaars's use of leaseholds as alternative food supplies, and combines socio-economic with environmental historical approaches.