Vany Susanto is a PhD fellow at the Amsterdam School of Historical Studies, the University of Amsterdam.

Prior to joining UvA, she obtained her MA in Colonial and Global History from Leiden University, under the Cosmopolis Advanced scholarship. She also holds a Master in Southeast Asian Studies from Sogang University, South Korea, and a Bachelor of Science from the Ohio State University, USA. 

Vany's PhD project is on Popular Politics and Social Identity in Early Modern Batavia. In this project, she aims to picture a more dynamic colonial society, with cross-cultural interactions in colonial governance and urban administration of Batavia, the largest colony of the Dutch empire.

Central to her research is the practice of petitioning. Vany probes the impact of petitioning on the relationship between the government and the governed, as well as between diverse social groups in Batavia. These Batavian petitions, while much neglected by historians, are a treasure trove to investigate urban politics, social history, and colonial law-making. As such, Vany integrates political, social, and legal approaches into her study of the petitions.