Ghent university has a global network. Through international research projects, collaboration agreements with other universities, exchange programmes, ... And also through its many alumni, who fly off in all directions after their studies.
Marc Van Montagu, one of the founders of biotechnology, writes a letter to his 17-year-old self. 17. What advice does he have for the young Marc? A lad from a working class district in Ghent who in October 1951 took his first steps in the scientific world.
Catherine De Bolle has earned the right to call herself Ghent University Alumnus of the Year 2023. As the chief of Europol, she sees an important role for universities in the modernisation of the police service.
Helena Van Tichelen was in secondary school when the school strikes and marches around climate change erupted. Years later, she has not lost the commitment she picked up then. In mid-November, she put aside the lessons and courses of her third bachelor in bioengineering to travel to Egypt for the largest climate conference in the world: COP27.
Marleen Temmerman has long been recognised as a global authority on the subject of women’s rights and -healthcare, due to her unwavering fight to promote them. Now, she has been elected a brand-new member of the National Academy of Medicine in further recognition of outstanding achievements. As the first Belgian female in history.
For researcher Moniek de Jong, the energy that we use every day isn’t just a basic necessity. She takes a deeper look at the invisible game that lies at its basis, whereby countries become tangled in dependency relationships. “Energy determines the contours of all geopolitics.”
Olexiy Lyamtsev works at the Faculty of Science at the moment. There, he is a beekeeper at Honeybee Valley, a research group led by Professor Dirk de Graaf which focuses on the declining bee population in the wild. Besides this, he is also charged with making an inventory of the museum collection at the Eva Crane Trust, a knowledge centre for beekeeping.
She came here two years ago, and immediately developed a close connection with both the city and the university. He has now been living here for about ten years and feels completely at home. Both are pursuing their careers in the academic world, and that can sometimes be uncertain. The story of Gretel Mejía Bonifazi from Guatemala and Igor Fijalkowski from Poland, two international members of Ghent University.
He might not have become an explorer, but for Sven Rogge, his job as a civil physical engineer feels rather similar. He plays with molecular models, in the hope of one day finding an application that will make the world a little better.
With a new Alumni Chapter in San Francisco, plus the Chapter in New York, Ghent University now has the opportunity to reach even more alumni in the US. After all, there are plenty of them. But what exactly are these two Alumni Chapters up to in the US? A discussion with the proud founding fathers Nicolas Polet and Wim Sohier.
The Ghent company Deliverect has become a ‘unicorn’ less than three years after its foundation. A term denoting exceptional, since this start-up is already worth more than a billion dollars. The secret to their overwhelming success, according to founders Jan Hollez and Zhong Xu? Timing and experience! And that experience all began at Ghent University.
Dirk Frimout wrote a letter to his 17-year-old self. What advice does he have for the young Dirk, as he takes his first step on a path towards unknown heights?
