Vice-rector candidates

Team

 

I rise to the challenge together with a dynamic and young but experienced team of four prospective vicerectors:

• Chris Van Ginneken
  candidate vice-rector for Education and Student Affairs
• Maarten Weyn
  candidate vice-rector for Research and Impact
• Nathalie Dens
  candidate vice-rector for Social Engagement and International Policy
• Steven Van Passel
  candidate vice-rector for Valorisation and Sustainability

Expanding the functions of vice-rectors highlights the importance we attach to these additional areas of work. Moreover, they are transversal responsibilities that span and connect the usual vertical structures.

Education and Student Affairs

Chris Van Ginneken -

Immediately after my studies in veterinary medicine at Ghent University, I started as a fellowship assistant at UAntwerpen, then RUCA. For my doctoral research, I focused on the perinatal development of pigs, a subject that still fascinates me every day. This research, originally descriptive, evolved into functional and translational research in a team of 2 profs and about 15 collaborators. You can find more information at https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/research-groups/coped/. My teaching portfolio evolved along with curricula and shows my interest and expertise in 'animal biosciences'. It includes course units in the bachelor, master and summerschools with topics ranging from anatomy, veterinary skills to project designer in laboratory animal sciences. I enjoy teaching, both on the teaching and learning side. As a lifelong learner, I specialised in teaching (through teacher training), laboratory animal sciences and as a vetinarion pig specialist. My passion for policy and the quality of education can be seen in the realisation and coordination of a European Joint Master (Erasmus +), as chairman of the Education&Training board of FELASA and as a member of the VLIR working group on training in laboratory animal science.

From the start of my career at the university, policy making was close to my heart and I was an AAP delegate in various councils. Within the Faculty of Pharmaceutical, Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences, I am currently CIKO coordinator and vice-dean with a focus on education. I sit on the Education Council, Board of Governors, Executive Council, am secretary of the Animal Experiments Ethics Committee and was chair of the Equal Opportunities and Diversity steering committee. As a result, I got to know the university and its policies in many different facets. The quality culture of our institution, the participation of students in various councils and committees, the focus on diversity and inclusion enrich the task of further shaping education at the university as vice-rector of education with great passion and together with everyone.

Research and Impact

Maarten Weyn

I graduated as is industrial engineer electronics-ict from the then Hogeschool Antwerpen at the Paardenmarkt and then obtained my PhD in Computer Science at the University of Antwerp. I am currently a full professor at the University of Antwerp, vice-dean of research at the Faculty of Applied Engineering Sciences and deputy chairman of the Industrial Research Fund of the University of Antwerp, and sit on the research council, Antwerp Doctoral School board and the Ethics Commission for Misuse, Human Rights & Security, among others. I am co-founder of the spin-offs Aloxy, CrowdScan, IoSa and AtSharp, and involved in the creation of the spin-offs 1OK and Viloc. I actively collaborated as a creator on the Canvas programme Team Scheire. And have an out-of-control passion for brewing beer.

Bringing people together and connecting them has always been a passion of mine. As a student, I co-founded the Flemish Scholierenkoepel and then chaired the European umbrella organisation OBESSU for several years, from where I fought for Human Rights Education and better pupil participation in the policies of the education system in the Council of Europe.

Through my involvement in various reading committees within the university (IOF, Infrastructure Applications, core facilities, iBof, ...) and externally (for VLAIO, European Union, EUSPA, and foreign research organisations), I have gained a tremendous respect for the diversity of research happening in many fields. We need to embrace this diversity and, as vice-rector, I want to be 100% committed to that.

Social Engagement and International Policy

Nathalie Dens

I started my Commercial Engineering studies in 1999 as the last batch of the then UFSIA. Upon graduation, I got the opportunity to do a PhD and I was fortunate enough to start immediately afterwards as a lecturer in the Marketing Department of the Faculty of Business and Economics and quite quickly advance to full professor.

The University of Antwerp has been my home for almost 25 years. Needless to say, I hold it dear to my heart. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunities I was given, the people I met and the pleasure of still learning every day. I broadly carry my research on the effectiveness of persuasive communication for different communication forms and strategies. I chair the Faculty Education Committee of the Faculty of Business and Economics (FBE) and am a member of the Executive Board. I am programme leader for the TEW bachelor's and master's: business administration and the master's in Business Economics. I am also chairman of the marketing committee of FBE and a member of the steering committees marketing and communication and “Dynamics 365 - Student recruitment“ of the University of Antwerp. I am a board member of the European Advertising Academy. I am also a member of Antwerp Tax Academy, the Antwerp Center for Responsible AI and the FEC Applied Engineering. Within FBE, I am (or was) a member of several examination committees, the Fraud Committee, Faculty Council, Committee on Special Enrolments and Study Progress (CBIS), Committee on International Relations (CIR), Faculty Evaluation Committee and Committee on Academic Personnel (FEC/CAP), Admissions Committee Business Economics, and the Library Committee, and I was (vice)chairman of the Marketing research group for many years. I am a member of the Advisory Board for the master's programme International Business: Strategic Marketing at Maastricht University and engage in various assessment teams, selection committees and juries at home and abroad. Engagement is one of the most important aspects in modern marketing: creating meaningful interactions, building relationships and fostering a sense of connection between a brand and all stakeholders. I am happy to engage in that engagement as vice-rector.

Valorisation and Sustainability

Steven Van Passel

I am a full professor of environmental economics and obtained masters in bioengineering and economic sciences from KULeuven and a PhD in agricultural economics from UGent. Afterwards, I worked as a postdoc and lecturer at the centre for environmental economics at UHasselt. Since 2015, I have been working at UAntwerpen where we study the interaction between economy, technology and environment, both in food systems, energy systems and in the context of a circular economy. Sustainability has always been central to my research and teaching. Currently, I am spokesperson of the EnvEcon research group where about 40 researchers work on the economic and sustainability assessment of innovative environmental and energy technologies. This research is closely linked to knowledge valorisation and innovation, so there is strong collaboration with various research groups (bioengineers, materials scientists, chemists, biologists, applied engineers, social scientists, ...). In addition, the researchers in our research group map the economic impact of climate and the environmental valuation of ecosystems both in Europe and in the South (mainly East Africa). In addition, I have always found it important to translate research into advice and am currently a member of several advisory boards (at Flemish and European level), e.g. I am a member of the climate panel for the Flemish government and previously of the nitrogen expert panel.

Since May 2023, I have been appointed Vice Rector of Valorisation and Development and I would like to continue this exciting assignment. So I have management experience at the university (board IMDO, research council bureau, vice-chairman department, IOF board) and outside the university (board of directors Flemish Land Society, among others) and was (part-time) cabinet advisor Agriculture, Energy and Climate during the previous legislature.