55 Notable alumni of
Free University of Brussels - VUB
Updated:
The Free University of Brussels - VUB is 891st in the world, 315th in Europe, and 7th in Belgium by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 55 notable alumni from the Free University of Brussels - VUB sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Maggie De Block
- Enrolled in the Free University of Brussels - VUB
- Graduated with Doctor of Medicine
- Occupations
- general practitionerpolitician
- Biography
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Maggie Celine Louise De Block is a Belgian politician of the Open VLD who has been chairing her party's group in the Chamber of Representatives since 2020.
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Alexander De Croo
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Alexander De Croo is a Belgian politician and businessman who served as prime minister of Belgium from 2020 to 2025.
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Axelle Red
- Occupations
- composeractorsinger
- Biography
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Fabienne Demal, better known by her stage name Axelle Red, is a Belgian singer-songwriter. She has released 12 albums, including Sans plus attendre, À Tâtons, Toujours Moi and Jardin Secret. She is best known for her 1993 single "Sensualité", a hit in France in 1994.
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Emma Meesseman
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Emma Meesseman is a Belgian professional basketball player for Fenerbahçe of the Women's Basketball Super League and EuroLeague Women. After playing basketball in Belgium, Meesseman was drafted by the Washington Mystics with the 19th overall pick in the second round of the 2013 WNBA draft. She has also played for the Belgian national team and several European professional teams. She was named the 2011 FIBA Europe Young Women's Player of the Year and the 2019 WNBA Finals MVP. Meesseman studied physical education at Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
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Zuhal Demir
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Zuhal Demir is a Belgian lawyer and politician affiliated with the N-VA. Demir was elected as a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 2010 and served there until 2017. She served as Secretary of State for Poverty Reduction in the Belgian Government (2017–2018). She then served as the Flemish minister for Justice and Enforcement, Environment, Energy and Tourism in the Jambon Government. In September 2024 she was sworn in as Flemish minister for Education in the Diependaele Government.
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Jan Jambon
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Johan "Jan" Martin Jozef Jambon is a Belgian businessman and politician of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) who has been serving as a Deputy Prime Minister and as the Minister of Finance, Pensions, National Lottery and Federal Culture Institutions in the De Wever Government since february 2025. Before that he served as Minister-President of Flanders from 2019 to 2024. He replaced Kris Peeters as a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 2007. The N-VA was, at that time, partnered with the Christian-Democratic and Flemish party. In June 2010 and May 2014 he was re-elected on an N-VA list.
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Danira Boukhriss
- Occupations
- journalisttelevision presenter
- Biography
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Danira Boukhriss Terkessidis is a Flemish television presenter and newscaster.
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Sammy Mahdi
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Sammy Mahdi is a Belgian Christian-Democrat politician, a member and the president of CD&V, who in March 2020 became a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives.
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Ingrid Daubechies
- Enrolled in the Free University of Brussels - VUB
- In 1980 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- physicistuniversity teachermathematician
- Biography
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Baroness Ingrid Daubechies is a Belgian-American physicist and mathematician. She is best known for her work with wavelets in image compression.
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Jean Bourgain
- Enrolled in the Free University of Brussels - VUB
- Graduated with doctorate
- Occupations
- mathematicianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Jean Louis, baron Bourgain was a Belgian mathematician. He was awarded the Fields Medal in 1994 in recognition of his work on several core topics of mathematical analysis such as the geometry of Banach spaces, harmonic analysis, ergodic theory and nonlinear partial differential equations from mathematical physics.
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Marco Formentini
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Marco Formentini was an Italian politician from the Northern League, then for the Democrats and finally for The Daisy. During his youth, he was a member of the Italian Socialist Party.
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Sihame El Kaouakibi
- Occupations
- writerpoliticiansocial entrepreneur
- Biography
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Sihame El Kaouakibi is a former Belgian politician and the founder of the Let's Go Urban project. In 2021, she was accused of fraudulent use of government subsidies. Almost 1 million euro is claimed to have been used for her own profit.
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Karel De Gucht
- Occupations
- politicianjuristlawyerdiplomat
- Biography
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Karel Lodewijk Georgette Emmerence De Gucht is a Belgian politician who was the European Commissioner for Trade from February 2010 until 31 October 2014. Previously, he served as Belgium's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2004 to 2009 and as the European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response from 2009 to 2010.
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Tinne Van der Straeten
- Enrolled in the Free University of Brussels - VUB
- 2004-2008 graduated with master's degree in law
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Tinne Van der Straeten is a Belgian politician who served as Minister of Energy in the De Croo Government from October 2020 until February 2025. She is a member of the Groen party. She previously served in the Chamber of Representatives for Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde from 2007 to 2010 and later for Brussels from 2019 until 2020, when she resigned to become energy minister.
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Marcel Vanthilt
- Occupations
- creatorperforming artistactorsinger
- Biography
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Marcel Céline Gerard Edgard Vanthilt is a Belgian singer and television presenter.
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Jef Geeraerts
- Occupations
- writer
- Biography
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Jozef Adriaan Anna Geeraerts, better known as Jef Geeraerts, was a Belgian writer.
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Wouter Beke
- Occupations
- politicianpolitical scientist
- Biography
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Wouter Beke is a Belgian politician and a member of the CD&V. He was reelected as a member of the Belgian Senate in 2007. In 2014 he became a member of the Belgian Federal House of Representatives and was reelected in 2019. In July 2019 he succeeded Kris Peeters as Federal Minister for Work, Economy and Consumer affairs. He left the Belgian Federal Government in October 2019 to become Minister for Welfare, Public health, Family and Poverty reduction in the Flemish Regional Jambon Government.
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Steven Laureys
- Occupations
- neurologistphysician writerphysicianauthoruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Steven Laureys is a Belgian neurologist. He is principally known as a clinician and researcher in the field of neurology of consciousness.
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Louis Tobback
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Louis Marie Joseph Tobback is a Belgian politician. Tobback is a Flemish social democrat and member of the political party SP.A. He was the mayor of Leuven (1995–2018) He graduated in Romance philology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. He is the father of Bruno Tobback, the former president of the Flemish socialist party Different Socialist Party (SP.A).
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Patrick Dewael
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Patrick Yvonne Hugo Dewael is a liberal Belgian politician. A member of the Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten, VLD), he served as Minister-President of Flanders from 1999 to 2003.
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Caroline Désir
- Occupations
- juristpolitician
- Biography
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Caroline Désir is a Belgian politician of the Socialist Party serving as a member of the Chamber of Representatives since 2024. She was a member of the Senate from 2009 to 2013 and a member of the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region from 2009 to 2019, and served as minister of education in the government of the French Community from 2019 to 2024.
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Frank Vanhecke
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Frank Arthur Hyppolite Vanhecke is a Belgian politician. Vanhecke started his career in Belgian politics as a student by joining the Jong Studentenverbond and later the Nationalistische Studentenvereniging. He gave up his membership of the Volksunie in 1977 after it acceded to a much-debated package of federal reforms. Vanhecke subsequently joined the Vlaams Nationale Partij, the predecessor of the Vlaams Blok.
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Eva De Bleeker
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Eva De Bleeker is a Belgian politician serving as leader of the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats since 2024. She has been a member of the Flemish Parliament since 2024. From 2020 to 2022, she served as secretary of state for budget and consumer protection. She served as schepen of Hoeilaart from 2013 to 2020 and from February to December 2024.
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Dirk Van Tichelt
- Occupations
- judoka
- Biography
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Dirk Van Tichelt is a Belgian judoka.
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Jürgen Roelandts
- Occupations
- sport cyclist
- Biography
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Jürgen Roelandts is a Belgian former professional road bicycle racer, who rode professionally between 2008 and 2020, for the Lotto–Soudal, BMC Racing Team and Movistar Team squads. He now works as a directeur sportif for his final professional team, Movistar Team.
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Adélaïde Charlier
- Enrolled in the Free University of Brussels - VUB
- In 2020 studied social science
- Occupations
- climate activist
- Biography
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Adelaide Charlier is a Belgian activist fighting for climate and social justice. She co-founded the Youth for Climate movement in Belgium. She is mainly known for her involvement in the fight against climate change. Inspired by the actions of Greta Thunberg, she is one of the leading figures, alongside Kyra Gantois and Anuna De Wever, of the first school strikes for climate in Belgium.
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Jean-Jacques De Gucht
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Jean-Jacques De Gucht is a Flemish politician and member of Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats. He was elected to the Belgian Senate by the Dutch electoral college in the 2007 Belgian federal election, which took place on 10 June 2007.
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Nadia Sminate
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Nadia Sminate is a Belgian politician and is affiliated to the N-VA. She was elected as a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 2010.
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Francis Heylighen
- Enrolled in the Free University of Brussels - VUB
- In 1987 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- university teacherresearcher
- Biography
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Francis Paul Heylighen is a Belgian cyberneticist investigating the emergence and evolution of intelligent organization. He presently works as a research professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (the Dutch-speaking Free University of Brussels), where he directs the transdisciplinary "Center Leo Apostel" and the research group on "Evolution, Complexity and Cognition". He is best known for his work on the Principia Cybernetica Project, his model of the Internet as a global brain, and his contributions to the theories of memetics and self-organization. He is also known, albeit to a lesser extent, for his work on gifted people and their problems.
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Bruno Tobback
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Bruno Tobback is the former president of the Flemish socialist party Vooruit from 2011 to 2015. He was Minister of Environment and Pensions in the Belgian federal government from 2004 until 2007. He is the son of former minister and former mayor of Leuven Louis Tobback. He is a Licentiate in Law (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1992) and a Licentiate in Social and Economic Law (UGent, 1994). He was a member of the Flemish Parliament from 1995 to 2004.
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Marleen Temmerman
- Occupations
- obstetricianphysiciangynecologistuniversity teacherpolitician
- Biography
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Marleen Temmerman is a Belgian gynaecologist, professor and former Senator, currently heading the Centre of Excellence in Women and Child Health at Aga Khan University in Nairobi, Kenya.
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Kieran Moore
- Occupations
- physician
- Biography
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Kieran Michael Moore is a Canadian physician and public servant who serves as the current chief medical officer of health of Ontario. Prior to his appointment, he served as the medical officer of health for Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington from 2017 to 2021.
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Elke Sleurs
- Occupations
- gynecologistpolitician
- Biography
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Elke Sleurs is a Belgian politician and is affiliated with the N-VA.
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Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Anne-Marie Cécile J. "Annemie" Neyts-Uyttebroeck is a Belgian politician and was a Member of the European Parliament for Flanders with the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats, member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, where she sat on the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs.
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Pattie Maes
- Occupations
- computer scientistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Pattie Maes is a Belgian scientist. She is a professor in MIT's program in Media Arts and Sciences. She founded and directed the MIT Media Lab's Fluid Interfaces Group. Previously, she founded and ran the Software Agents group. She served for several years as both the head and associate head of the Media Lab's academic program. Prior to joining the Media Lab, Maes was a visiting professor and a research scientist at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab. She holds bachelor's and PhD degrees in computer science from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium.
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Elke Van den Brandt
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Elke Van den Brandt is a Belgian green politician and a member of Groen (the Green party). She has been the Minister of Mobility, Public Works, and Road Safety within the Brussels-Capital Region government since July 18, 2019.
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Hans Bonte
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Hans Bonte is a Belgian politician and has been a federal representative since 1995 (for the constituency of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde). He is a member of Vooruit (formerly SP.A), the Flemish social-democratic party.
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Bob Coecke
- Years
- 1968-.. (age 57)
- Occupations
- university teachermathematiciancomputer scientistphysicist
- Biography
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Bob Coecke is a Belgian theoretical physicist and logician who is Chief Scientist at quantum computing company Quantinuum. He was Professor of Quantum foundations, Logics, and Structures at Oxford University until 2020. He is also Distinguished Visiting Research Chair at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.
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Sathyabhama Das Biju
- Occupations
- botanistconservationistenvironmentalistherpetologist
- Biography
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Sathyabhama Das Biju is an Indian amphibian biologist, wildlife conservationist and heads the Systematics Lab at the University of Delhi, Department of Environmental Studies and is currently in Harvard University as a Radcliffe Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. He is dubbed as the "Frogman of India" by media for his passion for frogs and for bringing fresh fascination for Indian amphibians.
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Jeton Kelmendi
- Occupations
- publisherplaywrightjournalistopinion journalistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Jeton Kelmendi is an academic, Albanian journalist, poet, translator, university professor and political analyst.
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Wouter De Vriendt
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Wouter De Vriendt is a Belgian politician, and member of Groen. He is currently a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives.
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János Bóka
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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János Bóka is a Hungarian politician serving as minister for European Union affairs since 2023. He previously worked as a professor at the National University of Public Service, the Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary, and the Faculty of Law and Public Administration of the University of Szeged. He is a former member of the Alliance of Free Democrats.
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Gerard Bodifee
- Enrolled in the Free University of Brussels - VUB
- Studied in 1983-1985
- Occupations
- columnistastrophysicistphilosopherchemist
- Biography
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Gerard Bodifee is a Belgian astrophysicist, writer, and Christian philosopher.
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Jorre Verstraeten
- Occupations
- judoka
- Biography
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Jorre Verstraeten is a Belgian judoka. He won one of the bronze medals in the men's 60 kg event at the European Judo Championships in 2020 and 2022. He also won one of the bronze medals in the men's 60 kg event at the 2019 European Games held in Minsk, Belarus.
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Peter Rousseeuw
- Occupations
- university teacherstatistician
- Biography
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Peter J. Rousseeuw is a statistician known for his work on robust statistics and cluster analysis. He obtained his PhD in 1981 at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, following research carried out at the ETH in Zurich, which led to a book on influence functions. Later he was professor at the Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, and at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Next he was a senior researcher at Renaissance Technologies. He then returned to Belgium as professor at KU Leuven, until becoming emeritus in 2022. His former PhD students include Annick Leroy, Hendrik Lopuhaä, Geert Molenberghs, Christophe Croux, Mia Hubert, Stefan Van Aelst, Tim Verdonck and Jakob Raymaekers.
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Diederik Aerts
- Occupations
- physicisttheoretical physicist
- Biography
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Diederik Aerts is a Belgian theoretical physicist, professor at Brussels Free University (Vrije Universiteit Brussel - VUB) and founding director of the Center Leo Apostel for Interdisciplinary Studies (CLEA). He is best known for his work in quantum foundations and quantum cognition.
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Sébastien Godefroid
- Occupations
- sailor
- Biography
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Sébastien "Sebbe" Godefroid is a Belgian sailor.
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Kathleen Smet
- Occupations
- triathlete
- Biography
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Kathleen Smet is a Belgian former triathlete, becoming European champion in 2000 and 2002. She competed in Olympic and Long Distance Triathlons.
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Stéphane Ginsburgh
- Occupations
- pianist
- Biography
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Stéphane Ginsburgh is a Belgian pianist of Austrian origin. He is a piano professor at the Geneva University of Music.
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Max Wexler
- Occupations
- politicianaccountanttranslatorjournalist
- Biography
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Max Wexler was a Romanian socialist activist and journalist, regarded as one of the main Marxist theorist of the early Romanian workers' movement.
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Barbara Vanderlinden
- Years
- 1965-.. (age 60)
- Enrolled in the Free University of Brussels - VUB
- Studied philosophy
- Occupations
- art historiancurator
- Biography
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Barbara Vanderlinden is a Belgian art historian, curator, and institutional director known for her contributions to contemporary art discourse and experimental curatorial practices. She earned an MA in Philosophy from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and an MA in Art from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Campus Sint-Lucas Brussel. Vanderlinden has curated exhibitions and programs that interrogate the intersection of art, philosophy, and institutional critique. Her work often emphasizes collaborative and interdisciplinary frameworks, reflecting her academic background and engagement with avant-garde movements. She has held leadership roles in cultural organizations and contributed to publications on contemporary art and curatorial theory.
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Tim Trachet
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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Tim Trachet is a Belgian writer, publicist, journalist and skeptic. He studied mathematics, astronomy and philosophy at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and is a reporter at the VRT, where he produces history television documentaries.
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Claude Coppens
- Enrolled in the Free University of Brussels - VUB
- In 1960 graduated with Doctor of Juridical Science in law
- Occupations
- composerpianist
- Biography
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Claude Coppens is a Belgian pianist and composer.
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Antoon Van den Braembussche
- Occupations
- philosopher
- Biography
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Antoon A.A. Van den Braembussche is a Flemish Philosopher of Culture, Emeritus Professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and a poet. He started as a poet, became a professor in the philosophy of history, and later specialized in art philosophy.
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Frank Pattyn
- Enrolled in the Free University of Brussels - VUB
- 1994-1998 graduated with Doctor of Philosophy
- Occupations
- glaciologistresearcher
- Biography
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Frank Jean-Marie Léon Pattyn is a Belgian glaciologist and professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles. He is best known for developing ice-sheet models and leading model intercomparisons.
