"Going on Erasmus", who hasn't heard of it? But what is it really like to study in another country? We asked three Ghent University students who are currently abroad, from cold Finland to the Costa del Sol in Spain.
Nearly 30 years ago, Rwanda went through a particularly brutal genocide perpetrated against Tutsis. The perpetrators were mainly regular citizens: colleagues, neighbours, family members… Today, both perpetrators and victims live side-by-side peacefully. But in a post-genocide society, can intergroup biases be ever reduced between individuals?
“Knowledge is important. But we tend to get hung up in that part of the process sometimes,” says researcher Bas Baccarne (research group imec-MICT-Ghent University, in De Krook). He prefers it when thinking also leads to doing. Preferably together with a whole bunch of other stakeholders. And, if it’s up to him, in the stimulating environment of ‘Comon’.
Around one in every ten people suffers from fingers that turn completely white when exposed to cold weather. This condition is known as Raynaud’s phenomenon, and thankfully, it‘s (mostly) nothing to worry about.
Virtually all human rights treaties are much older than the modern technologies that determine the rhythm of our day-to-day lives. But these rights are under threat, especially from large tech companies. Professors Ruben Verborgh and Eva Lievens advocate an entirely new mindset: “The first step must always be to think about what kind of society we want. Only then can we build the technology necessary to achieve it, not the other way around.”
Few people have heard of it: peritoneal cancer. However, the disease, especially as a metastasis of another cancer, affects many patients. Unfortunately, it is often too late once the diagnosis is made: existing treatments achieve very little. Groundbreaking research by Professor Wim Ceelen is now resulting in new and promising treatments. And all thanks to the inheritance of a former patient.
Studying abroad is always an adventure. Student biochemistry and biotechnology Simon Knockaert felt more than at home on the Ghent University Global Campus in South Korea, 9,000 kilometres from Ghent.
Kim Calders discovered his passion for scanning trees when doing his PhD in Hallerbos forest, near Brussels. As a bio-engineer, he has been travelling the world with his LiDAR scanner ever since. Along the way, he has ended up face to face with cassowaries and elephants, and collaborated with artists to make a forest sing. A story in nine pictures.
During the Second World War, the patrol ship John Mahn sank off the Belgian coast. Bio-engineers at Ghent University, together with the Flanders Marine Institute, studied its impact on life in the North Sea.
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.
Do you recognize this building? A mosaic of different types of glass. As a symbol for the university, with its enormous mix of study programmes, research domains, nationalities …
From the Sint-Kwintensberg over the Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat to the Plateau: we take you over some of the most famous (and trickiest) slopes around Ghent University campuses.
