Faculty of Arts and Philosophy

Ghent University Alumnus of the year Stefan Hertmans: "University has emancipated me"

Stefan Hertmans

Acclaimed author, essayist and poet Stefan Hertmans has strong ties to Ghent University as an alumnus, and later as a doctoral student and guest lecturer. To this day, academic research has played a key role in his work, and the foundations for this were laid at Ghent University. "My philosophical education has been essential in my thinking. The university has given me the ability to see a form of truth in doubt."

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Identifying emotions in texts, a language technology marvel

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With the aid of AI, Ghent-based company AlfaSent is able to recognise emotions in texts. It’s a prime example of language technology, an area that is rapidly gaining ground. Founder and UGent alumna Ellen De Geyndt: “I’ve always been interested in both language and technology but I wasn’t aware that I could combine the two.”

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Is music a drug?

Muziekfestival

Music connects us, moves us and, as recent research suggests, it can affect our brains in ways similar to psychoactive drugs. But how exactly does that work? And can music really be seen as a drug? Musicologist Edith Van Dyck investigated.

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Are classical languages still of any use?

Studenten

With clock-like regularity the debate pops up about whether studying Greek and Latin is still useful. Some claim that classical languages are useless on the job market. For others, they are the foundation of our society. What should we think about that? We asked hellenist Evelien Bracke and got a nuanced answer.

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striking

This summer it was hard to miss: at Ghent University you would soon be able to take a “Taylor Swift-class”. A storm of reactions blew up, the crackle could be heard all the way to the United States. In the eye of the storm: professor Elly McCausland and her elective course Literature (Taylor’s version). “It was a lot, but I’ve grown quite a thick skin.”

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