Ghent Metropolitan Area
I’m a senior life sciences professional with over 20 years of experience in the sector. After my PhD and postdoc at Ghent University I moved to Barrier Therapeutics (a former spin-out of Janssen Pharmaceutica) where I became Director anti-infectives. In 2008, my passion for fundamental science brought me back to VIB, where I first held the position of Integration Manager. In this policy-driven role I kick-started several institutional initiatives and combined a strong business acumen, a creative- and entrepreneurial spirit with a natural talent for multi-stakeholder interactions. In 2014 I became Head of the VIB Core Facility Program and in 2017 also Head of the VIB Science & Technology Unit. In these senior leadership positions I contribute daily to the (societal) impact that VIB makes through the advancement of scientific discovery. I’m also a member of the VIB Management Committee.
As Technology Director I’m responsible for outlining the vision of VIB’s Technology Programs (i.e. Tech Watch, Innovation Lab and Core Facilities), for implementing new technology strategies and ensuring that the technology assets strengthen top-level science. In this position, I work directly with the Managing Directors as well as with the Science Directors.
Next to my role as Head of the Core Facility Program (see below) I'm heading the VIB Science & Technology (S&T) Unit. This unit supports the research community with institutional initiatives that contribute to a stimulating environment where top science (and talent) can flourish. Examples of such initiatives include a suite of policy instruments on accessing, de-risking, and disseminating cutting-edge research technologies (i.e., the Tech Watch Program, the Technology Innovation Lab and the institutional Core Facility Program). Other policy initiatives that have been implemented by the S&T unit include the International PhD Program, the Omics Postdoc Program, several community initiatives (including bio-it and computational biology) and the international Grants Office. To maintain the highest standards in research the S&T team also sets standards for peer-review evaluation of research (with SAB’s and TEB’s) and also monitors (and benchmarks) the impact of VIB’s research output.
Being the running Head of VIB Core Facilities I’m responsible for the strategy, administration and organization of the whole Core Facilities Program, including management of the budget and resources, the pricing policy, the coordination of networking, training and dissemination activities, as well as inter-institutional alliances providing access to core facilities. Further, I’m responsible for the satisfaction of the users, the continuous improvement of the facilities to keep them at the forefront of technology, and decisions about restructuring and setting up of new facilities. At timely intervals (i.e. each Q/H) I report activity updates to the decision-making groups, including the Management Board, Board of Directors and Institutional Advisory Board.
The work group is a high-level policy making body with representatives from all Flemish universities (i.e. vice-rectors research) and SOC’s (i.e. VIB) that formulates advices on the different granting schemes to the fwo board.
Nerf is a multi-institutional academic research initiative funded by its three founders (imec, KU Leuven and VIB). Nerf’s mission is to unravel the functioning of the human brain through collaborative, interdisciplinary research, the development of innovative neuro technologies and experimental assays linking activity in neural circuits with mental function.
Core for Life (C4L) is a new European excellence alliance in biomedical research: www.coreforlife.eu The main goals of C4L are: to identify and share good practices and procedures, to provide specialized training, to explore and validate new technologies, to share equipment and services, and to engage European and national funding bodies in a dialogue to increase funding opportunities for Core Facilities. Core for Life members today are CRG (Spain), VIB (Belgium), EMBL (Germany), FGCZ (Switzerland), MPI-CBG (Germany) and VBC-CSF (Austria).