Antwerp, Flemish Region, Belgium
Ever since my childhood, I had an intrinsic fascination for the immense diversity in nature. This encouraged me to study biological sciences and to obtain a PhD. After a thirteen years of academic experience, I decided to combine biology with travelling, our communal family passion. Hence, STAP1 was born, Sustainable Travel and Activity Planning. STAP1 aims to move people forward in planning their next weekend or holiday, with a great focus on sustainability for both the community and our planet. With STAP1, I currently focus on education and experience-based outdoor activities. Herewith, my main expertise lays within guiding and teaching a variety of techniques in sport climbing (gyms), outdoor climbing (rock climbing and via ferrata) and tree climbing. In addition, I provide scientific consultancy for universities, nature study agencies and travel agencies.
ICOS is a European research infrastructure that provides long-term observations for better understanding the carbon cycle and greenhouse gas emissions above Europe. ICOS enables prediction of the future climate and the evaluation of activities aimed at the mitigation of climate change. Within the ecothematic center (ETC) my main responsibility is to streamline and check the quality of the ancillary data, collected in forest sites across Europe.
STAP stands for Sustainable Travel and Activity Planning. In it's original format my wife and I aimed to provide the first step in creating custom-made weekends and holidays, with a special focus on sustainable transport, accommodation and activities. In it's current format, STAP1 focusses on education and experience-based outdoor activities. The main expertise lays within guiding and teaching a variety of techniques in sport climbing (gyms), outdoor climbing (rock climbing and via ferrata) and tree climbing. In addition, scientific consultancy is provided to universities, nature study agencies and travel agencies.
As principal trainer at the climbing gym of Sportcentrum De Dam, my main task was to coordinate and collaborate with a number of volunteers for training and route setting. My focus was on improving climbing technique for teenagers (12-16 years), masters (16-26 years) and adults (+18 years). In addition, I organize and evaluate courses to attain climbing certificates, such as indoor toprope (KVB1), indoor lead (KVB2) and from 2021 onwards also outdoor climbing (KVB3). My final task is route setting for both, boulder and toprope areas.
As a member of the Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Group directed by Prof. M. Eens and Prof. W. Müller, I studied causes and consequences of bird behavior in an evolutionary context. My main focus was on sexually antagonistic evolution of physiological traits, evolution of suits of traits and family conflicts, especially sexual conflict over parental care. Lab work involves rearing birds, song analysis, hormone profiling and quantifying several measures of immune function and oxidative stress.
I temporarily worked as a research assistant at the University of Antwerp, VIB Department of Molecular Genetics directed by Prof. C. Van Broeckhoven. Specifically, I worked in the Neurodegenerative Brain Diseases Group on Alzheimer Disease. My work contributed to various projects aiming to identify novel genetic factors associated with Alzheimer Disease. I worked mainly in the laboratory where I applied genetic approaches like mutation detection in genomic DNA, genotyping and SNP detection based on techniques which involve PCR and (Sanger) sequencing. Other technical skills involve analyses of whole genome sequencing data.
Postdoctoral research on genetic and phenotypic variation in polymorphic insects
I graduated for my PhD at the University of Antwerp, Department of Biology, Evolutionary Ecology Group directed under Prof. Stefan Van Dongen. In general, I studied the maintenance of genetic and phenotypic variation in polymorphic insects. Therefore, I had a close collaboration with Carleton University in Ottawa (Canada) with Prof. T. Sherratt and Prof. M. Forbes. Besides loads of behavioral field work and sample collection, I used techniques that involved microscopy, PCR sequencing to investigate population genetic structure, quantification of energy reserves (lipids and proteins) and phenoloxidase activity as a measure of immunity.