Natalia Martín - Associate Researcher - CSDS Centre
From 1 January 2021

Natalia Martín joins the CSDS/IES as Associate Researcher. Her professional experience combines both research and project implementation. Her latest assignment is at the Elcano Royal Institute, where she coordinates a NATO project on foresight analysis. She has previously worked at the EU Institute for Security Studies (EUISS), where she assisted with regional cooperation initiatives and research on security threats in the Indo-Pacific. Prior to that, she worked at the EEAS (Asia-Pacific Division) and at the Paris-based think tank Jacques Delors Institute. She is a graduate from the College of Europe (Bruges) and from the Diplomatic School of Spain. She speaks Spanish, English, French and German. She is passionate about History and Arts and enjoys guided walking tours.
natalia.martin@vub.be

Isaïa Jennart - Visiting PhD Researcher - CD2I Centre
From January 2021

Isaïa Jennart is a PhD researcher at the University of Antwerp and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. His promotors are Stefaan Walgrave and Jonas Lefevere. Isaïa obtained his MA in political science at the University of Antwerp in 2018 and has been working on the EOS RepResent project since October that year (see here). In this project, he is part of a team that studies the impact of substantive representation on popular resentment with politics. Isaïa is doing a PhD on citizens’ knowledge of parties’ issue positions. He wonders whether voters know what policies parties propose and what explains differences in knowledge, between voters but also across parties and issues? He is interested in public opinion, voters, electoral campaigns and political knowledge. Furthermore, Isaïa has been part of a team that developed the voting advice application (VAA) De Stemtest 2019 for the Belgian general elections of 2019. As a result, he has been attentive to research on VAAs ever since.
isaia.jennart@uantwerpen.be

Stijn Van der Perre – Post-doc Researcher - 3E Centre
From 1 February 2021

Stijn will be joining the Environment, Economy and Energy (EEE) research centre as a senior researcher in the framework of Procura (Power to X and Carbon Capture & Utilisation Roadmap for Belgium) and projects in light of sustainable chemistry. Previously, he worked as operation manager at Flamac, a research institution specialized in high-throughput research methodologies to stimulate, improve and accelerate R&D projects. He holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering. His research was situated in the area of adsorption technology, aiming at the development of new and intensified separation processes towards a more sustainable chemical industry. Stijn enjoys gardening and playing sports.
Stijn.Van.Der.Perre@vub.be

Hielke Hijmans  - LLM Guest Professor in the Data Law course
From 1 February 2021

Prof Dr Hielke Hijmans is a President of the Litigation Chamber/Member Executive Board of the Belgian Data Protection Authority. On a part time basis: guest professor at VUB (IES), member Meijers Committee (EU fundamental rights), lecturer Luxembourg University.  
Author of The European Union as Guardian of Internet Privacy: The Story of Art 16 TFEU (Springer 2016), based on doctorate thesis. 
Previously he worked as a consultant (e.g. at Centre for Information Policy Leadership (Washington, London, Brussels) and Considerati (Amsterdam)), at the EDPS, mostly head of policy unit, the CJEU (Cabinet Geelhoed) and at the Ministry of Justice in The Hague (Legislation Directorate).
hielke.hijmans@vub.be

Follow us on our new BSoG social media channels

From now on, you can follow us on our new BSoG social media channels! Click on the icons below:

Add the BSoG frame to your Facebook profile

Our Marketing department has created a frame on the Brussels School of Governance Facebook account.
Would you like to add it to your Facebook profile? Below are instructions on how to do this:
 
From your mobile or computer

1. Go to your Facebook profile
2. Tap on / click on the camera icon
3. Tap on / click on add frame
4. On the search bar, type Brussels School of Governance
5. Select the Brussels School of Governance frame and tap on / click on save

VUB Learn training offering 2021

The VUB LRN team has decided to extend its offering of online training courses until June 2021. Sessions cover topics such as mindfulness, stress and resilience, student engagement in online teaching, etc. You can check out the full offering for the coming weeks here. Session titles that are in English, are English-taught. Most (but not all) of the session titles that are in Dutch, are Dutch-taught.

Breaking news: Belgian Prime Minister speaks at BSoG launch event on 9 Feb

We are delighted to let you know that we have received confirmation that Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo will deliver a speech at the launch event of our Brussels School of Governance. So if you want to know what message the PM has for our School, tune in to our Facebook event on Tuesday 9 February from 18h00-19h00. Make sure to mark your attendance on the Facebook event page!

Upcoming events

Upcoming birthdays

• 19 February: Frank Bilingsley
• 22 February: Zafer Kizilkaya
• 22 February: Trisha Meyer
• 26 February: Maja Kovacevic

If any of you prefer not to see your birthday in this section (or if yours is missing) please let Jurgen and Maja know. Only day and month will be mentioned, not the year.

Cartoon of the Month

Feel free to send in any ideas you may have (to Jurgen or Maja) to fill up this section in our next edition! Please be aware that we need to take both copyright protection into account. Oh yes, and good taste as well :-)