At the end of this academic year, Hugo Thienpont's four-year term as Vice-Rector for Innovation & Valorisation will conclude. The Board of Governors has appointed Prof. Dr. Peter Schelkens as his successor. Schelkens is currently preparing for his new role by collaborating with Thienpont and will officially take over the baton from the 2024-2025 academic year.
Prof. Schelkens has been associated with the VUB since 1994 and has held the status of full professor since 1 January 2020. He currently serves as Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and has played a pivotal role in drafting, interim evaluating, and recently updating the faculty's policy plan. His involvement with the VUB extends to memberships in various internal and external boards and committees, including his current chairmanship of the Dual Use Committee and membership of the I&V Council and the IOF Council. From 2010 to 2016, he was a member of the Board of Governors of IMEC and served as an expert on FWO panels.
Prof. Schelkens also coordinated the successful CTI accreditation (a specific accreditation label for engineering programmes) in 2021 and is deeply involved in education within the Faculty of Engineering. His research lies in the field of "Multidimensional Signal Processing and Computational Photonics", and in 2013, he received an ERC Consolidator Grant. He has published over 300 scientific papers and is involved in the joint VUB-IMEC spin-off “Swave Photonics” and “Universum Digitalis”. His experience with fundamental, applied, and industrial research funding is extensive.
Rector Jan Danckaert and the entire VUB community are profoundly grateful to Prof. Thienpont for his years of dedication as Vice-Rector for Innovation & Valorisation and the many achievements realised under his leadership.