School of Thinking

VUB researchers and affiliated experts teaching at the Postgraduate School of Thinking (some minor changes will follow for edition Tau 25/26):

Prof. Gerard de Zeeuw

Iwona Sołtysińska, M.A.

Balthazar Roy Tirosh, M.D.

Dr. Meredith Root-Bernstein

The School of Thinking programme is organised by CLEA, the transdisciplinary research centre at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) which focuses on bringing together different scientific, social and cultural disciplines. CLEA was founded in 1995, under the impetus of the Belgian philosopher Leo Apostel. Apostel saw the purpose of CLEA in integrating the results of the different disciplines so as to counteract the apparent fragmentation of ever more specialised approaches, and in attracting a variety of talented researchers from the humanities, social sciences, physical sciences and engineering to work together in an a-disciplinary academic environment.

CLEA is internationally recognised as a unique, transdisciplinary research centre with a steady output of high-quality innovative publications. The main focus of the CLEA research programme is developing perspectives on transitions between ‘different layers of reality’ (e.g., quantum, physical, chemical, biological to cognitive and social), general metasystem transitions, creative processes, processes of self-organization and emergence. In this context, CLEA also supports ArtScience, a project to bring the arts and sciences together in a productive way.

The programme is managed by the team:

• Programme Director: Dr. Karin Verelst;
• Workflow Chairman of The Fellows: Gys Godderis, M.A;
• SoT Team: Dr. Clément Vidal, Jasmine De Bruycker, Orion Maxted, Dr. Evo Busseniers, Daliah Raquel Bibas;
• Educational Council (Onderwijsraad): Prof. Francis Heylighen (Chair), Dr. Weaver D.R. Weinbaum, Prof. Jean Paul Van Bendegem, Prof. Yoni Van Den Eede, Lotte Van Lith, Iwona Sołtysińska, Jailee Rychen, Jessie Eggers, Sacha Moens, Herwig Nulens, Joris De Kelver, Veerle Meurs, Gys Godderis, Dr. Karin Verelst, and Dr. Maciej Świeży.

Alumni are former students affiliated with the School of Thinking programme. Many of them maintain contact with each other and the programme, re-appearing at selected sessions, organizing follow-up discussions and launching colab projects. So far, our cooperation has resulted in a publication co-written by the faculty and students, and more projects are underway.

Year Alpha alumni (2019/20)

Olivier Lefebvre – Liesbet Timmers – Iwan Assys – Joeri Meij – Luc De Proost – Tom Van Damme – Geert Van Damme – Pierre Cock – Bruno Calewaert – Lies Poignie – Ann Dom – Gys Godderis – Luis Schoeberl – Dirk Van Helder – Vera Machtelinckx – Jan De Maeyer – Gella Dybman – Raluca Radu – Veerle Meurs – Jolan Bollen – Gerjon Ikink – Nathalie Degraide – Rudi Gilen – Koen Vanthournout

Year Iota alumni (2020/21)

Gerald Merveille – Jessie Eggers – Herwig Nulens – Sacha Moens – Vincent Martin – Joris de Kelver – Massimiliano Maranella – Marc de Munck – Ingrid van Geffen-Baaijens – Jailee Rychen – Kristien Dewachter – Sophie Slabbinck

Year Delta alumni (2021/22)

Isabel Weemaes – Marta Noordhoek – Beata Jałocha – Gunther Van Lany – Ellen Vervaeke – Joëlle Eggermont – Julie Casaer – Arno Geens – Stephanie De Smedt – William Swinnen – Eline Dehullu – August Bourgeus – Bachir Benaddou – Axel Naze

Year Upsilon alumni (2023/24)

Otto Paans – Elizabeth Doran – Chris Blommaert – Niloufar Javdani Bafarasat – Ilse Crooy – Jessica Van Gaever – Linda Pelzer – Shamsey Oloko – Ludwig Everaert – Wolf Keppens – Erick Kerckhofs – Henk Gritter – PaweŁ Kołczyński – Sofie Troch – Martine Brisse – Johan Viktor Verhaeghe – Nastaran Javdani Baferasat

The Fellows

The Fellows is a thinking initiative at the School of Thinking initiated by the alumni from edition 2021/2022. They carry out a collaborative workflow aimed to advance their expertise in selected heuristics and frameworks of thinking. More info here.

Veerle Meurs

Luc De Proost, M.SC, IR.

Gys Godderis, M.A.

Luis Schoeberl, M.B.A.

Pierre Cock, IR., M.B.A.

Dirk Van Helder, M.Sc.

Geert Vandamme

Nathalie Degraide, M.A.