Speakers

Cathy Macharis is a professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Faculty of Economics. Her great passion is the transition to a sustainable world. She coordinates the House of Sustainable Transitions, an interdisciplinary group of 44 professors and more than 200 researchers who come together to accelerate the transition to a sustainable world. Cathy has published more than 100 articles in scientific journals and 11 books. In 2022, she wrote the book 'With a factor of 8 towards the mobility of the future', in which she explains how we can achieve the climate goals in the transport sector. She teaches various courses that combine sustainability, mobility and decision-making; she also developed the MAMCA methodology, which gives a voice to all participants in the sustainability process, in order to achieve better decision-making. Since 2007, she has been chair of the Brussels Mobility Commission, which advises the Minister of Mobility. She is also a member of the Federal Commission for a Just Transition and vice-chair of Nectar, the Network on European Communications and Transport Activities Research.

Wim Thiery is a climate scientist interested in modeling extreme events in a changing climate. After his MSc's at KU Leuven in Philosophy (2008) and Terrestrial Ecosystems and Global Change (2011), he was an FWO PhD fellow investigating the interaction between climate and the African Great Lakes with a regional climate model (2011-2015). From 2015 to 2018, he was a postdoctoral fellow at ETH Zurich, where he researched the historical and future impact of irrigation on climate extremes on a global scale. In 2017 (29 years) he was appointed research professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, where he founded the BCLIMATE Group.

Niels De Temmerman is a full-time professor and active in the Department of Architectural Engineering at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Both as a researcher and as a lecturer, he focuses his expertise on the design and analysis of innovative, transformable structures. For example, Niels is investigating the possibilities of using modular constructions and 'kit-of-parts systems' in architectural applications, thus contributing to making the construction sector circular and sustainable. He recently co-founded the VUB spin-off 'Konligo', which focuses on the creation of deployable scissor structures for indoor and outdour applications.

Julien Blondeau obtained his master's degree in mechanical engineering from the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) in 2005. In 2016 he became a professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and currently leads the research group for fluid mechanics and thermodynamics FLOW, which focuses on research on experimental combustion. He is also co-chair of BRITE, the Brussels Institute for Thermal-fluid systems and clean Energy, a joint research group between VUB and ULB, and he is academic coordinator of the joint VUB-ULB Faculty of Engineering Bruface. He is also coordinator of the Bio-energy Thematic Group of the Belgian Energy Research Alliance (BERA) and board member of the Belgian branch of the Combustion Institute. Since 2022, he has been a member of the Brussels-Capital Region's committee of climate experts.

Dirk Aerenhouts is a lecturer and researcher at the Erasmus Hogeschool Brussels. He graduated in Physical Education - Fitness & Health from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 2005. In 2011, he received his PhD in Physical Education and Movement Sciences. Since 2005, he has been involved in education and research in the field of health and performance. Dirk Aerenhouts is regularly asked as an expert in coaching and as an external evaluator for the Flemish Ski and Snowboard Federation (VSSF) and the Belgian Federation of Fitness Centres (DFO).

Lise Vemeersch holds a Master of Science degree in Engineering, Material and Chemistry Science and is currently working as a PhD candidate in quantum chemistry. Lise is passionate about creating a more sustainable environment and striving for a circular economy, as well as materials science in general. In addition, she has also taken a passion for nutrition and online courses to become certified in this domain. Lise strongly believes that food can be a lever in creating a more sustainable society.

Thomas Bernheim has been a policy analyst in the European Commission's Directorate-General for Climate Action since 2017. This department coordinates the European Commission's efforts to combat climate change, at European and international level. Previously, he was an economic analyst at the European Commission's delegation in Belgium and a member of the Executive Board of the Clean Development Mechanism of the UNFCCC, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Tom Vermeiren has 25 years of experience in the financial world of investments, acquisitions and economic analyses. In doing so, he has built up strong industry expertise in the global port sector, which faces the major challenge of rolling out their roadmaps towards a low-carbon and circular economy. Tom also introduces companies in Belgium to innovative energy technologies from young companies from InnoEnergy's portfolio. In addition, he shares his practical experience with master's students from the VUB and the Brussels Diplomatic Academy.

Jeroen Poppe graduated in 2008 with a Master in Architecture (KUL, Ghent) and obtained a Master in Sustainable Building (UPC, Barcelona). Until 2015, he worked as a researcher and technical advisor at Pixii/Passive House Platform, supporting designers, manufacturers and local authorities in the development of more than 200 passive projects. In the process, he extended the passive standard to tertiary buildings and certified the first Flemish passive schools for Agion. Since 2017, he has been working at VUB Architectural Engineering on the transition to a circular building practice. There too, stakeholder involvement is a common thread. He was responsible for the implementation of the Circular Retrofit Lab (a circular renovation pilot in collaboration with material manufacturers, part of BAMB), brought designers together in a learning network (Atelier Circulair, with NAV) and supports local authorities in their role as circular building directors (GaCB, with city of Mechelen and Living Labs Brussels Retrofit, with Brussels administrations). For OVAM, he collaborated on the Circular Construction Policy Matrix.