Opening remarks

09:00 to 09:30 AM
Studio 4

We are delighted to open this conference day with an inspiring introduction that will officially launch the event and set the tone for the conversations ahead. This opening moment will highlight the strong spirit of collaboration between the two Brussels-based institutions — Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) — both of which will take the floor to emphasize the significance of this year’s theme. Speakers remarks will officially mark the beginning of this new edition of the FARI Conference.

Meet the speakers

  • Pieter Ballon

    SPEAKER

    Vice-rector research Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) & Director of imec-SMIT

    Professor Pieter Ballon is Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Vice-Rector of Research. As director of SMIT (Studies in Media, Innovation & Technology), a joint research center of VUB and imec, he leads one of the largest European social science research groups on digital media and smart technology.

    He is also co-founder of the European Network of Living Labs and of the Hannah Arendt Institute. As Vice-Chancellor for Research, he succeeds Karin Vanderkerken. “Whether it's artificial intelligence, sustainability, cancer or fertility research, the VUB has always been pioneering in groundbreaking and relevant research,” he says. “We are going to strengthen that even more.”

  • Marius Gilbert

    SPEAKER

    Full Professor, Vice-rector of research and valorization, Vice-rector of culture and scientific mediation at Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)

    Marius Gilbert graduated in Agricultural Sciences at the University of Brussels (ULB) in 1995. He was then a visiting researcher for two years at the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford and obtained a PhD on the spatial epidemiology of a forest insect pest at ULB in 2001. In 2006, he was awarded a permanent academic position with the Belgian FNRS, and joined the university as professor in 2023. In 2016, he founded the Spatial Epidemiology Lab (SpELL), now led by Simon Dellicour. During the COVID pandemic, he joined the Expert Group on the Exit Strategy (GEES) that was assembled by the prime minister Sophie Wilmes to advise the government on the lockdown exit strategy. In September 2020 he joined the team of the rector Annemie Schaus as vice-rector of Research and Valorization, during her first mandate, and with an additional mandate of Vice-rector of Culture and Scientific mediation in the current one.

  • Vanessa Matz

    SPEAKER

    Federal Minister in charge of Public Action and Modernization

    Vanessa Matz, born on August 12, 1973, in Liège, Belgium, is a prominent Belgian politician and member of the Les Engagés party (formerly cdH). She began her political career in local government, serving as a municipal councilor and alderman in Aywaille from 1994 to 2018. Matz entered national politics in 2008 as a co-opted senator and later served as a directly elected senator from 2009 to 2014. Since 2014, she has been a member of the Belgian Federal Parliament, where she has focused on areas such as interior affairs, justice, and social emancipation17. As of July 10, 2024, Matz held the position of chair of the Les Engagés parliamentary group in the Chamber of Representatives. With the formation of the Belgian government in February 2025, she now serves as Minister of Public Modernisation.