Blogs posts written in English by and for our international community.
BY LUC SELS. The devastating conflict in Gaza and the ongoing violence in the West Bank and in Israel leave no one unmoved. Unfortunately, the numbers speak for themselves. OCHA records some 18,000 Palestinian and more than 1,200 Israeli deaths, and some 46,000 Palestinians and 5,400 Israelis wounded. More than 52,000 homes have been destroyed in Gaza. The number of refugees is estimated at nearly two million. Refugees who largely have no way out.
BY LUC SELS. Last week, the court in Tongeren convicted a KU Leuven professor for raping a female student in 2016. What this student has been through is revolting and deeply unsettles all of us. Some media reports suggest that the University has been lax in this particular case and even covered up facts. This is not true. Allow me to offer some clarification. Not to justify our actions in this case, but to clarify how our confidential network and disciplinary procedures work.
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BY ALMER GÜNGÖR. Not only students search for the relevance of learning, but also researchers and teachers have been searching for ways to foster relevance to motivate students. Current studies have showed that fostering relevance with short tasks is possible.
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BY BERT BLOCKEN. Realizing a successful long breakaway, as a lone rider, against a chasing peloton or a smaller group of chasing riders, is very challenging. Not many riders in the professional cycling peloton are capable of such an undertaking. These performances appeal to our imagination and our emotions. But also from an objective, scientific point of view, these performances are exceptional.
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BY LUC SELS, GERARD GOVERS, TINE BAELMANS, PIET DESMET, HILDE FEYS, PETER LIEVENS, REINE MEYLAERTS, BART RAYMAEKERS, AND CHRIS VAN GEET. With its statements about homosexuality, the Vatican encourages exclusion. KU Leuven wishes to be an inclusive, catholic university.
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BY TOBIAS FREMOUT. The international demand for sustainable chocolate is strongly increasing. Farmers in Peru, the biggest producer of organic cacao worldwide, have taken note. This year, I will work together with the Peruvian UNTRM university, the Belgian NGO Rikolto and APPCACAO, a local NGO that unites cacao farmer cooperatives, to develop new strategies to increase the environmental and economical sustainability of cacao plantations in Peru.
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BY HOLGER WILLEMS, JOLIEN VAN OPSTAL, and CAROLINA SHAHRESTANI. Among students, Erasmus+ is the most widely known scholarship programme. Erasmus exchanges are so highly in demand one would almost forget that there are many other funding opportunities for students wishing to travel abroad for a study period or traineeship. Take Holger, Jolien and Carolina, for instance. Holger and Jolien attended summer schools in Utrecht and Zürich, whereas Carolina decided to set off for Norway to do a traineeship.
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BY KAI KAROS. The current coronavirus pandemic has an impact on all of us. Still, some populations are arguably more affected than others. The various social measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus may disproportionately affect people with long-term painful conditions. Now that we are slowly trying to find the way to a post-pandemic future, it is important that these people don’t fall by the wayside.
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BY STEVEN LANGENDONK. Whereas the People’s Republic of China (hereafter China) barely made the evening news before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, it seems to play a leading role in our outlook on the future and our experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. As attention in our societies shifts from crisis management to (political) issues such as economic recovery and international cooperation, China will likely be more present in the rhetoric of our political leaders than ever. That is why it is important to look at how our conceptions of China shape ongoing intra-European and geopolitical power contests.
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BY LUC SELS. Recent events in the United States have revived the demand to remove statues of former Belgian King Leopold II from public places. A petition addressed to the City of Leuven and KU Leuven (in Dutch) states: “Leopold II’s reign was one of terror, characterised by forced labour and repression.”
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