Scientific activities

  • The complete progam of our club activities
  • All you have to know about our ethical forums
  • Biermans-Lapôtre an international residence project

Since its creation the University Foundation has developed initiatives to support scientific research in Belgium. These activities have evolved over time, because the University Foundation aims to be complementary to other bodies (government agencies, FWO/FNRS …).
Our main initiatives are currently:

  • financial support for the publication of scientific works (books, journals, papers),
  • the organization of scientific meetings (Ethical Forum, Rebel),
  • providing facilities for the organization of scientific and academic activities by external organizations.
Fernand Collin Prize 2022 awarded

 

In an official ceremony at the University Foundation on 5 December 2022,  the Fernand Collin Prize for Law was awarded to Dr. Janek Tomasz NOWAK  for his doctoral thesis "Ambtshalve toepassing van EU-recht door de Belgische burgerlijke rechter". The laureate obtained his Ph. D. from the KU Leuven in 2021. The thesis was supervised by Prof. dr. Piet Van Nuffel and Prof. dr. Benoît Allemeersch.Read more

First "Fernand Collin Prize for Law" for English-language research works
Since 1962, a Fernand Collin Prize for Law has been awarded for scientific works carried out in Flemish universities, first every ten years, and later, from 1982, every two years, as a tribute to Fernand Collin (1897-1990), president of the Kredietbank from 1938 to 1973 and also professor at the Catholic University of Leuven. The administrative organization for the submission of applications and for the work of the jury is taken care of by the University Foundation.
This prestigious prize was reserved for works in Dutch. Since more and more scientific works in the universities in Flanders are written in English, it was decided to organize, in addition to the biennial Fernand Collin Prize for Dutch-language research works (in even years), a biennial Prize for English-language works (in odd years). ) for doctoral works or other research works in legal sciences, realized in the universities in Flanders. This Fernand Collin Prize for English language research works is organized for the first time in 2023.
Applications for the first "Fernand Collin Prize" for English-language works are invited before January 15, 2023. All information, the announcement poster, the regulations and the submission form are available on the website using this link.Read more
Ethical Forum 2022
This year, the Ethical Forum of the University Foundati onorganised an exchange of views on the societal function of universities, with the challenging title

Is politics part of the universities’ job?

This edition of the Ethical Forum was dedicated to Caroline Pauwels (honorary rector VUB) who passed away on August 5, 2022.
The Ethical Forum 2022 took place on Thursday, December 1, 2022 from 2 to 6 pm, at the University Foundation.
For a description of the subject and the programme,the reader is referred to the EF 2022 website.Read more

Application for Biermans-Lapôtre in Paris

 

For applications for Belgian students for a stay at Biermans-Lapôtre in Paris, follow this linkRead more

Presentations of the Ethical Forum 2017 on line

 

The  Ethical Forum of the University Foundation took place on December 7, 2017. The theme was: "What place (if any) for academics in our post-truth era?".

For downloading the presentations and the concluding remarks the reader is referred to the website of the Ethical Forum. The concluding remarks by Philippe Van Parijs have been published as "Reaction and Debate" in Ethical Perspectives, vol. 25, n° 1, pp. 143-148, 2018. This paper can also be downloaded from the downloads section of the Ethical Forum 2017.Read more

Financial support possible for linguistic revision of scientific papers

 

To stimulate publication of scientific papers in international journals, of which the language is mostly English, the Commission for Subsidies and Publications of the University Foundation has the possibility of giving financial support for linguistic editing of the manuscipt. Read more

List of sponsored publications online

The University Foundation provides financial support for various scientific publications (books, journals, papers), to promote the research carried out in Belgium. 
A list of the recently sponsored publications with the relevant bibliographic references is available : books, papers, journals. A list of previously supported publications is also available .Read more