VUB Today | Vrije Universiteit Brussel

“Stay true to yourself and to your unique, complex identity”

NOVA

Partners & networks

“The VUB has a long tradition of collaboration in lifelong learning”

Nova Academy expands with seven higher education partners

Campus

“Wellbeing isn’t an afterthought, it’s a foundation”

VUB launches Employee Assistance Programme

VUB students want to move to 80% plant-based catering by 2032

The approach must remain feasible, affordable and attractive to all students.

ETpathfinder

Science and research

The economic return on the Einstein Telescope

Smart Skills Lab is preparing businesses and schools to develop technology for the Einstein Telescope

Most recent

Nova Academy expansion: new partnership transforms lifelong learning landscape in Flanders

Strava data analysis reveals blind spots in Brussels cycling policy

Society and engagement

Top-level sport as a social lever: models or just a job?

VUB Education Day looks ahead to the future of education

Medicijnen

Reforming the health insurance funds is a triumph of reason

Science and research

Record-breaking ice loss in Central Asia in 2025

Whitepaper reveals urgent need for innovative palliative care research

Voorleesmarathon helden van het verzet

Society and engagement

Reading Marathon: Heroes of the Resistance

Studenten in de aula

“The committee will want to see what really happens in the lecture hall”

ETPathfinder

Science and research

Within ETpathfinder, the gravitational-wave observatory is being reinvented

Brutalisme op de VUB

Brutalism on the VUB campus in museum and book

Bas Van Lith

One year of LIC: “Our speed gates opened no fewer than 700,000 times”

Featured

Education Conference 2026

VUB Education Day looks ahead to the future of education

How can we ensure that education remains high-quality, inclusive and manageable to study at the same time?

Sportende studenten

“Co-creative education stimulates deep learning through lived experience”

Student

Bachelor’s dissertations improve in quality thanks to JOLO

Studenten kinesitherapie aan de VUB

“If you only practise within one group, you miss learning opportunities”

Read more

Featured

Fight for Freedom

"Precisely because so much blood has been shed on European soil, we strive for a rules-based world order"

Brussels Pride 2025

Society and engagement

VUB Tomorrow analyses society and democracy

Special: ‘Fighting for Freedom’

Pride lights up the darkness

Inclusion and diversity

“Pride Lights Up The Darkness”

VUB defends and celebrates the rights of LGBTQIA+ communities during Brussels Pride on 16 May

Familiefoto Mychal Langenus

Society and engagement

“Pride still matters, because equal rights aren’t fully achieved yet”

VUB professor Mychal Langenus on the road to fatherhood as a male couple

Brussels Pride

Inclusion and diversity

“Rights are never permanently secured”

Political scientist Dave Sinardet looks back on 30 years of Brussels Pride and the growing pressure on LGBTQIA+ rights

Featured

4 years of Danckaert: a retrospective

Raf Devos

“Some of the contacts I make may only prove useful in a few years’ time.”

4 years with Danckaert: a retrospective

Elisabeth Rabaey

“Funding through the Foundation gives researchers greater freedom”

Jan Danckaert

“We must ensure that we remain agile”

Nic Van Craen

Organising growth in times of austerity

Tania Van Loon

“At VUB, we are increasingly punching above our weight”

Read all articles in the series

Featured

Science awards VUB

Vincent Ginis

Science and research

VUB researcher Vincent Ginis wins Silvain Loccufier science prize

“This award confirms that you don’t have to make choices that go against your own values”

Ellen goossens

Science and research

VUB researcher Ellen Goossens wins Liebaers–Van Steirteghem Prize

Wim Versees

Science and research

“Scientific research is always a team effort”

Willem Staels

Science and research

“A particularly meaningful award for a scientist who combines patient care with research”

Ilse Rooman

Science and research

“This award is a tremendous recognition and a real boost for new research”

Featured

Honorary doctorates VUB-ULB 2025

eredoctoraat Albanese

Society and engagement

UAntwerpen, UGent and VUB jointly award honorary doctorate to Francesca Albanese

Flemish universities crown commitment to human rights and international law

Ever Meulen, Amélie Nothomb, Stromae, Lize Spit en François Schuiten

VUB and ULB award joint honorary doctorates to Stromae, Amélie Nothomb, Lize Spit, Ever Meulen and François Schuiten

Artists who embody our capital in an exceptional way

François Schuiten

“Brussels is the matrix of my imagination”

Honorary Doctor François Schuiten on his love for Brussels

Ever Meulen

“Brussels in the late sixties was a gentle city, easy to get your head around”

Honorary Doctor Ever Meulen on his love for Brussels

Dossier

International Students

The VUBMUN team in Paris

VUBMUN Delegation wins all 5 awards at ParisMUN

VUB students among 200 students from 32 different countries

Florence studied in London with Fayat scholarship

Florence studied at University College London with a Fayat Scholarship

“I got a broader perspective from being among people from different cultures and with different views”

Nomena Andriantiana Tahiana

International students

From Madagascar to Brussels: Nomena studies a Master’s in Biology at the VUB

The world at VUB: meet Nomena from Antananarivo, Madagascar

GuilianaAllegara

International students

From Sicily to Brussels: Giuliana studies linguistics at VUB

The world at VUB: meet Giuliana Allegra from Villarosa, Sicily

Read everything about the international students

Featured

Budget cuts

Campus VUB

VUB spreads staff cost reductions over five years

University opts for phased implementation and strong social dialogue

Protest VUB-campus tegen de besparingen

Protest against higher education cuts brings students together at VUB

Een lege aula

Trade unions and students will demonstrate on 11 December against budget cuts

KVAB

KVAB loses structural government funding

2022_Living Campus Walk_Koning fiets_Twee mannen op de fiets aan het Braemgebouw_Etterbeek_VUB

Flemish universities warn of severe budget cuts

Read all articles in the series

More features

Invisible diseases

Supercomputer

Honorary doctorates VUB-ULB 2025

New science awards

Climate

Fertility

Press

Nova Academy expansion: new partnership transforms lifelong learning landscape in Flanders

Strava data analysis reveals blind spots in Brussels cycling policy

Top-level sport as a social lever: models or just a job?

More press releases

Short

Sunday 3 May is World Press Freedom Day. Here you can find all the winners of the Difference Day Honorary Title for Freedom of Expression.

5th annual meeting of the Belgian Society for Extracellular Vesicles January 30th, 2026

“Knowledge Nests: VUB Brings Science into Brussels Neighbourhoods”

More short news stories

VUB Tomorrow, het nieuwe nieuwskanaal van de VUB

Curious about tomorrow’s world? Discover VUB Tomorrow!

The Vrije Universiteit Brussel is launching VUB Tomorrow, a brand-new digital magazine that shifts the focus to the world of tomorrow. While VUB Today keeps you up to date with daily news from our university, VUB Tomorrow goes further—offering in-depth, inspiring stories about research that shapes our future.

Broaden your horizons, create more impact

Public programme

Campagnebeeld Zij Is Wetenschap

Science and research

‘Women Shaping Science’

VUB honours women scientists with an exhibition, article series and experts list

Timothy Snyder

Critical thinking

“Democracy does not defend itself”

Peter Singer

Science and research

Peter Singer: “For the price of a vacation, you can save lives in a poor country”

Samuel Baker

“I hope to one day return to Rwanda, when press freedom is restored”

Dood in venetie Dirk Bogarde

Arts and culture

“Acting on first impressions may seem harmless, but before you know it, you’re classifying people as safe or unsafe”

Read all the news on the public programme

Stories of our

Alumni

Christil Asamoah

“Stay true to yourself and to your unique, complex identity”

VUB alumna Christil Asamoah, Decolonisation Coordinator at 11.11.11

NOVA

Partners & networks

“The VUB has a long tradition of collaboration in lifelong learning”

Nova Academy expands with seven higher education partners

Queenie Swerts

“Ask questions, even the simple ones”

VUB alumna Queenie Swerts, financial analyst at the National Bank of Belgium

The pale blue dot

Why the world needs more ‘tinkerers’

VUB alumnus Clement Hiel argues for innovation through curiosity

Read all stories of our alumni

In pictures: the TIER1 Supercomputer

Inauguratie Tier1 supercomputer - 27 november 2025

View more albums on FLICKR

Public programme

Events with impact

24/04 up to and including 29/05 - 2026

Exhibition: The Foragers

21/05 up to and including 18/06 - 2026

EXPO | Nous ne sommes pas dangereux, Nous sommes en danger

Finissage exhibition The Foragers

Have we lost track of time? A new perspective on the end-of-life trajectories of older people | ERC Lecture by Lara Pivodic

VUB Health Campus Jette

Discover all public programme events

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