I think it's very important that our own European martial arts have been brought back to life through research and experimentation
“I have been active at the VUB for a very long time, both in academic and student circles. Along with Koen Lefever I founded the student association LWK, the fraternity for language and philosophy. I obtained my doctorate in philosophy in 2006, which, ironically enough, I defended on Friday the 13th. Since then I have been a lecturer at the Erasmushogeschool, although I still participate in the activities on campus since the history and folklore of the VUB are things I still value highly to this day.
In order to make my own contribution to the continuation and liveliness of the VUB campus, I founded the historic fencing club "De Vagant" in the academic year 2018-2019. In this club I teach students how to use historical weapons to duel and how to continue the martial traditions of our ancestors. I found the symbol of the "Vagant" to work very well alongside the free spirit of the VUB. Vagants were free-thinking scholars who travelled around an unsafe and unruly world with books in one hand and their sword in the other. For me, this goes hand in hand with the free-thinking character of the VUB, which has become more prominent in recent years among both academics and students. The VUB itself has been very helpful in setting up and supporting the fencing club. In a certain sense it is a kind of quid pro quo. We provide radiance and life on campus whilst the VUB supports us with materials, posters and a place to train. The flourishing and growing of the VUB campus is something I love very much and I am glad that I am able to contribute in my own way to this.”
On the occasion of the VUB’s 50th anniversary, prof. dr. Martina Temmerman asked the students in her introductory course on journalism genres to make portraits of people on the VUB campus. The ‘snapshots’ resulting from the project Humans of the VUB offer a lovely cross section of life on our university campus in 2019/20.