Videos

On social media clips of skirmishes between citizens and the police regularly pop up and, in a flash, go viral. They elicit a lot of reactions, not least the classic "things used to be better in the old days". But was there less violence on the streets in the past? Historian Martin Schoups delves into documents from 19th-century Antwerp.

Imagine a city where street lighting only functions when there are cars nearby and where waste bins alarm garbage trucks when they're full and need to be emptied... This might soon become reality, but only if we manage to process the huge amount of data that these smart devices will produce. That's what José Santos is trying to accomplish in order to turn our cities into smart cities.

"Advertising"? I'm not susceptible to ads!" Sounds familiar? Serena D'hooge breaks that illusion and tells you more about the simple but very effective advertising technique, called 'evaluative conditioning'.

Cinnamon, one of the main ingredients of Belgium's beloved speculaas 😋, is almost exclusively harvested by farmers in Kerinci, a small region in Indonesia. One would think these farmers are rich, but are they really? Sidi Rana Menggala has the answer.

Do Google Home, Alexa and Siri have a social impact on our behaviour? Can they encourage us to drive more safely or convince us to exercise more often? That is what Pieter Vanpaemel (Vlerick Business School - KU Leuven) researches in his doctorate.

"If we think in circles, we start producing and consuming differently. In his research, Nicholas Vijverman (Vlerick Business School - University of Ghent) studies how we can engage everyone - from government, producer to consumer - in the circular economy. ♻️

Not every leader is a manager, and not every manager is a leader. This is a very simple truth that anyone will agree with. If not synonymous to "manager", then what exactly makes someone a "leader"? And what happens when we have no manager at all, and all we are left with is informal leadership?

Ondanks een inhaalbeweging scoren vrouwen nog steeds minder goed dan mannen bij verkiezingen. Zeker op het lokale niveau, waar slechts 1 op de 3 de gemeenteraadsleden een vrouw is. Robin Devroe zoekt uit waarom dat zo is. Iets om over na te denken alvorens u straks naar het stemhokje trekt?

"Sometimes I worry so much about my exams that I get physically ill." Some adolescents struggle with their emotions in stressful situations. Gina Pancorbo Valdivia wants to help them. In her research she develops a tool to help teachers and students to know how to assess and learn skills that will help them to overcome social and emotional challenges in their daily life.

History is more than just a series of facts and events. It is also a science that critically examines the past. The research methods used by historians for this purpose are still very useful today. They can help to distinguish real news from fake news.