(07-10-2024) Ghent University's Department of Geography is seeking to fill a full-time position for an Assistant Professor in Human Geography, with a specialization in sustainable socio-spatial transitions in land use.

More details about the position and how to apply, see:

https://jobs.ugent.be/job/Ghent-Professor-in-Human-Geography-9000/804585002/

(05-09-2024) On August 22, 2024, SEG members met with colleagues from NUAA. During the meeting, introductions were made, mutual research ideas were exchanged, and the existing collaboration with NUAA was reviewed and extended.

Were present from NUAA side:

• HU Minghua, Professor, Deputy Director of State Key Laboratory of Air Traffic Management System, NUAA
• WANG Zhongye, Director of Administrative Committee of Jiangjunlu Campus , NUAA
• BU Jian, Assistant Professor of College of Aerospace Engineering, NUAA
• WANG Yanjun, Professor, College of Civil Aviation, NUAA
• PENG Ying, Assistant Professor, College of Civil Aviation, NUAA
• TIAN Wen, Associate Professor, College of Civil Aviation, NUAA

(22-05-2024) On Monday 21 MAY 2024, prof. Mingshu WANG from Glasgow University visited the Department and gave a lecture on “Graph Convolutional Networks for Street Network Analysis”.

Prof Wang is a Senior Lecturer (Tenured Associate Professor) in Geospatial Data Science at the University of Glasgow. He is also a Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS) and a visiting researcher at the University of Amsterdam. His research focuses on developing and applying GIScience methods and big data analytics to understand urban systems and development. Empirically, he investigates the relationship between urban structure and city performance at the macro-scale and the relationship between the built environment and collective human behavior at the micro-scale. He has received research grants from Dutch Research Council (NWO), Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Microsoft. He is an Editor of Asian Geographer and an Associate Editor of ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, and Regional Studies, Regional Science.

(21-05-2024) We are proud to announce that two researchers will join the Department of Geography as postdocs of the Research Foundation Flanders - FWO:

• Dr. Sofie Annys will study the socio-hydrological resilience of Farmer-Led Irrigation Developments in Ethiopia and Ghana. She received a Senior Fellowship from the Interdisciplinary Panel and will be supervised by Prof. Amaury Frankl.

• Dr. Tanhua Jin will focus on people’s experienced social segregation in daily activity spaces in Belgium and Estonia. She received a Junior Fellowship from the Science and Technology Panel W&T9 and will be supervised by Prof. Frank Witlox.

Wishing both of them the best of luck in their new endeavors!

(09-04-2024) The Bicycle Chair at Ghent University (Department of Geography) is looking for a full-time scientific collaborator with demonstrated interest and ability to conduct research, communicate in the field of bicycle mobility in order to contribute to the start-up of the new chair.

More information at: https://jobs.ugent.be/job/Gent-Wetenschappelijk-medewerker-9000/792010802/

(02-02-2024) "Belgium has a cycling professor for the first time: Meredith Glaser. Today is her first working day at Ghent University. She tells you all about her unique job and why she is so passionate about cycling."

Interview on VRT Radio 1 with Dr. Meredith Glaser, expert in sustainable mobility and since 1 February 2024 chair holder of the new Bicycle chair at UGent (Department of Geography).

Listen to the interview on the website of Radio1 (in Dutch).

Photo credits: (c) DMOW

(31-01-2024) Dr. Meredith Glaser, an expert in sustainable mobility, will start at UGent on Feb. 1, 2024 as chair holder of the new Bicycle Chair. The chair should strengthen the ambitious Flemish cycling policy with academic knowledge and insights.

The importance of the bicycle as a means of transport has been rising sharply in recent years. Cycling has never been more popular in Flanders, nor has investment in cycling infrastructure. In order to further support this positive evolution with scientific research, a new chair is being established at UGent, with financial and substantive support from the Flemish government. The academic work that the chair will produce will contribute to mobility policy and the social debate on bicycle mobility in Flanders. Dr. Meredith Glaser, who was chosen as chair holder, will take up a role in various training units at UGent and work closely with the many actors involved in Flemish cycling policy.

Read the full press release (in Dutch).

(22-01-2024) On Monday 15 January 2024, Yuting Jang successfully defended her PhD: " Navigating Polycentric Urban Regions: Economic Consequences and Methodological Insights".

Supervisors: Prof. dr. Ben Derudder (KU Leuven and UGent), Dr. Freke Caset (UGent and VUB).

Members of the examination committee: Chairman: Prof. dr. Nico Van de Weghe (UGent), Prof. dr. Haosheng Huang (UGent), Pro. dr. Yingcheng Li (Southeast University), Dr. Evert Meijers (Utrecht University), Dr. Angelika Münter (Institute for Regional and Urban Development, Dortmund), Prof. dr. Frank Witlox (UGent)

Congratulations Yuting Jang!

(04-01-2024) On Wednesday 13 December 2023, Chenchen Xu successfully defended her PhD: "Passenger Behavior in Airplane Emergency Evacuations: From Time Perception to Exit Choice".

Promoters: Prof. Dr. Frank Witlox (UGent), Prof. Dr. Quan Shao (Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics). Members of the examination committee: Chairman: Prof. Dr. Haosheng Huang (UGent). Prof. Dr. Kurt Fuellhart (UGent & Unison Consulting, Inc.), Prof. Dr. Giovanni Circella (UGent), Prof. Dr. Ben Derudder (KU Leuven), Prof. Dr. Genserik L.L. Reniers (Delft University of Technology).

Congratulations Chenchen!

(18-12-2023) Early December, several researchers and doctoral students from the Department of Geography participated in the I-Know Innovation Day 2023 at Ghent University. Corneel Casier's poster ("Understanding street closures: How different modes of travel are affected – an agent-based modelling approach") won the Audience Award for the 'Most compelling poster presentation.'

Congratulations, Corneel!

(18-12-2023) On Friday 11 December 2023, Yuting Chen successfully defended her PhD: "Examining Airport Categorisation and the Evolving Dynamics of Airports. A multimodal transport approach in the context of China". Supervisors: Prof Frank Witlox (UGent), Prof Kurt Fuellhart (Unison Consulting). Members of the examination committee: Chairman: Prof Dr Veerle Van Eetvelde (Ugent). Prof. Dr Liang Dai (Nanjing University of Finance and Economics), Prof. Dr Tony H. Grubesic (University of California at Riverside), Prof. Dr Theo Notteboom (UGent), Prof. Dr Kevin B. O'Connor (University of Melbourne).

Congratulations Yuting!

(07-12-2023) On Monday 4 December 2023 , Tanhua Jin successfully defended her PhD: “Transition to Shared Mobility: Usage Patterns, Challenges, and the Built Environment Effects”. Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Frank Witlox (UGent), Prof. dr. Haosheng Huang (UGent). Members of the examination committee: Prof. dr. Nico Van de Weghe (UGent), Prof. dr. Giovanni Circella (UGent), Prof. dr. ing. Karst Geurs (University of Twente, Netherlands), Dr. Hannah Hook UGent), Prof. dr. Cecília Silva (University of Porto, Portugal).

Congratulations Tanhua Jin!