News & Events

Almost two years ago to this day, our research group hosted its inaugural conference at the Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten. And now the subsequent book ‘The Non-Religious and the State’ has finally been published with De Gruyter Brill!

Steven Geusens first pursued his bachelor’s degree in history (2016-2019), followed by his master’s (2020), obtaining both at the VUB. Within the framework of these initial studies, a desire to specialize into group associations with a religious and philosophical background grew.

The Carolin Pauwels Academy of Critical Thinking (PACT) has published its first book. In this volume, academics, sharp minds and opinion makers related to our University contemplate the meaning of the V (free) in Vrije Universiteit Brussels.

As of the 1st of October, SSAB will welcome Nyala Nauwelaers as a new predoctoral fellow. Ms. Nauwelaers was awarded the VUB-ULB Seed Money Fellowship 2024-2025. For the project “Social Time and Desacralization.

An interview on humanism in times of rising polarisation by de Marketing and Communication department of our university with secretary Niels De Nutte:    https://www.vub.be/nl/nieuws/historicus-niels-de-nutte-over-vrijzinnig-humanisme-in-roerige-tijden...

On Monday 13 May the Biennial research day of the Belgische Vereniging voor Nieuwste Geschiedenis (BVNG) took place. As a board member, our member Kim Descheemaeker was throughly involved in hosting this event.

At the beginning of this month, two of our members participated in the 4th annual conference of the ISFORB center at the ETF Leuven.

Op woensdag 7 februari 2024 vond de eerste SSAB-dag plaats in het Vrijzinnig Centrum De Schakel in Mechelen. De dag begon met een planningsvergadering voor onderzoek, waarbij ook erfgoedpartners Liberas en CAVA  hun (onderzoeks)plannen voor de beleidsperiode 2024-2028 uiteenzetten.

 

Our member Niels De Nutte was recently granted a special PhD scholarship by the FWO (National Research Foundation). This full-time grant allows Niels to finish his PhD work as part of our research group from November 2023 untill the end of October 2024. Congratulations!

We are happy to announce that SSAB member Sofia Nikitaki (KU Leuven Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies) has successfully defended her PhD thesis on Monday, 3rd July 2023, in Auditorium Wolfspoort in Leuven.

Last Friday, the colleagues of ETHU organised an event to celebrate the retirement as emeritus of our member Johan Stuy. Memories and appeciation of his longstanding carreer as an ethicist at our university were shared amicably!

During the second semester of the academic year 2022-2023, MA History student Nyala Nauwelaers is assisting some members of our research group with the retrieval of the whereabouts of the Belgian freethinker periodicals in the various archival institutions across Belgium.

Dr. Anton Jansson of University of Gothenburg, co-director of the ISHASH network, was connected to SSAB as a guest researcher and visited our group in Brussels.

Aboe Nasr al‑Farabi (870‑950) is een van de grootste filosofen uit de geschiedenis en naast Averroës en Avicenna een van de meest representatieve denkers uit het Gouden Tijdperk van de islam.

Last week the Institute for the Study of Freedom of Religion or Belief at ETF Leuven organised an interdisciplary conference in Leuven entitled 'Secular States Struggling with Religious Freedom'.  This event saw a thought-provoking opening keynote by prof.

Our member Koert Debeuf recently published a monograph on the psychology of international conflicts. Dr. Debeuf uses his years of expertise in the geopolitical field and his personal experiences to show that war is not fought for economic, but for psychological reasons.

gelovigen en buitenkerkelijken vandaag en gisteren    Dit verslag verscheen origineel op de website van Liberas en werd door Christoph De Spiegeleer geschreven. Onderstaand is een licht aangepaste versie.

We are glad to report the publication of the acta from a symposium held at the Constitutional Court in honor of the chairman’s, François Daout, retirement (emeritaat). The publication ‘Réflections autour de la laïcité/Reflecties over laïciteit’ is available with publishers die Keure and Anthemis.

Recent publiceerde ons lid Frederik Dhondt in een artikel over John Gilissen in een volume onder redactie van Lukasz Jan Korporowicz.   John Gilissen (1912-1988) doceerde decennia aan de ULB en de jonge VUB.

Ons lid Frank Schweitser verdedigde recent met succes zijn doctoraat in de wijsbegeerte. Op basis van zijn onderzoek is nu een boek verschenen bij Houtekiet!  Niet elke patiënt met een ongeneeslijke psychiatrische aandoening komt vandaag in België in aanmerking voor euthanasie.

Last week our member Adelheid Rigo participated in a session of Radboud Reflects (of the Dutcht university Radboud Universiteit).

On 22 April, our member Frederik Dhondt, professor in legal history, will deliver a presentation at a seminar at the Constitutional Court on the occasion of the retirement as emeritus of its president, François Daôut. The event itself can be attended free of charge.

On Thursday 24 March the book 'Geschiedenis van atheïsme in België' was launched. This book is co-edited by our member dr.

Secular Studies (Brill) recently published a themed issue on the role of secularity and secularisation in shifting attitudes and practices surrounding death throughout history. The issue, edited by SSAB members Christoph De Spiegeleer, Niels De Nutte and Jeffrey Tyssens, is comprised of th...

Please find hereby the recordings of the 5th BABEL PhD Colloquium.     First Session:  Ima Sri Rahmani (UCLouvain), Women and identity in the spinning of the lexicon Islamophobia in the media text in Belgium   Aurélien Bourgaux (ULiège) Martyrdo...

5th BABEL PhD Colloquium   7.

The International Journal for Religious Freedom recently published a themed issue on the impact of religious freedom research.  The issue, edited by Dennis Petri and Govert J. Buijs, contains a contribution by our members Niels De Nutte and Anton Van Dyck.

   On the 20th of October, the Centre d’Action Laïque organised the book launch of De geschiedenis van het atheïsme in België/Histoire de l'athéisme en Belgique ('The History of Atheism in Belgium'), a new scientific publication that addresses the role of atheism in a selection of pol...