Futures through Design: our experts.

Bert De Roo

Bert De Roo is an engineer-architect and has been working as a freelance architect since 2015. Since 2018, he has primarily worked as a research associate at HOGENT, focusing on historic estates and the more-than-human discourse. In the latter, he is developing a design approach that reimagines our surroundings as a socio-ecological community. Bert believes that a sustainable future is only possible when every participant in our environment is regarded as equal.

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Dirk van Gogh

After obtaining his Master’s degree in 1991, Dirk has been active internationally as a product designer and lecturer. From 1997, he spent nine years in Japan conducting research into electric vehicle concepts, where he also earned his doctorate in Product Development. Creativity in generating innovative concepts and a commitment to sustainable, responsible design are the ultimate goals in his own design work, teaching and research activities.

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Eveline Seghers

Eveline Seghers is the coordinator of the research centre Futures through Design. Prior to this, she conducted research on the psychological and biological foundations of art in human societies, in Ghent, Vienna, Utrecht and Albuquerque. She also contributed to the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018 at the European Commission, and worked as a project coordinator at Werkplaats Immaterieel Erfgoed (Workshop for Intangible Heritage).

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Glenn Deliège

Glenn Deliège obtained his PhD in environmental philosophy from the Higher Institute of Philosophy (KU Leuven). His research focuses on the ethical and philosophical dimensions of the relationship between humans, nature and landscape, with particular attention to the coexistence of humans and animals in cities and cultural landscapes.

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Jo Boonen

Jo Boonen is a landscape architect and urban planner, and has been working as a research associate at HOGENT since 2016. His work focuses on socio-spatial projects, with themes such as family-friendly living, social sustainability, and more-than-human design. Jo believes that sustainable spatial policy can only be achieved by integrating social and ecological principles of justice. He is also passionate about photography, illustration and poetry, which he aims to incorporate into his work.

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Laurence Berden

Laurence obtained her degree in Interior Architecture in 1991 and has experience in designing and coordinating turnkey projects, where she translates vision, house style, philosophy, theme or product into a spatial environment. Since 2013, she has coached Interior Design students in their artistic development as part of the practical training module. Through research, she has developed assignments for students and coordinated these across various study programmes and interdisciplinary student groups.

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Leen Vanthuyne

Leen Vanthuyne holds a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture and has a knack for conceptual design. She approaches landscape-related topics from the perspective of a ‘designing researcher’. Leen enjoys demystifying conceptual ideas — for example, by thinking through drawing, or by retroactively reflecting on plans and realisations in light of certain concepts. Her research work is closely connected to her own design practice, through which she has built up broad experience in designing gardens, public spaces, Biodivers Zorggroen (biodiverse green spaces for care institutions), nature for play, and landscapes for living.

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Mirte Van Aalst

Mirte van Aalst started as a researcher at HOGENT in 2021 and has since worked on various projects focusing on more-than-human design, co-creation and inclusive design. She also teaches design on the interior architecture course at KU Leuven, where she graduated with distinction in 2019. She enjoys sharing her passion for experimentation, sustainability and hands-on design.  

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Renée Verschraege

Renée obtained her Master’s degree in Product Development in 2008. She then worked for 10 years in R&D across various sectors, ranging from aerospace to consumer products. Since 2019, she has been a researcher at HOGENT, specialising in sustainable design driven by her passion for nature and environmental care.

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Stefanie Delarue

The research of ecologist Stefanie Delarue is guided by the principles of (eco)systems, regeneration and biodiversity, which she applies across a range of scales, projects and themes. Starting with research into food forests on historic estates, her recent work has expanded to focus on regenerative agriculture, with particular attention to landscape and ecological dimensions, and the role of designers. Through the Biodiverse Care Green project, she develops biodiverse outdoor spaces that also promote physical and mental well-being. Stefanie is also a lecturer in landscape architecture and landscape development programmes, with a focus on plant materials, landscape management and ecology.

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Tim Duerinck

Tim Duerinck is a master instrument maker and holds a doctorate in the arts. His research focuses on composite materials, musical instruments, and the intersection of craftsmanship and technology. Recently, he has been working with flax fibre to create instruments — a project that will lead to a spin-off company in 2025. He currently runs a pop-up research workshop in the Gent Zuid shopping centre, which he shares with other instrument makers.

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Steven Heyde

Steven Heyde holds a Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture and Planning. He specialises in the innovation and redevelopment of historic estates, as well as in critical perspectives on food forests. More recently, his research has focused on regenerative landscapes and agriculture, and the development of biomaterials. 

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Johan Vandermaelen

For 40 years, Johan Vandermaelen has been developing sound solutions for artists, museums and contemporary music creations. He is affiliated with the Atelier Tim Duerinck, where he contributes to the design of an integrated microphone for string instruments. His interest in the intersection of art and technology often leads to results that differ significantly from those based purely on technical principles and commercially available products.

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Clara Vankerschaver

Clara Vankerschaver is an interdisciplinary researcher working at the crossroads of textile design, textile history and conservation, and heritage studies. Currently, as a researcher within the Crafting Futures project (HOGENT, University of Antwerp), she explores ways to value artisanal practices from a contemporary societal perspective. Her focus lies on developing and preserving embodied knowledge within textile making processes. Since 2012, she has been teaching in the academic textile design programme at KASK – Conservatorium, School of Arts, Hogeschool Gent, and she also works on projects within the cultural heritage sector.

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Pieter Veen

Pieter Veen is a landscape architect with many years of experience working at the intersection of sustainable development and landscape design. Since 2025, he has been affiliated with the research centre Futures through Design, contributing to the Rewilding Materials project. He also runs his own design practice, Circular Landscapes. As a designer, Pieter is interested in the spatial dimension of the transition towards a more circular economy. This plays out across all scales, from garden to region, and involves (economic) supply chains and (ecological) cycles. Collaboration is always key — with other knowledge disciplines and the many users of the landscape. Pieter is committed to making the right connections within this complex field and inspiring people towards a shared approach. For him, that is the essence of design.

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Hong Wan Chan

Since 2025, Hong Wan Chan has been affiliated with Futures through Design, where she conducts research on affordable and sustainable housing. She graduated in 2013 as an engineer-architect with a specialisation in urban design and has since worked as an architect at ectv architects and as an assistant at the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, Ghent University. Currently, Wan is finalising her PhD on her ancestral landscape in the Pearl River Delta, China. By combining oral history with drawing as an architect’s tool, she develops methods to reveal hidden or overlooked layers of meaning in the landscape.

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Helena De Smet

Helena obtained her Master’s degree in Fashion Design from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp and gained 20 years of experience as a freelance designer before starting as a lecturer at the fashion programme of KASK & Conservatorium in 2009. Since 2021, she has also been affiliated with the academy as a researcher. As a designer, teacher and researcher, her passion lies in the rich, centuries-old craftsmanship embedded in clothing and textile objects. She focuses on reflection and experimentation with sustainable materials and contemporary production methods.

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Giliam Ganzevles

Ganzevles Giliam (NL) graduated as a graphic designer from ArtEZ Arnhem and is currently based in Brussels. His work focuses on the intersection of art, design, and technology, with an emphasis in his research on more-than-human design. He investigates the integration of generative AI in design processes at Howest University of Applied Sciences. As a member of the research group Disobedient Practices at KASK & Conservatorium HOGENT Howest, he explores the convergence of more-than-human perspectives and AI through artistic research. Besides his academic work, he is the creative director at the Amsterdam-based creative studio Awe.

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Laboratorium: Heleen Sintobin & Maria Boto Ordoñez

Laboratorium is an experimental bio-lab for art and design in relation to biotechnology at KASK, School of Arts. The lab specialises in sustainable colour production. Artistic researchers Maria Boto and Heleen Sintobin lead the four-year project Ecology of Colours. The research focuses on new applications within traditional colours derived from plants and minerals, as well as exploring the colour palette of natural biotechnological sources such as microalgae, bacteria, and fungi. What can these natural colours mean for art/design and industry?

Current research trajectories concentrate on design applications of living, fading, and time-related colours originating from pigments extracted from microalgae grown in the lab. Together with industry partners, they investigate the valorisation of inkjet inks based on algal pigments. A second research line explores structural colours and their intense, all-encompassing colour palette found in nature, based on nanostructures.

The lab is connected to an (inter)national scientific network (BE-US) and has ongoing (inter)national collaborations within the professional contexts of art and design, as well as with industry.

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