KU Leuven is currently the largest university in Belgium in terms of research funding and expenditure, and is a charter member of LERU. KU Leuven conducts fundamental and applied research in all academic disciplines with a clear international orientation.
The SFERE group is part of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. Its key points of interest are the European food system, Resilience, sustainability and vulnerability, agriculture, food policies and transition towards a more sustainable economy.
My responsibility, shared with Margo, is the project management. We need to assure there is a perfect environment for all RUSTICA colleagues to work, deliver in time and also, enjoy the involvement in the project. We are the link between the RUSTICA consortium and the European Commission, responsible for a smooth and transparant communication between both parties.
Tessa Avermaete
Margo Heremans joined the division Bioeconomics at KU Leuven in January 2021. Together with Tessa Avermaete, she is managing two Horizon 2020 projects: RUSTICA and COCOREADO.
She has extensive experience in communication and event/project management with senior roles at Seauton, a Leuven-based organizer of congresses and meetings worldwide, Vlerick Business School and Apple. She lived and worked in London, Singapore and Amsterdam. She likes travelling, loves cooking for family and friends and enjoys reading. She holds a Master in Applied Economic Sciences from KU Leuven.
Margo Heremans
Liesbet Vranken has a Master in Bioscience Engineering and a Phd in Economics, both from the University of Leuven. She is currently working as a professor in agricultural, resource and food economics at the Division of Bio-Economics of KU Leuven. Within the Division, Liesbet is head of the research group Society-Environment Interactions. Liesbet is the project coordinator of the Rustica project.
Liesbet Vranken
Erik Mathijs is Professor of Agricultural and Food Economics. His research focuses on the monitoring and implementation of sustainability transitions in the agro-food sector, including the role of explorative and normative scenarios.
Erik Mathijs
Erika is a PhD student at the KU Leuven Division of Bioeconomics. She obtained her degree in Spatial, Transport and Environmental Economics at the VU Amsterdam in 2020. Erika will contribute to RUSTICA by exploring and co-creating robust business models for the technological innovations.
Erika De Keyser
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