41 Notable alumni of University of Antwerp
Updated: June 22, 2026 EliteDegrees
University of Antwerp is ranked #370 in the world and #6 in Belgium by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 41 notable alumni from University of Antwerp sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with University of Antwerp won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Hugo J. Bellen
1953-. (aged 73)
geneticist
researcher
Hugo J. Bellen is a professor at Baylor College of Medicine and an investigator emeritus at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute who studies genetics and neurobiology in the model organism, Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly.
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2. Ronald Rousseau
1949-. (aged 77)
mathematician
university teacher
Ronald Rousseau is a Belgian mathematician and information scientist. He has obtained an international reputation for his research on indicators and citation analysis in the fields of bibliometrics and scientometrics.
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3. Dirk Wouters
1955-. (aged 71)
diplomat
university teacher
Dirk Wouters was Belgium's ambassador to the United States.
4. Lou Van Beirendonck
1960-. (aged 66)
psychologist
Lodewijk Constant Van Beirendonck (born 1960) is a Belgian organizational psychologist, management consultant, and Associate Professor of Human resource management at the Antwerp Management School, known for his work on competence management.
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5. Michel Van den Bergh
1960-. (aged 66)
mathematician
university teacher
Michel Van den Bergh is a Belgian mathematician and professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and does research at Hasselt University. His research interest is on the fundamental relationship between algebra and geometry. In 2003, he was awarded the Francqui Prize on Exact Sciences.
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6. Vivian Liska
1956-. (aged 70)
man of letters
germanist
literary scholar
university teacher
Vivian Liska, born in New York City, United States is a professor of German literature and director of the Institute of Jewish Studies at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. Since 2013 she is also distinguished visiting professor at Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
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7. Dirk De Ridder
1966-. (aged 60)
Dirk De Ridder is a Belgian neurosurgeon. He is a professor of neurosurgery at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. De Ridder spends half his time in New Zealand and half in Belgium, involved in setting up a dedicated neuromodulation clinic.
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8. Jan Wouters
1964-. (aged 62)
writer
law teacher
legal scholar
university teacher
Jan Maria Florent Wouters is a Belgian academic. He is Jean Monnet Chair, and Professor of International Law and International Organizations at KU Leuven, where he is also Director of its Centre for Global Governance Studies and Institute for International Law.
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9. Tom Ongena
1975-. (aged 51)
politician
Tom Ongena is a Belgian politician for Anders (formerly Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats, Dutch: Open Vld) born in Germany and has served as chairman of the party from 2023 to 2024.
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10. Jos Geysels
1952-. (aged 74)
politician
Josephus "Jos" Elisabeth A. M. Geysels is a former Belgian (Flemish) politician, and former Representative in the Belgian Chamber for the ecologist party Agalev for which he was party chairman. He resigned from the post in 2003, taking responsibility for the party's loss of power in the elections.
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11. Dave Sinardet
1975-. (aged 51)
author
political scientist
university teacher
columnist
Dave Sinardet is a Belgian political scientist, author and columnist.
12. Lode Vereeck
1965-. (aged 61)
university teacher
economist
politician
Lode Vereeck is a Belgian economist, professor and politician of the Vlaams Belang party, and formerly of the Open VLD and Lijst Dedecker.
13. Luc Steels
1952-. (aged 74)
computer scientist
artificial intelligence researcher
university teacher
Luc Steels is a Belgian scientist and artist. Steels works with artificial intelligence in Europe who has made contributions to expert systems, behavior-based robotics, artificial life and evolutionary computational linguistics. He was a fellow of the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies ICREA associated as a research professor with the Institute for Evolutionary Biology (UPF/CSIC) in Barcelona. He was...
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14. Conny Aerts
1966-. (aged 60)
astronomer
university teacher
mathematician
seismologist
physicist
Conny Clara Aerts, born 26 January 1966, is a Belgian professor in astrophysics. She specialises in asteroseismology. She is associated with KU Leuven and Radboud University, where she leads the Chair in the Astroseismology group. In 2012, she became the first woman to be awarded the Francqui Prize in the category of Science & Technology. In 2022, she became the...
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15. Stefaan Van Hecke
1973-. (aged 53)
jurist
lawyer
politician
Stefaan Van Hecke is a Belgian politician. He is member of the Belgian Federal Parliament (Chamber of Representatives of Belgium) for the ecological party Groen!. He was first elected in June 2007. He was re-elected in 2010, 2014, and 2019.
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16. Patrick Janssens
1956-. (aged 70)
politician
Patrick Janssens is a Belgian former politician. He was a member of the SP.a and the former mayor of the port city Antwerp.
17. Cathy Berx
1969-. (aged 57)
jurist
politician
Cathy Hilde Raymond Berx is a Belgian Christian Democrat politician, jurist and governor of the province of Antwerp. Cathy Berx is married to Johan Meeusen, vice-rector and professor of European Law at the University of Antwerp, and has 2 children.
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18. Jos D'Haese
1992-. (aged 34)
politician
Jos D'Haese is a Belgian politician who since 2019 has represented Antwerp Province in the Flemish Parliament, where he is the faction leader for the Workers' Party of Belgium, a socialist party with a Marxist background. D'Haese is also a member of the district council of Borgerhout and of the Belgian Senate.
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19. Renée Jones-Bos
1952-. (aged 74)
diplomat
Regina Veronica Maria "Renée" Jones-Bos is a Dutch civil servant and diplomat. She served as Ambassador of the Netherlands to Russia from 2016 to 2019. Previously, Jones-Bos was Ambassador to the United States in Washington, D.C. (2007–2012) and Secretary-General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague (2012–2016).
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20. Kong Quan
1955-. (aged 71)
diplomat
Kong Quan is a Chinese diplomat and politician who served as Chinese Ambassador to France and Monaco from 2008 to 2013.
21. Philippe Muyters
1961-. (aged 65)
politician
Philippe Muyters is a Belgian politician from the Flemish Region and is a member of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA).
22. Karl Vanlouwe
1970-. (aged 56)
lawyer
politician
Karl Vanlouwe is a Belgian politician and is affiliated to the N-VA. He was elected as a member of the Belgian Senate in 2010. Since 2015 he is a member of the European Alliance Group at the European Committee of the Regions.
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23. Hugo Coveliers
1947-. (aged 79)
lawyer
politician
Hugo F.V. Coveliers is a retired Belgian politician and lawyer. He was a member of the Belgian Chamber of People's Representatives between 1985 and 1995, and from 1993 to 2003. Since 2003, he has been a member of the Belgian Senate. He was a parliamentary chairman for the VLD in both chambers, from 1999 to 2003.
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24. Mieke Vogels
1954-. (aged 72)
politician
Maria Bertha Charlotte Vogels (born 20 April 1954) Belgian politician from Flanders in the environmentalist party Groen!.
25. Johan Van Overtveldt
1955-. (aged 71)
economist
journalist
university teacher
politician
Johan Van Overtveldt is a Belgian journalist and politician of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA). He served as Minister of Finance of Belgium from 2014 until 2018. He is currently a Member of the European Parliament since July 2024, where is serves as chair of the Budgetary committee.
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26. Bart Peeters
1959-. (aged 67)
television actor
performing artist
actor
drummer
guitarist
Bart August Maria Peeters is a Belgian singer, musician, television presenter and actor.
27. Filip Dewinter
1962-. (aged 64)
actor
politician
journalist
Philip Michel Frans "Filip" Dewinter is a Belgian politician, journalist and commentator. He is one of the leading members of Vlaams Belang, a right-wing Flemish nationalist and secessionist political party.
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28. Peter De Roover
1962-. (aged 64)
politician
Peter De Roover is a Belgian politician, economist, journalist and former broadcaster and a member of the Flemish nationalist New Flemish Alliance party.
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29. Peter Mertens
1969-. (aged 57)
sociologist
politician
Peter Mertens is a Belgian politician who led the Workers' Party of Belgium from 2008 to 2021. He has served as a member of the Chamber of Representatives since 2019, and as a municipal councilor in Antwerp since 2013.
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30. Kristof Calvo
1987-. (aged 39)
politician
Kristof Calvo y Castañer is a Belgian politician. He is a member of the Flemish left-wing green party. At the moment he is a federal representative. In the period 2014-2021, Calvo was rotating parliamentary group leader of Ecolo-Groen in the federal Chamber of Representatives. Since January 2013, he has been a councillor in Mechelen and since 2018 he is the...
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31. Liesbeth Homans
1973-. (aged 53)
politician
Liesbeth Homans is a Belgian politician and is affiliated to New Flemish Alliance. She was elected as a member of the Flemish Parliament in 2009 and as a member of the Belgian Senate in 2010. She has served as Minister-president of Flanders and Speaker of the Flemish Parliament since 2019.
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32. Gerolf Annemans
1958-. (aged 68)
lawyer
politician
Gerolf Emma Jozef Annemans is a Belgian lawyer, journalist and politician of the Flemish nationalist party Vlaams Belang (VB) and formerly of its predecessor, the Vlaams Blok. He has been a member of the European Parliament since 2014, and a city councilor in Antwerp since 2000. He served as a member of the Chamber of Representatives from 1987 to 2014,...
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33. Johan Vande Lanotte
1955-. (aged 71)
jurist
lawyer
university teacher
politician
Johan Cyrille Corneel Vande Lanotte is a Belgian politician. He is a member of the SP.A, and became its party president on 15 October 2005. He handed down his leadership positions after the SP.A lost in the 2007 general election. Between 1995 and 2014, he served more than 13 years as Deputy Prime Minister, the longest period for a Flemish...
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34. Dries Buytaert
1978-. (aged 48)
computer scientist
programmer
engineer
Dries Buytaert is a Belgian open-source software programmer. He is the founder and lead developer of the Drupal content management system. He also serves as the CTO of Acquia.
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35. Pascal Smet
1967-. (aged 59)
politician
Pascal Smet is a Belgian politician, member of Vooruit.
36. Peter Piot
1949-. (aged 77)
virologist
university teacher
politician
microbiologist
physician
Sir Peter Karel, Baron Piot is a Belgian-British microbiologist known for his research into Ebola and AIDS.
37. Nadia Sminate
1981-. (aged 45)
politician
Nadia Sminate is a Belgian politician and is affiliated to the N-VA. She was elected as a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 2010.
38. Jan Jambon
1960-. (aged 66)
politician
Johan "Jan" Martin Jozef Jambon is a Belgian businessman and politician of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) who has been serving as a Deputy Prime Minister and as the Minister of Finance, Pensions, National Lottery and Federal Culture Institutions in the De Wever Government since February 2025. Before that, he served as Minister-President of Flanders from 2019 to 2024. He...
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39. Kris Peeters
1962-. (aged 64)
lawyer
politician
Kris Peeters is a Belgian politician of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party who served as vice-president of the European Investment Bank (EIB) from 2021 to 2024. Earlier in his career, he was Minister-President of Flanders (2007–2014), deputy prime minister and minister of economy and employment in the government of Prime Minister Charles Michel (2014–2019), and a Member of the...
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40. Louis-Philippe Loncke
1977-. (aged 49)
explorer
lecturer
engineer
Louis-Philippe Loncke is a Belgian explorer, adventurer and motivational speaker. In 2008, he achieved the world first crossing on foot of the length of the Simpson Desert, which was a North to South traverse passing through its geographical center. In 2018, he traversed Tasmania during the austral winter without resupplies and was nicknamed the Mad Belgian by some Australians.
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41. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang
1940-2009 (aged 69)
politician
minister
Mantombazana "Manto" Edmie Tshabalala-Msimang OMSS was a South African politician. She was Deputy Minister of Justice from 1996 to 1999 and served as Minister of Health from 1999 to 2008 under President Thabo Mbeki. She also served as Minister in the Presidency under President Kgalema Motlanthe from September 2008 to May 2009.
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