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.

Hugo J. Bellen

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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Ronald Rousseau

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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Dirk Wouters

3. Dirk Wouters

1955-. (aged 71)
diplomat university teacher
Dirk Wouters was Belgium's ambassador to the United States.
Lou Van Beirendonck

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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Michel Van den Bergh

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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Vivian Liska

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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Dirk De Ridder

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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Jan Wouters

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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Tom Ongena

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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Jos Geysels

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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Dave Sinardet

11. Dave Sinardet

1975-. (aged 51)
author political scientist university teacher columnist
Dave Sinardet is a Belgian political scientist, author and columnist.
Lode Vereeck

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.
Luc Steels

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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Conny Aerts

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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Stefaan Van Hecke

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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Patrick Janssens

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.
Cathy Berx

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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Jos D'Haese

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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Renée Jones-Bos

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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Kong Quan

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.
Philippe Muyters

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).
Karl Vanlouwe

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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Hugo Coveliers

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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Mieke Vogels

24. Mieke Vogels

1954-. (aged 72)
politician
Maria Bertha Charlotte Vogels (born 20 April 1954) Belgian politician from Flanders in the environmentalist party Groen!.
Johan Van Overtveldt

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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Bart Peeters

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.
Filip Dewinter

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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Peter De Roover

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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Peter Mertens

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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Kristof Calvo

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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Liesbeth Homans

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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Gerolf Annemans

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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Johan Vande Lanotte

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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Dries Buytaert

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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Pascal Smet

35. Pascal Smet

1967-. (aged 59)
politician
Pascal Smet is a Belgian politician, member of Vooruit.
Peter Piot

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.
Nadia Sminate

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.
Jan Jambon

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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Kris Peeters

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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Louis-Philippe Loncke

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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Manto Tshabalala-Msimang

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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