Chairs

A chair is a kind of partnership whereby a company, social institution, or private individual commits to financing academic research or teaching on a particular theme at Ghent University over a longer period of time. This is a way to support research and teaching, based on the conviction that this makes society a better place.

Each chair has a supervisor (a professor at Ghent University) who is responsible for ensuring that the project fulfils its mission, with financial support from the partner. You can choose whether the chair should be named after yourself, your company, or a person that you wish to honour.

“Chairs create a structural means of cooperation between a business and the University. This means that academic expertise within Ghent University can be used to benefit society while at the same time, scientists, university employees, and students have a chance to come into direct contact with external stakeholders. This can foster connections resulting in strong partnerships, increasing funding, and leading to more in-depth research questions that can be further developed by the academic partners. In this way, academic knowledge is confronted with practical, real-life societal challenges, and thus also leads to opportunities such as internships for students, industry experience for university employees, and the development of research transfer procedures.” - Rector Rik Van De Walle

For more information about chairs at Ghent University, take a look at our brochure.

Watch the video below to learn more about the importance of UGent chairs for the partners involved and society.

Current chairs

Contact us

University Fund of Ghent University
Liesbeth Plovie

universiteitsfonds@ugent.be
+32 9 9264 33 87