Projects
‘Knocking on Heaven’s Doors’. Free will, Money, and Emotions in the Theological Systems of Leonard Lessius and Luis de Molina (late 1500s-early 1600s) KU Leuven
This project considers the relationship between God and mankind in the theological systems of two of the most preeminent early modern Jesuit theologians, Leonard Lessius and Luis de Molina. Whereas most studies have depicted their views as being largely similar, this project aims to delve deeper into the subtleties of their views on predestination, grace, and free will, differences that urged the highest authorities within the Order to ...
The Hazards of Hormones: Risk, Regulation and Women’s Health in the History of Hormones in Belgium KU Leuven
Hormones today are everywhere: in pharmacies and hospitals, on bedside tables and in handbags. Millions of women ingest synthetic sex hormones to control their fertility, for menstrual and menopausal problems, to assist conception, as abortifacients, and for other reasons. In our collective memory, the rise of hormones mostly counts as a positive development, giving rise to women’s emancipation and sexual liberation. Yet there also exists a ...
Promotion of a healthy lifestyle in women with a history of gestational diabetes KU Leuven
The prevalence of gestational diabetes (GDM) increases worldwide with rates between 9-35%, posing challenges to maintain high-quality care in the management of GDM. A valuable solution to cope with this increasing burden could be the organization of group education. In this research project, we will analyze the collected data of a prospective observational cohort study with the aim to evaluate women’s satisfaction about (group) education, ...
Social Justice, Identity Construction and National Identification: A Social History of War Nationalism in Belgium, 1914-1925 Ghent University
This study on national identification in Belgium during and immediately after the German
occupation will examine to what extent and in what ways diverse social groups used national
sentiment to negotiate a reality radically altered. World War I is a crucial focus for nationalism research in Belgium, representing both the summit of Belgian nationalism and a cut-off point where a competing Flemish nationalism gained momentum. However, ...
The power of goal-directed processes in the causation of emotional and other actions KU Leuven
People often engage in behavior that is not in their best interest. For instance, they engage in unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, commit action slips such as taking a wrong habitual route, or they become aggressive even when they risk a high cost (e.g., retaliation or ruining a relationship). To make sense of these so-called suboptimal actions, theorists have come up with dual process models that distinguish between (a) a stimulus-driven ...
Remember Africa? The effects of twice-migration on the religious and cultural lives of British ‘East African’ Jains Ghent University
The project "Remember Africa?” uses different types of contemporary memorial projects and narratives of individual Jains in the UK to address the experience of twice-migration and its impact upon religious and cultural praxis. It comprises two distinct levels of inquiry.
First, it will approach memory as a source, and construct a continuous history of Jainism as it moved spatially from India to East-Africa to the UK, and temporally ...
The body as a mirror of the soul: an inquiry into the reception of the Physiognomonica in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. KU Leuven
Medieval scholars reading (pseudo-)Aristotle’s Physiognomonica, a text dealing with the deduction of internal character traits from external features, did not read this treatise in the original Greek language, but had access to it through the Latin translation by Bartholomew of Messina (13th century). This translation (rather than the original Greek text) circulated widely in the medieval West and was instrumental in the ...
Ethnicity after mass violence. A study of the nature and transformation of ethnic 'groupness' in Rwanda and Burundi. University of Antwerp
The scars of a bad youth. An examination of the neurobiological and psychological mechanisms linking childhood traumatic experiences to adult psychopathology. KU Leuven
Childhood traumatic experiences, such as abuse or neglect, are the single most important cause of adult psychiatric disorders. Disorders such as depression, psychosis and anxiety disorders moreover emerge earlier in traumatized individuals, with greater severity, more comorbidity and a less favourable response to treatment. Scientific endeavors focusing on this subgroup are therefore urgently required. Adults with a history of childhood ...