It’s no coincidence that students and staff cycle in such large numbers. On 24 April, the University of Antwerp put cycling centre stage to thank them. With the Bicycle Festival and a special edition of the Critical Mass Bike Ride, the university showed how cycling is part of campus life and why cycling safety remains important.

One colleague prefers to work from home for a day in peace and quiet. Another thrives on campus dynamics, flexible hours or a different structure. Work-life balance at UAntwerp can’t be captured in a single formula. And that’s precisely where the challenge lies: how do we create a caring working environment that allows room for differences while remaining manageable for everyone? 

In the section ‘The Feather’, a staff member puts a colleague in the spotlight. This time, Elio Berardocco, passes the compliment to Britt Van Beek, file manager at the Department of Veterinary Sciences.

Recently, we launched the Mision in Motion quiz to give colleagues a playful way to reflect on how our mission, vision and lines of strength already live in their daily work. Around 200 colleagues completed the quiz. While this is not representative of the entire university, their responses offer a valuable first insight into the strengths we share and the principles colleagues most naturally bring into practice.

Every researcher knows the feeling: your topic is complex, your data are complicated and your time is scarce. And yet, whether at a family gathering, for a journalist, for your faculty blog or for the stakeholders of your project, you want to make it clear in a short time why your work matters. The annual PRESS>SPEAK competition helps researchers do exactly that. Four participants share their experiences and their best communication tips.

For many people, cybersecurity sounds technical – something for ICT specialists sitting at computers guarding lines of code. Until you receive a suspicious email. Or leave your laptop on the train. Or a system suddenly stops working. Then it becomes something that concerns all of us. We spoke with Sabine Marichal, our ICT Security & Risk Officer, about what is done every day to keep UAntwerp digitally secure and why your behaviour is crucial in that respect.