Title Promoter Affiliations Abstract "Exiled and separated: a multi-sited ethnography of Eritrean refugees and their families attempting to reunite." "Gert Verschraegen" "Centre for Migration and Intercultural Studies (CeMIS)" "Most European states allow refugees to access a facilitated procedure to reunify with their family members. Many studies, however, high-light how issues of timing, documentation and economic resources often make family reunions extremely difficult, if not impossible. If much has been written on the obstacles faced migrants in this regard, little is known about the specific case of refugees. Through a multi-sited ethnographic study with refugees and their families, this project aims to reconstruct the complexity of power-relations, social expectations and structural impediments that impact on refugees' right to family life." "A Tale of Two Processes. The dynamic interplay between emotion and cognition when learning from texts." "David Gijbels" "Media, ICT and interpersonal relations in Organisations and Society (MIOS), EduBROn" "This project aims to investigate how the integration of narratives in didactic texts can optimize the processing of the information through the dynamic interplay of emotional and cognitive processes and thereby lead to desired learning outcomes. The first objective of this project is to develop valid and reliable dynamic measures of emotional processes during the reading of texts, relying on a multi-method approach (combining self-reports and think-aloud methods, with eye-tracking and psychophysiological measures). Building on the findings from the first research phase, the second objective of the project is to study the dynamic interplay between cognitive and emotional processing and during processing of texts augmented with narrative elements (in different formats). The third objective is to examine how the dynamic interplay between cognitive and emotional processes affects learning outcomes." "Searching for partners via friends: implications for household formation and economic decisions" "Sunčica Vujić, Luca Paolo Merlino" Economics "The aim of this project is to understand the interplay between the search for partners, household formation and economic decisions. Making an investment in the ability to search for a better partner affects the characteristics of the match, but also the bargaining position in the relationship by determining the quality of the outside options in case of divorce. We will introduce search frictions in the marriage market proposing a matching model where search frictions are captured by a matching function or by search of partners via social networks. Modeling search behavior implies a better description of the intra-household decision process, which in turn yields a more powerful analysis of household choice behavior and its welfare implications on spouses and their children. The aim of this project, which is part of a bigger research agenda, is to estimate non-parametrically these models using revealed preferences analysis to provide a structural description of the within-household allocation as a function of the search behavior defining the current and future outside options on marriage markets." "DISpATch: Digital twin for synchromodal transport" Logistics "The DISpATch project will focus on organizational and technical enablers for seamless synchromodal transport services in Flanders. Given the real-time dynamics and flexible nature of synchromodal transport, different actors and transport modalities need to work together and adapt according to unexpected events as well as contextual information that affect transport processes. These events and contextual information can be positive or negative perturbations that shape freight movement and transport mode selection, such as newly incoming orders, transport delays, cancellations, collaborative bundling opportunities, accidents, water levels, strikes and many more. We will develop a platform represented by a Digital Twin component in order to provide a testbed for synchromodal opportunities within a risk-free environment. A Digital Twin is a virtual environment that mirrors the real physical system and its processes by updating its virtual real-time status from various sources of information regarding weather forecasts, congestion levels, positions of assets (barges, trains, trucks) and their ongoing working conditions. By means of the digital twin, effects of sensor technology and information exchange can be studied in combination with physical flows. Such a risk free environment allows for analysis and evaluation of triggering events (new orders, disruptions, delays…) which induce physical movements. It will measure the real-time synchromodal complexity and evaluate various decisions and offer alternatives by making use of mathematical, simulation and machine learning models." "Elucidating psychological and social risk factors for low back pain in highly physically active adolescents: a case study in female pre-professional dancers." "Nathalie Roussel" "Antwerp Research Institute for the Arts (ARIA), Movement Antwerp (MOVANT)" "The general purpose of this study is to elucidate psychological and social risk factors for low back pain (LBP) in highly physically active adolescents. Using a qualitative research design, we will explore perceived causes (psychological and social) of LBP using female pre-professional dancers as a case study. This will lay the foundation for fundamental prospective studies examining causes of LBP in adolescents. Low back pain (LBP) is the leading cause of disability worldwide. The prevalence of LBP rapidly increases during adolescence, especially in females. The multidimensional nature (including biological, psychological and social factors) of LBP is widely recognized in adults, but has, despite the fact that LBP during adolescence is a risk factor for spinal pain in adulthood, rarely been investigated in adolescents. Elite adolescent dancers are a model population to unravel the etiology of adolescent LBP as they are a homogenous group that is highly physically active and that is at risk for developing LBP. The novelty of our approach is the unraveling of LBP from a multidisciplinary perspective in adolescents at risk for developing LBP in a challenging period of their life. The proposed qualitative methodology will allow to explore these factors in more depth, as validated questionnaires to examine psychological and social factors in adolescent dancers are lacking. The collaboration in this project between several disciplines will allow to obtain a more detailed insight in the person as a whole, including a great part of the individual and contextual factors underlying the etiology of LBP in highly active adolescents. More importantly, the results of the project will lay the foundation for the continuation of the research in the etiology of LBP in dancers and adolescents." "Examining Driving Behavior of Adults with Higher Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders to Develop and Evaluate an Innovative Driving Instructor Training Program" "Traffic Safety" "The current project aims to comprehensively investigate driving behaviors as well as related psychological characteristics of novice drivers with ASD. For this, we use self-report measures and a driving simulator. The to-be-developed simulated driving scenarios can serve as validated assessment tools in future research. Furthermore, this project targets the development of innovative training modules for the driving instructors to equip them with the knowledge, tools and techniques to effectively develop driving capabilities and safe driving behaviors of novice drivers with ASD. By developing and distributing the proposed training modules, we expect that more people with ASD will be able to obtain a driving license, hereby enhancing their level of autonomy, as they will not be dependent on relatives and friends to assist in transportation requirements. The project also comes with an economic impact. First, as more people with ASD become able to obtain a driver's license, more people will be able to pursue vocational goals. Second, the driver instructors will be able to attract more learner drivers who experience difficulties with learning how to drive due to their ASD diagnosis. Third, the utilization of driving simulators in traffic safety and operation studies in Qatar is quite novel and it will significantly enhance the understanding of driver behavior in specific target groups such as people with ASD. Finally, this project will initiate active collaboration between research bodies and driving schools in order to improve driver-training programs in the state of Qatar." "Efficient Affinity Separations for CHEMicam Applications" "Environmental Economics" "Many chemical companies are nowadays confronted with very challenging liquid separations, aiming at separating molecules with very similar physical properties. The current trend towards more bio-based and/or highly-tailored chemicals, will only increase the number of these demanding separations. These challenges would benefit from efficient Affinity Separations (AS). The most traditional AS technology is liquid-liquid extraction, where the extracting solvent acts as the separation agent. The most selective AS is liquid chromatography, driven by the affinity between molecules and a functionalised stationary phase, the separation material. Although successful in different situations, both AS processes have important drawbacks. EASiCHEM aims at tackling these limitations, by developing more efficient, and/or more sustainable AS processes, focusing on two promising, energy-poor liquid separation technologies: 1. Membrane-based AS processes: bringing the selectivity of chromatography to membrane separations, using functionalised ceramic membranes tailored to match the separation problem at hand; 2. Continuous chromatography: tackling the main disadvantage of selective chromatography, making use of a membrane-contactor-like design at microreactor scale. The work programme is intended to extensively explore, understand and benchmark the capabilities and limitations of the new AS processes using a myriad of functionalized ceramic materials. The experimental work is designed to correlate adsorptive interactions to material properties and performance, and to reveal similarities between membrane and chromatography processes. Comprehensive and predictive models will be developed and will allow to steer further experiments. The potential of the new AS processes will be explored in a variety of industrially-relevant separation cases suggested by an industrial Advisory Board, allowing to define their operation windows, and to make a proper techno-economic evaluation. Final aim is to derive (a first) effective decision tree connecting each specific separation problem at hand with the best AS process. To ensure the realization of these challenging objectives, an equilibrated consortium of 7 (academic) partners, with the right, complementary expertise, strengthened by previous relevant experience, and strong mutual collaboration, has been composed." "IOF mandate Wim Ectors" "Geert WETS" "Transportation Behaviour" "The new IOF-policy AUHL, approved in 2014, also implemented a new project type 'IOF-mandate project'. To execute this type of project, an IOF-manager will be hired to work at a research institute or a faculty of Hasselt University. In addition to a number of fixed targets valid for all managers (single point of contact for TTO regarding valorisation, maintain overview of the available expertise, detect valorisation opportunities, developing a network, participate in TTO-learning network) these managers will also have a number of specific objectives aligned with the strategic plan of the research institute/faculty. This IOF mandate was assigned to Wim Ectors from the research institute IMOB." "Film, media and nation-building in Flanders." "Gertjan Willems" "Research Centre for Visual Poetics" "This research project aims at investigating the relation between media and nation-building in Flanders. The project consists of two parts. First, the project focuses on film and nation-building in Flanders from 1945 until today. Through quantitative and qualitative textual film analyses, the project critically examines the cinematic representation of Flanders and Flemish identities. Second, the project places these findings in their broader media and cultural context. This is done by editing an interdisciplinary volume on media and nation-building in Flanders from the 19th century until today. In this second part, the project offers an original synthesis of the existing research on media and nation-building in Flanders and formulates a research agenda for the future.BOF Small Research Grant." "A validation study of the Teacher Judgement Inventory." "Kristin Vanlommel" EduBROn "BackgroundThe quality of teacher judgement highly influences the extent to which education can provide equal and excellent chances for all pupils. An important precondition is fair teacher judgement, free of (confirmation) bias. Since our society is getting more and more diverse, teachers need to be able to assess a super diverse group of pupils with differing cultures, social and economic backgrounds and talents. The pitfall is that teachers may intuitively rely on a rather traditional interpretative framework, whereby pupils are sorted in educational tracks that do not coincide with their intrinsic competences. Although teachers often exercise great autonomy with regard to high-stakes decisions such as promotion or retention, so far there is little theory on teacher judgement. Based on a longitudinal qualitative doctoral research, we developed a theoretical model that proved to be a valuable lens to study teacher judgement, taking into account the interplay of rational and intuitive processes as well as conditions to prevent decision bias.Rational processes are defined as deliberate and systematic, when a problem is diagnosed and data are collected, analysed and interpreted based on objective criteria. Intuitive processes are conceptualised as automatic recognition of cues, based on experience, without a deliberate and systematic collection and analyses of data. Our results showed that intuitive processes influence the final decision on promotion or retention to a great extent. We found evidence that stereotyping and self-fulfilling prophecies resulted in an orientation to a lower educational track. PurposeGiven the impact of teacher judgement on pupils' educational trajectories and the findings that intuition still influences teachers' decisions to a great extent, it is important to validate this theoretical model on a larger scale. We want to develop and validate a survey based on our results with the aim of enhancing the quality of teachers' decisions on promotion or retention in practice. Within the international research community, there is a need for a survey that can be used to study teacher judgement. Importance BOF KPThis budget provides me with the opportunity to validate the results of my doctoral research, invest in international collaboration and develop future lines of research. The validated survey is an important starting point for a large scale educational research in Flanders for which an FWO-proposal is being developed."