First Capsule by VUB in Brussels

The first edition of the CARLA Capsule hosted by the VUB B-PHOT Brussels Photonics took place on the 1st of March 2022, from 12 pm-1 pm, at Vrije Universiteit Brussels.

After a very strict period due to the COVID pandemic, we successfully hosted the first hybrid event. This Capsule was organised for 1st to 3rd-year Bachelor’s students of the Engineering tracks at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) during the lunch break after the main lecture given by the Dean of the Engineering Faculty. He kicked off the CARLA Capsule with an overview of the impact of photonics on our life. VUB B-PHOT has a considerable number of alumni, who were MSc and PhD students and researchers. After the talk of the Dean, 3 alumni shared their career stories in/with photonics starting from bachelor’s until their current job. Prof. Dr. Ir. Nathalie Vermeulen shared her experience in doing research in photonics as a Professor at VUB, whereas Ir. Gilles Claeys outlines bright outcomes as Sales Manager at Barco. Finally, Dr. Ir. Lawrence Bogaert talked about being an engineering manager working on product development in photonics from concept to mass production at ams OSRAM. Moreover, 22 bachelor students attending the Capsule had a chance to hear about the Master of Science in Photonics Engineering (MSPE) program at VUB and discuss their future steps with the Programme Director of the MSPE; Prof. Dr. Ir. Heidi Ottevaere.

Testimonial Ir. Gilles Claeys says, “It was a pleasure to be back at VUB”. Meanwhile, 1st-year bachelor’s students said, “We did not have photonics classes yet, and these talks were eye-opening for us and gave a lot of information about photonics”. 

Due to safety restrictions and limitations in the number of participants, we had 50 registrations, 41 from Belgium and 9 from other countries, 32 in-person and 4 online attendees including the speakers. The event was in Dutch, as well as the program and the registration forms, which made it more accessible for communication with the bachelor students. The lunch was provided with goodie bags and promotional materials about the upcoming CARLA Brussels Camp.
In a one-hour event, we provided an overview on the vast opportunities in photonics with the outstanding talks from 5 speakers with different career paths and invited them to CARLA VUB Camp 2022 during the closing remark.