Society
Learn all about how VIB science benefits society
Science can't promise certainty: What volcanoes teach us about trust
For the past four years, I have worked in science communication at the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Neuroscience, exploring how scientific knowledge can become more accessible, meaningful, and responsive to the communities it affects. This year, my experiences as a Science Trust Project Ambassador and at a volcano science communication summer school in Iceland have prompted me to reflect more deeply on what it means to build trust in research. But what can volcanoes teach us about communicating neuroscience?
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Why art-science initiatives are suddenly everywhere and why they matter more than ever
Art-science collaborations are no longer niche experiments on the fringes of academia; in 2026, they have become one of the most dynamic, evidence-backed movements reshaping how we understand health, society, and scientific innovation. Their impact is visible not only in major research breakthroughs but in the lived experience of people working across labs, clinics, museums, and community spaces, from Anna Dumitriu’s work on molecular disease and patient experience to the #ArtGenetics project, where paintings become datasets and museum visitors help trace the evolution of crops through visual culture. Together, these initiatives show how art can illuminate scientific complexity, how public participation can meaningfully contribute to research, and how creativity itself can function as a method for generating knowledge.
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From alcohol-free beer to sustainable biofuels and chemicals: how the Verstrepen lab turns yeast science into impact
From brewing and bioethanol to future biomaterials, yeast expertise developed at VIB and KU Leuven shows how fundamental research, industrial partnerships, and a strong innovation ecosystem can translate science into real-world impact.
On World Ocean Day, we celebrate the power of marine microbes
The ocean is one of Earth's biggest allies in buffering climate change. But some of its most important work happens out of sight, at the scale of molecules and microbes. At the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Microbiology, Sammy Pontrelli and his team study how marine microbes control the fate of carbon in the ocean, and what that might teach us about the future of our climate.
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From lab to patient: Why European biotech is at a crossroads
Innovation only succeeds when it demonstrably creates value for both patients and the healthcare system. How can biotech and pharmaceutical players design their R&D strategies so that medical innovation reaches patients faster, more precisely, and in an affordable way? An interview with Jérôme Van Biervliet and Frank Hulstaert.
