Keep Your Distance!

The general call to the population during the COVID‑19 pandemic was as simple as it was drastic: stay at home! This new guideline often had far‑reaching consequences.

With the aim of saving as many lives as possible, the government put social life ‘on hold’ and ordered everyone to stay at home. The new motto was not to touch one another, so that the virus could not spread further. This went so far that even funerals could not take place, or only in very limited circles.

In the drive to save lives, the importance of meaningful living faded into the background. Solidarity meant – against our very nature – avoiding one another. At the same time, the call for closeness rang out all the louder.

The schedule

7:30 pm | Welcome and introduction
by Erik De Bom, Acting Director of UCSIA

7:40 pm | ‘Scarred and Seasoned’: How we can stop infectious disease outbreaks through knowledge, cooperation, and a continued focus on humanity and human connection.
by Erika Vlieghe (UZA)

Outbreaks of infectious diseases have never entirely disappeared. Their potential to grow exponentially and cause many casualties requires early and decisive action, involving a wide range of medical and/or societal interventions. Yet these very interventions often affect our behaviour, our interactions with one another, and therefore our humanity. How can we combine both: keeping outbreaks at bay while continuing to provide warm care?

When two opposing poles need to be reconciled, it is wise to examine each of them closely and look for the connections between them, rather than denying one or the other.

In this lecture, Erika Vlieghe invites you into the fascinating – yet also perilous – world of infectious diseases: why it is truly necessary to keep them at bay, the practical and ethical dilemmas this involves, the issues we need to think about and discuss in calmer times, and how we can prepare our society for the next outbreak without succumbing to fear.

Erika Vlieghe is head of general internal medicine, infectious diseases, and tropical medicine at the Antwerp University Hospital (UZA). She is an internist‑infectiologist with extensive experience both in Belgium and internationally (UK, Uganda, Ecuador, Cambodia). She teaches tropical medicine, infectious diseases, and outbreak management at the University of Antwerp and the Institute of Tropical Medicine. During the COVID‑19 pandemic, she chaired several scientific committees that advised the federal government.

8:20 pm | And then my grandmother had no more words. Focusing on meaning and the loss of meaning in elderly care
by Lindsy Desmet (KU Leuven)

In this lecture, Lindsy Desmet shares her insights on how elderly care can address the need for meaning among older people. She draws on her research with geriatric patients during and after the COVID period. The central question is whether we pay sufficient attention to needs that often remain invisible, yet are fundamental to the well-being and quality of life of older people.

Lindsy Desmet is a postdoctoral researcher at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at KU Leuven. She is also coordinator at the Professional Association of Care Chaplains. In her research, she focuses on the spiritual needs of elderly people in care and how caregivers can attend to them.

9:00 pm | Q & A

9:30 pm | End

U-turn: 5 years later

This is the first lecture in the series U-turn: 5 years later, in which we explore the lasting impact of the COVID period.

When COVID-19 broke out in 2020, our society came to a standstill. Suddenly, there was space to imagine a new way of living together, with greater attention to humanity, solidarity and social justice.

Five years have passed. What is left of those noble intentions?

Discover the other lectures in the series:

Listen to the podcast Solidariteit Spreekt!

In the first season of our podcast Solidariteit Spreekt, we build up towards the lecture series U‑turn: 5 years later.

Journalist Linda De Win, together with experts, examined developments in solidarity, sustainability, and future thinking through the lens of the COVID period.

Discover the podcast series Solidariteit Spreekt!