Projects

How can we work towards a safer and more stable world, both in Europe and globally? The UCSIA Chair for Peace seeks answers to this important question and encourages research into a new security architecture.

In doing so, we pay attention to current challenges, such as the climate crisis, the wars in Ukraine, Gaza, Congo and elsewhere, shifting geopolitical relations, the growing role of countries such as China and India, and the fight against the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, UCSIA organized the U-turn webinar series. It featured Flemish thinkers exploring whether the pandemic could bring about a societal turnaround. Five years later, we draw up a review: which hopeful perspectives have become reality, and which challenges remain?

We delve into the major societal developments since COVID, addressing themes such as loneliness, addiction, citizens’ initiatives and authoritarian leaders. Speakers include Koert Debeuf, Maarten Rabaey, Wouter Schepers and Nele Vanderhulst.

More information will follow shortly.

The podcast (in Dutch) from the UCSIA Solidarity Academy takes a hopeful look at the challenges of tomorrow and explores how old and new forms of solidarity can contribute to sustainable solutions.

The series wants to inform and inspire you, as well as connect you. Do you want to face tomorrow's challenges with hope and confidence? You are not alone. Listen, think and join the conversation!

UCSIA organised this digital series during the coronavirus pandemic (2020–2022). The project provided a platform for reflection and debate on the crisis and its aftermath. Was this the moment for a much-needed societal U-turn – towards sustainability, solidarity, balance and meaning?

The Erasmus+ project ‘Service-Learning to promote Competences for Democratic Culture’ (2025-2028) investigates how service-learning can strengthen democratic competences among students and actors in society.

The project will start on 1 November 2025 and end in October 2028.

Streven Vrijplaats is an online magazine (in Dutch) that provides a platform for diverse opinions and perspectives, with contributions on art, philosophy, religion, world views and philosophies of life, politics, science and society.

The online platform is the offspring of the long-running cultural and social monthly magazine Streven, originally published in Antwerp since 1933. In 2020, the editorial team switched to online publication. From September 2025, UCSIA vzw will be the responsible publisher of Streven Vrijplaats.

The European Leadership Programme (ELP) by JESC is an intensive five-month programme in Brussels designed to train young professionals in responsible and impactful leadership. It combines work experience in EU-related institutions with ethical leadership formation, coaching, and community living.

UCSIA has been supporting the programme since 2020. Every year, we also mentor an ELP Fellow in our operation.

Feeling or showing compassion is typically human and has many sides. The expo ‘COMPASSION’ in Museum MAS shows how we portray this in different times, cultures and worldviews. And also, what its abrasive sides are.

UCSIA is taking the expo as a starting point to explore the concept of ‘compassion’ more deeply in this lecture series (in English and Dutch). Internationally renowned experts share their view on compassion from a religious, political, psychological and neurological angle.

Delve into the many contradictory faces of compassion with us!

The SLIDE project (2022-2024) explores how service-learning as a form of education can contribute to greater inclusion, diversity and digital empowerment. UCSIA is the coordinator of this Erasmus+ project.

EASLHE promotes the development and dissemination of practice, research, institutionalization and policymaking on service-learning in European higher education.

Service-Learning is a form of education in which students learn and grow through civic engagement. UCSIA coordinates the Flemish Network for Service-Learning in Higher Education, which links knowledge and practical experiences.

In the Solidarity Academy, we reflect on old and new forms of solidarity and sustainable solutions to contemporary issues. We look for ways to strengthen local forms of solidarity. The substantive focus is on the just transition and the migration and refugee issue.