Members

Faculty of Arts and Philosophy

Louise Benson James

Isabel Devos

Zoë Ghyselinck

Teodoro Katinis

Mieke Matthyssen

Andreas Niehaus

Jürgen Pieters

Christel Stalpaert

Liselotte Van der Gucht

 

Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences

Prof. Dr. Kenneth Chambaere is Interdisciplinary Professor of Public Health, Sociology & Ethics of the End of Life at the End-of-Life Care Research Group, Ghent University (Department of Public Health and Primary Care) & Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). He has a Master’s in Sociology, a Postgraduate Degree in Logic, History and Philosophy of Science, and a PhD in Medical-Social Sciences. From 2010 to 2016 he was a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO).
As part of the group’s Public Health research program, Prof. Chambaere’s current research focusses on three main themes: (1) end-of-life practices, (2) palliative care in and by the community and (3) end-of-life care for people in structurally vulnerable positions. He conducts and is involved in projects on following topics: assisted dying/euthanasia; palliative sedation; palliative care and end-of-life decision-making in the perinatal period; tiredness of life in older people; Compassionate Communities; palliative home care for difficult-to-reach groups; palliative care in prisons; volunteerism in palliative care provision; palliative day care models.

 

Tessa Kerre

 

Marjolein Matthys is a cultural anthropologist currently studying public perceptions of palliative care in Flanders, Belgium through her ongoing PhD research. She has been a member of the End-of-Life Care Research Group at Ghent University and Vrije Universiteit Brussel since 2019.  Marjolein’s main research interests encompass narrative & discourse theory, anthropology of ethics, existential anthropology, and all aspects of interdisciplinary and qualitative research that contribute to our understanding of the dynamics of meaning-making surrounding the end of life.

 

Faculty of Political and Social Sciences

Piet Bracke

 

Melissa Ceuterick is a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University. Trained as an anthropologist, she obtained her PhD in Medical Biosciences from the University of Bradford (UK) with a Leverhulme-funded study on the use of traditional medicine among Andean communities before and after migration. Upon working as a resident professor for Duke University’s Global Health Study Abroad Program in Costa Rica, she returned to Belgium and coordinated several applied research projects on the nexus between health and migration at the former Flemish Expertise Centre on Migration and Integration. Since 2017 she is combining a passion for academic research and teaching as a member of HEDERA Health and Demographic Research (PS04) at the Department of Sociology of Ghent University. Currently, she also holds a partial affiliation with the Ghent Health Psychology Lab (PP05). In this dual capacity she is both conducting and supervising interdisciplinary research on stigma, health and the sociology of pharmaceuticals (funded by FWO, BOF and BELSPO). Methodologically she has ample experience in qualitative methods, particularly discourse analysis, although she equally bridges paradigms in several mixed-methods projects.

Committed to the Community Service Learning teaching method, Melissa collaborates with various societal and public organisations. In addition, she contributes to other courses at both bachelor and master levels, such as ‘Sociology of Health and Illness’ and ‘Societal Impact of Medications’ and previously ‘Migration and Integration’. Furthermore, she coordinates the KoZ-network for qualitative research. Since 2023, Melissa has been an elected member of the advisory board of the European Society for Health and Medical Sociology.

Research interests: Health-related stigma; The sociology of pharmaceuticals; The impact of migration on (mental) health; Health and identity

 

Faculty of Psychology and Pedagogical Sciences

Prof. Dr. Alexis Dewaele is associate professor and teaches qualitative research methods at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at Ghent University. He is coordinator of PSYNC, a Ghent University interdisciplinary consortium dedicated to improving the mental health of all citizens, running research projects in close collaboration with diverse stakeholder groups, and with a clear focus on generating real world impact and societal innovations. Together with Prof. Dr. Kris Rutten, he is currently involved in a Phd on Critical Mental Health Literacy. His research interests include sexual and mental health (incl. sexual orientation and gender identity), research impact and collaborative interactions.