SYMPOSIUM

Advancing Excellence in Photonics for Flanders and the World

A UGent-VUB Symposium marking 20 Years of the Joint Master of Science in Photonics Engineering

19-20 October 2026

In 2006 Ghent University (UGent) and Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) launched a joint Master of Science programme in Photonics. Originally, the programme was an Erasmus Mundus programme, also including the University of St Andrews and Heriot-Watt University in Scotland, as well as KTH in Sweden. Later the programme evolved towards an MSc degree in Photonics Engineering, jointly offered by UGent and VUB. In the two decades since 2006, UGent and VUB have graduated well over 500 photonics experts, a majority of whom were international students, now populating photonics companies and academia all around the world.

To mark this milestone, we are organising this Symposium in which we will bring together our alumni, current students, professors, industry partners and other key stakeholders who have contributed to the success of this programme over the past two decades. 

The Symposium is entitled: Advancing Excellence in Photonics for Flanders and the World - A UGent-VUB Symposium marking 20 Years of the Joint Master of Science in Photonics Engineering. It will consist of two parts: a formal plenary session in the afternoon of 19 October at the Royal Library of Belgium (KBR) in the centre of Brussels and two parallel sessions on 20 October on the campuses of UGent and VUB respectively. Additionally there will be an optional visit to imec (Leuven) in the morning of 19 October.

We are grateful to the industrial sponsors of the event, most of whom belong to the vibrant photonics ecosystem in Belgium and surrounding countries.

An overview of the symposium program is given here. More detail, along with a registration form,  can be found on the next pages.