(Brussels/Vienna, 25 March 2025) Paul Plener, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at MedUni Vienna and Head of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at MedUni Vienna and University Hospital Vienna, has taken over the Emile Verhaeren Chair at VUB Brussels.
The Emile Verhaeren Chair at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) is an interdisciplinary institution that is awarded every two years to an outstanding personality from Belgium or abroad. The chair includes an inaugural lecture and a seminar for students and is awarded alternately by the Faculties of Literature and Philosophy, Psychology and Education, and Economics, Social and Political Sciences.
For the academic year 2024/2025, the Emile Verhaeren Chair has been awarded as a visiting professorship to Paul Plener from the Medical University of Vienna. He will be working at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the VUB.
The chair is named after Émile Verhaeren (1855-1916), an important Belgian poet and art critic who wrote in French. His work inspired various avant-garde movements, and as a critic he promoted the establishment of Neo-Impressionism and Art Nouveau. His social commitment and his belief in art and science were decisive factors in the naming of the chair.