weKONEKT.tables

Partnerships and networking are vital to weKONEKT.brussels. Through community-building, we facilitate collaboration and innovation, contribute to the development of new research, develop future-oriented teaching and learning and create new opportunities for students and the wider academic community.

For the launch of weKONEKT.brussels in 2017, we set up a long, long, long table that ran the entire length of the Ravenstein Gallery near Brussels Central Station. The Belgian National Orchestra played Beethoven’s Ode to Joy in the public gallery, and passers-by could enjoy the music and atmosphere on their way to catch their trains.

That evening, weKONEKT.brussels and a host of cultural, civic and commercial organisations toasted our shared future together, together with some international institutions and, of course, our students and alumni. It was an unforgettable evening that planted the seeds of potential and future connections between the University and this wonderful city in which it lives.

Imagine the Table as a kind of hyphen between le haut and le bas de la ville, or between the north and the south. The Table always has an extra seat for someone new. Hospitality, generosity and humanity are what create a fertile context in which new opportunities can emerge and grow.

Since 2017, these Tables have taken on various forms, each time with a different focus, theme or format but always with a common interest in science, culture and art. Several editions of the weKONEKT.brussels Tables focused on well-being and grew out of collaborations between students, student psychologists and experts.