Kat Van der Poorten (キャット)

Hannah Fry: 'AI can do some superhuman things – but so can forklifts' Mathematician Hannah Fry travels to the front lines of AI in her new BBC documentary AI Confidential with Hannah Fry. She talks to Bethan Ackerley about what the technology is doing to us – for better and for worse

Mathematician Hannah Fry travels to the front lines of AI in her new BBC documentary AI Confidential with Hannah Fry. She talks to Bethan Ackerley about what the technology is doing to us – for better and for worse

Evolutionary Modelling Group | KU Leuven We develop evolutionary models to understand how living organisms adapt - from antibiotic resistance to human language evolution.

Take a look at our new website at www.pietervdberg.com !

For everything on our research topics, publications, and ourselves.

Waarom bestaat er geen Protulees? Over het verschil tussen communicatie en taal, en waarom we nooit Protulees zullen spreken.

Nieuwe blogpost :)

kathetgedacht.com/2026/02/13/w...

#MeetOurMembers
Today, we would like to introduce our PhD student, Kat Van der Poorten!

Back in Belgium after traveling the world! She is an autistic evolutionary biologist intrigued by all things ‘language’.

Follow her on Bluesky to learn more about her work: @kathetgedacht.bsky.social

When Genetic Explanations Go Wrong: What the Past Teaches Us About Diversity Today How we interpret genetics shapes how we view people. In her lecture for 'De universiteit voor iedereen', LIGAS member Kat Van der Poorten showed how quickly genetic explanations can derail when divers...

www.kuleuven.be/ligas/news/w...

Forced sterilization in Europe | DW Documentary YouTube video by DW Documentary

Forced sterilisation for disabled people? Still happening

youtu.be/7ac_LxNHSOU?...

@sara-rocha.bsky.social

@svbelleghem.bsky.social

The evolution of plasticity and evolvability in a simple gene regulatory network How do organisms adapt to changing environments? Do they respond plastically or evolve through genetic alterations? We present a large-scale simulation stu

#paper How do organisms adapt to changing environments? Through plasticity, evolution, or a combination of both?
Find out in our new paper by Alger Jorritsma, where we show which strategies evolve under different environmental conditions. @journal-evo.bsky.social

academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...

Figure 1. Common approaches to modeling the relationship between genotype and phenotype (A,B) and phenotype and fitness (C,D) in models of mutational robustness evolution.

"The evolutionary role of mutational robustness: theoretical insights"
by Pieter van den Berg & co

"Here, we categorize and critically discuss the main approaches for modeling the evolutionary causes and consequences of mutational robustness."

FREE till Jan 18:
authors.elsevier.com/a/1mBGtcQbJF...

#meetourmembers!
Today, we would like to introduce our newest labmate: Juliette. She joined us from France just last month!
Add her on Bluesky to follow her work: @julietteluiselli.bsky.social !!

Am I like Hitler? During an event organized by Metaforum (KU Leuven), I had the opportunity to reflect and speak, drawing on my own experience, about how we can make the university more accessible to everyone. I off…

I have again been given the opportunity to speak out loud. This time a little louder…

kathetgedacht.com/2025/12/02/a...

Poster for the talk by Rebecca Sear, entitled "21st century eugenics, scientific racism and the role of academia in promoting political ideology". It will take place on Monday, 8 December 2025 at 4 pm (CET) via Zoom.

Next week, we welcome @rebeccasear.bsky.social in our Lecture Series. Rebecca will talk about 21st century eugenics, scientific racism and the role of academia in promoting political ideology. Just register here to participate 👉 rotorub.wordpress.com/roto-lecture...
#PhilSci #HPBio

New paper from my colleagues at the @vandenberglab.bsky.social !

ERC’s new €7m Plus Grants open to researchers at any career stage - Research Professional News European Research Council president describes scheme as part attempt to lure US talent

· #AcademicSky ·
The European Research Council is launching €7m Plus Grants for ambitious, long‑term research — open to researchers at any career stage but limited to about 30 awards; current ERC grantees and applicants are ineligible, reports @clanicholson.bsky.social.

Hi I am Piet! Pi of the Evolutionary Modelling Group!
Isn’t it just fascinating that we are all here because of evolution?
If you feel the same, feel free to reach out to me to join our group!

Hi everyone! We are the Evolutionary Modelling Group!
We are interested in many topics, from the evolution of microbial mutational robustness to the evolution of language and culture in humans. We rely on a variety of methods, both computational (evolutionary simulations) and mathematical.

Tomorrow is Pig Day On absurdity and the academic machine.

What are we even doing, really?

kathetgedacht.com/2025/11/07/t...

Dogs name toys while elephants name each other. Animal language is more complex than we imagine | Helen Pilcher If we really want to grasp what animals are ‘saying’, we need to understand their communication on their terms, not ours, says science writer Helen Pilcher

"The mistake, however, is to presume – a priori – that animal communication is anything like ours. All too often we try to crowbar animal communication into a human-centric framework..." By Helen Pilcher @theguardian.com, with great examples. #animalcommunication #language #nature #anthropology

Paracetamol

🪿

Tekst van het interview in Sonar

Tekst van het interview in Sonar

"Het leven is vaak saai. Gelukkig maar!"
Interview met Kat Van der Poorten in het septembernummer van Sonar (KU Leuven).
Kat is de laureate van het eerste LAVA-scholarship en is tevens bestuurder in onze vzw.
@kathetgedacht.bsky.social
@kuleuvenuniversity.bsky.social

We are really grateful to everyone who made it so special. Thank you!! 💫 #ESEB2025

Found in the wild

Next call for our scholarship for openly autistic academics at (post)doctoral level in autumn 2025! We offer a grant that enables participation in an activity of choice relevant to their research. We also enable them to present their research at our symposium.

@noahinstockholm.bsky.social @annecharmantier.bsky.social @plantpollinator.bsky.social

For the people attending @eseb2025.bsky.social asking about the scholarship for autistic researchers: @lavavzw.bsky.social (Autistic Adults' Reading and Advisory Group) just joined Bluesky!

"sequencing millions year old DNA is hard, but getting a major grant is even harder". Great talk this morning at #eseb2025 from Love Dalén, with a funny- but also important message: whether you are sequencing ancient DNA or applying for major grants, don't give up.

“When I talk about fish on Bluesky, people ask me questions about fish. When I talk about fish on Twitter, people threaten to murder my family because we’re Jewish.”

Global Strike for Gaza tomorrow - x.com/GermanPolygl...

Online now: Disability in ecology and evolution

Ik heb een kopie mee naar Japan voor wanneer ik het bacteriestandbeeld ga bezoeken :D