Entrepreneurship: Can I do it? Why would I want to?

This session consists of several testimonials by people who established their own company after finishing their PhD. They will tell you their personal story: Why did they decide to become an entrepreneur after their PhD? How does this fit into their career? Which obstacles did they encounter when transitioning to entrepreneurship? What would they do differently now? Are they still happy with their choices? Obviously, they will also say something about their own enterprise, but they will not go into technical details or specific research issues. 

The programme starts with an introductory word by the Doctoral Schools and the UHasselt Tech Transfer Office and there will be an opportunity to continue the conversation during an informal sandwich lunch at the end of the testimonial session.

Programme:

• 09:30 - 10u00    Introductory word by the Doctoral Schools and Tech Transfer Office
• 10:00 - 10:30     Testimonial by dr. Tom Martens (PhD in physics at UHasselt in 2003, founder of UgenTec)
• 10:30 - 11:00     Testimonial by dr. Tristan de Blick (PhD in applied economics at UAntwerpen in 2023, founder of De Blick Capital) 
  
  
• 11:00 - 11:15    BREAK
  
  
• 11:15 - 11:45    Testimonial by dr. Arno Libert (PhD in Biomedical Sciences at KULeuven in 2024, founder of MindSpeaker)
• 11:45 - 12:15    Testimonial by dr. Jean-Pierre Segers (PhD in Economics and Management at ULiège in 2017, UHasselt professor en co-founder of Brains & Trees and SV.BC)
• 12:15 - 12:30    Final Q&A
• 12:30 - 13:30    Sandwich lunch

Learning outcomes

After having attended this session, you will ...

• have a better idea which aspects to take into account when considering entrepreneurship as a career choice,
• know which competences and skills are relevant as an entrepreneur.

Competences

An important part of preparing for any further professional step is becoming (more) aware of the competences you have developed and/or want to develop. In the current workshop, the following competences from the UHasselt competency overview are actively dealt with:

• personal effectiveness:
  • entrepreneurship
  • self-development
  • self-confidence

For whom?

• The specific target group consists of PhD students and postdocs, but everyone who is interested is welcome to attend.

When & where ?

• October 14 - 09:30-13:30
• campus Diepenbeek (room A4) 
• sandwich lunch: Wintertuin (restaurant) from 12:30 onwards

Registration?

• Registration is closed. 
• There is no maximum of participants, so if registered you are sure to be able to participate.
• Please cancel your registration at least one week in advance in case you cannot make it (cf. cancellation & no-show policy).

Acknowledged as?

• DS BSH: category 'career management & personal development' - workshop on career management
• DS HLS: category 'transferable skills' - half of a course on transferable skills
• DS ST: category 'career & personal development' - course about career development

This workshop is organized in cooperation with the UHasselt Valorisation Academy.Their programme for 2025-2025 can be found here.