From PhD to enterprise: Reflections on the entrepreneurial journey

Interested in entrepreneurship? You are more than welcome to listen to the interesting entrepreneurial journeys of Nele Jacobs, Shameer Pradhan and Niels Bessemans. These PhD holders established their own company after their PhD and 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. There is plenty of room for interaction so come along with any questions that are lingering in your mind and take the opportunity to network with others. 

09:30 - 10u00

Introductory word by the Doctoral Schools and Tech Transfer Office

10:00 - 10:20

Testimonial by Prof dr. Nele Jacobs (PhD in biomedical sciences at UHasselt in 2011, CEO of Faresa)

10:20 - 10:40

Testimonial by dr. Shameer Pradhan (PhD in Business Informatics at UHasselt in 2026, CEO of Enterlio)

10:40 - 11:00

BREAK

11:00 - 11:20

Testimonial by dr. Niels Bessemans (PhD in bioscience engineering at KU Leuven in 2018, Co-founder & CEO at Optiflux) 

11u20-12u00

Panel session moderated by IOF Business Developer PJ De Queker

12u00-12u15

Final Q&A

12:15 - 13:30

Sandwich lunch

• PhD students & postdocs

• October 8, 2026 - 09:30-13:30

• campus Diepenbeek, room E142

• sandwich lunch: Wintertuin (restaurant) from 12:15 onwards

• Registration is possible via this link until September 18, 2026.