Hi, I’m David. For 28 years I have worked at KU Leuven, Europe’s most innovative university and the highest-ranked university in Horizon Europe. From May 2021 to June 2024 I was senior research manager of the KU Leuven Digital Society Institute (DigiSoc), an interdisciplinary institute with the mission of enabling an inclusive digital society based on responsible, ethical and sustainable (use of) technologies. Until 2021, I was research manager of the Meaningful Interactions Lab (Mintlab), previously known as Centre for User Experience Research (CUO).
On this page, you can read more about my experience on the various services I have to offer.
Human-Centered and Ethical Design
As researcher I specialised in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Human-Centered Design, more specifically in designing social interactions in online media and interactive TV. I have participated in several local and EU projects as researcher, supervisor and work package leader for various human-centered design tasks, which included ethnographic observations, co-design workshops, persona creation, low-fidelity prototyping and user testing. For the KU Leuven Digital Society Institute, I have organised and coordinated a course on Digital Ethics, broadening my human-centered expertise with ethical design skills. I look forward to strengthening any project by making sure they identify and address user needs in an ethically sound way.
Training and Dissemination
As researcher, I not only authored or co-authored more than 150 publications in various international conferences and journals, but also regularly gave (keynote) presentations, tutorials and guest lectures on topics related to Human-Computer Interaction. I was also visiting professor at the Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA) in Brazil. I am passionate about sharing my knowledge with a variety of audiences through trainings, workshops or keynotes, which is often recognised by high evaluation scores. I have also organised or co-organised international conferences: I was general chair of ACM TVX2015, the international conference on interactive experiences for television and online video (now ACM IMX), and I was president of the TVX steering committee for two consecutive terms. I disseminated research results through interactive stakeholder events, as well as by hosting a podcast series for the KU Leuven Digital Society Institute. I love to communicate about science, making it accessible for a broad public.
Proposal writing and coordination
As research manager of a research group and interdisciplinary institute at KU Leuven, I have coordinated more than 10 project proposals and contributed to more than 50 proposals in the past 28 years, for various local as well as European funding programs. A skill I now want to share as freelance proposal writer and coordinator with universities and research organisations that could use an extra hand. As expert for the European Commission, I have also reviewed a large number of proposals in different calls, which means I know what reviewers are looking for – and how to write most effectively to address the call requirements.
David Geerts 