About

UCSIA

UCSIA (Universitair Centrum Sint-Ignatius Antwerpen) is an independent academic centre founded in 2002 by members of the University of Antwerp and the Jesuit Order. The centre aims to stimulate multidisciplinary academic research and education on issues of social justice, inter-religious and intercultural dialogue, culture and science. UCSIA organizes international and national seminars, conferences, lectures and workshops.

The University Centre Saint-Ignatius Antwerp (UCSIA) is an offspring of the former Jesuit institution UFSIA. It is an independent non-profit organization founded by the Jesuit Order and members of the former UFSIA with the aim of continuing the Jesuit university project and contributing to a more just society through education, community service and academic research.

Therefore, UCSIA has developed six thematic lines to reflect on relevant issues with students, scholars, social actors and a wider public: ‘Religion, Culture & Society’, ‘Jesuit Heritage’, ‘Europe & Solidarity’, ‘Ethics & Economy’ and ‘Community Service-Learning and Innovations in Education’.

The UCSIA Summer School

Within the thematic line ‘Religion, Culture and Society’, the first UCSIA Summer School was organized in 2003. Since then, the UCSIA Summer School has annually brought together a multidisciplinary and international group of promising PhD students and postdoctoral scholars with a research interest in religion.

Key elements of the summer school are the discussion of theoretical frameworks through expert lectures and the mentoring of young scholars in the fields of humanities. The programme consists of lectures and individual tutoring by the faculty, paper presentations by the students and disciplinary discussion sessions.

The UCSIA Summer School takes place in the last week of August in the beautiful historical building Hof van Liere at the city campus of the University of Antwerp (Antwerp, Belgium). It is the intention of the organizing committee and faculty to create an open and relaxed atmosphere in which students and faculty can freely discuss their scholarly work.

Collaboration

The UCSIA Summer School is organized in close collaboration with:

the steering committee:

John Arblaster
is Associate Professor of the History of Spirituality in the Low Countries and Director of the Ruusbroec Institute at the University of Antwerp. He is also Visiting Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at KU Leuven and co-convener of the Mystical Theology Network. He is co-organizer of the Christian Heritage Summer School at the University of Antwerp and has been involved in the UCSIA Summer School scientific committee since 2019.

Jayeel Cornelio
is Professor of Development Studies at the Ateneo de Manila University and Visiting Professor in the Graduate School of the University of St La Salle. He is also an associate editor of the journal Social Sciences and Missions (Brill) and a regular contributor to Rappler’s Thought Leaders section. Professor Cornelio is an alumnus of the 2012 UCSIA Summer School and has been actively involved in the organization of the summer school from 2018 onwards, as part of the faculty and the scientific committee.

Bert De Munck
is Professor at the History Department of the University of Antwerp. He is a member of the Centre for Urban History, Antwerp, and the Director of the interdisciplinary Urban Studies Institute and the international Scientific Research Community (WOG) ‘Urban Agency: The Historical Fabrication of the City as an Object of Study’. Professor De Munck joined the UCSIA Summer School scientific committee in 2018.

Judith Gruber
is Professor of Systematic Theology at KU Leuven and Director of the Centre for Liberation Theologies at the same university. She is also the representative of the European Society for Catholic Theology in the International Network for Societies of Catholic Theologies. Since 2021 she serves as academic advisor for UCSIA and as a member of the scientific committee of the UCSIA Summer School.

David Henig
is Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Utrecht University and is editor of the journal History & Anthropology (Taylor & Francis). Professor Henig has been actively involved in the faculty and the scientific committee of the UCSIA Summer School since 2017.

Walter Van Herck
is Professor at the Philosophy Department / Centre Pieter Gillis of the University of Antwerp. He is also Senior Research Associate at the Von Hügel Institute, St Edmund’s College at Cambridge and is Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Philosophy and Theology (Taylor & Francis). Professor Van Herck has been a member of the scientific committee of the UCSIA Summer School for over 17 years, since 2007.

the UCSIA team

Stijn Latré is Director

Gilke Gunst is Project Coordinator Religion, Culture & Society

Marijke Celis is Communications Officer