The day after her election, our rector-elect, Françoise Smets, was eager to send you a message, which you can watch in the video below.
ELREC
The day after her election, our rector-elect, Françoise Smets, was eager to send you a message, which you can watch in the video below.
To restore enthusiasm for the university via a genuine change of vision: a UCLouvain that is attentive to and listens to people, rich in its diversity and inspired by its expertise, grateful for the work of every university community member, energised and excited to build the UCLouvain of the future.
Dr Smets believes in the need to restore enthusiasm for the university so that it once again becomes a place of fulfilment, where independence and respect are guaranteed; where we can take the time to consider different viewpoints and skills to better meet future challenges; where it is possible to express disagreement without fear of encouraging the confrontation of ideas as an instrument for reflection, debate and finding solutions.
In her view, the current societal context should encourage universities to give priority to the question of the meaning of their work, which refers to the need to both identify clearly and collectively the aims of their work and preserve the conditions that make it possible.
Convinced that UCLouvain is experiencing a decisive moment in its development on the eve of its 600th anniversary, Dr Smets wants to rethink its role in society so that it can fully occupy its rightful place.
The guiding priorities will be individual fulfilment and UCLouvain’s social responsibility:
Dr Smets earned her diploma in medicine in 1998 from UCLouvain.
She became an FNRS candidate in 1998 and defended her PhD thesis in 2002.
She then undertook a postdoctoral residency at Northwestern University and at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago with a grant from the Belgian American Educational Foundation.
She was certified in paediatrics in 2004.
In 2004, Dr Smets obtained a post as a paediatrician at UCLouvain Saint-Luc University Hospital. At the same time, she continued her research in the Paediatric Hepatology and Cell Transplantation Laboratory at the UCLouvain Institute of Experimental and Clinical Research.
In 2009, she became a lecturer in the UCLouvain Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, progressing to clinical professor in 2015 and full clinical professor in 2020.
Since 2017, she has been specialist registrar of paediatrics at UCLouvain Saint-Luc University Hospital.
In 2019, she became dean of the UCLouvain Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry. She has represented the Health Sciences Sector on the UCLouvain Academic Council since 2020.
She is an associate member of the Académie Royale de Médecine de Belgique (Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine).
She has solid experience as a manager and as a negotiator concerning difficult cases such as the agreement on increasing INAMI numbers.
Originally from Brussels, Dr Smets is 50 years old. She is married with three children.
Her qualities
A good listener, honesty, self-control, realistic optimism and the ability to challenge herself.