Prof. Dr. Caroline Pauwels is rector of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. She studies philosophy and communication science and is since 1989 connected to the communication science department, where she when elected rector passed on her chairmanship of the department. She received her doctorate in 1995 for a study that focused on the audiovisual policy of the European Union (EU). In addition to this, she specialized in European and national problematics of media policy and the economy of the media sector. From 2000 until 2016, Caroline Pauwels was director of the research center SMIT, that specializes in the study of informatics- and communication technologies. The center counts around 70 researchers and is part of iMinds since 2004 and fused with IMEC in 2016. Within iMinds Caroline Pauwels lead the Digital Society Department that brings together research groups from Ghent, Leuven and Brussels. In 2014, she received the Francqui chair of Ghent University and between 2012 and 2016 she owned the Jean Monnet Chair. In addition, she sits or served on several boards of directors, functioned until recently as a government commissioner at VRT and is a member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences and Arts.
