Prof. Leen Decin

EDUCATION:

• 1994
  Bachelor in Mathematics, University of Leuven, Belgium (summa cum laude)
  
  

• 1996
  Teacher Diploma for secondary school, Mathematics, University of Leuven, Belgium (cum laude)
  
  

• 1996
  Master in Mathematics, University of Leuven, Belgium (magna cum laude)
  
  

• 2000
  PhD Studies: 01/10/1996–30/09/2000: 4 hours teaching assistance/week, Public Defence on 30/05/2000 at the University of Leuven, Belgium. Title: “Synthetic spectra of cool stars observed with the Short-Wavelength Spectrometer: improving the models and the calibration of the instrument”. Supervisor: Prof. Dr. C. Waelkens
  
  

CURRENT POSITIONS:

• Since 2004
  20% position as external staff member at Sterrenkundig Instituut ‘Anton Pannekoek’,Amsterdam, the Netherlands (secondment’s agreement)
  
  

• Since 2010
  Professor, University of Leuven, Belgium
  
  

PREVIOUS POSITIONS:

• 2000 – 2010
  3 Post-doctoral Fellowships at the Fund for Scientific Research, Belgium
  
  

• 2009
  Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
  
  

INTERNATIONAL FUNCTIONS / SCIENCE POLICY FUNCTIONS (selected):

• Member METIS science team, 2014 – now

• Member UV mag science team, 2013 – now

• Belgian Science co-I for SPICA/SAFARI (JAXA/ESA), 2012 – now

• Co-I of the FINESSE NASA Explorer (exoplanet) mission, 2012 – now

• Member of science working group of EChO (Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory), 2010 – now

• Member of the European science team of the JWST/MIRI, the ‘Mid-Infrared Instrument’ of ‘James Webb Space Telescope’ (ESA, NASA), coordinating the topic on ’Evolved stars in Nearby Galaxies’, 2009 – now

• Member phase-A consortium for SPICA/SAFARI (JAXA/ESA), 2008 – now

• Co-Investigator of Herschel/PACS (ESA): coordinating the Belgian team working on evolved stars. Responsible for the scientific coherence between the PACS and HIFI observations on evolved stars, 2004 – now

• Co-Investigator of Herschel/HIFI (ESA): coordinating Dutch team working on evolved stars, 2004 – now

• Member of the European calibration working group (consisting of 8 members) of the JWST/MIRI, the ‘Mid-Infrared Instrument’ of ‘James Webb Space Telescope’ (ESA, NASA), 2004 – now

• Co-Investigator of PACS and HIFI instruments on board the Herschel satellite (ESA). Member of the PACS calibration group, 2004 – now

• Member of the calibration group of the ‘Mid-infrared Instrument (MIDI)’ of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the ESO, 2002 – 2004

• Member of the calibration group of the ‘InfraRed Spectrometer (IRS)’ on board the Spitzer-satellite of the NASA, 2002 – 2006

• Member of the calibration group of the ‘Short Wavelength Spectrometer (SWS)’ on board the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO)-satellite of the ESA, 1996–2002

COMMISSIONS OF TRUST:

• Member Expert panel of Flemish Fund of Scientific Research, 2014 – now

• Referee for international journals, 2014 – now

• Referee for funding agencies: ERC-StG, France Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Swedish, National Space Board, Dutch Scientific Organisation (NWO), STFC-UK, etc., 2014 – now

• Member of Herschel User Group (HUG, ESA), 2012 – now

• Member of Time Allocation Committee of ALMA (ESO), 2011 – now

SUPERVISION:

• Supervisor of 8 PhD students, co-supervisor of 9 PhD students. Currently (April 2014) su- pervising 4 PhD students (1 end of contract in 2014) and 5 post-docs (4 end of contract in 2014-2015). The requested ERC budget aims to ensure a European world-leading group in the field of astrochemistry and evolved stars.

TEACHING DUTIES:

• Teaching several courses at bachelor and master level. Currently teaching courses for a total of 15 ECTS.

MAIN ORGANIZER OF SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS:

• Member of the Scientific Organising Committee (SOC) of 7 international conferences

• Chairwoman of 1 international workshop

INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Sectretary of the POC (Permanent Education commission) of the Master of Astronomy & Astrophysics

• Member of the Departmenetal board, board Young ZAP, board of the faculty of sciences, metaforum Leuven, board of the Institute of Astronomy

MAJOR COLLABORATIONS:

• Collaborations with partners from Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Spain. US, France, Italy, Austria, UK, Mexico, etc.

Other activities and achievements/family

• Married with Kristof Dessein since 08/08/1998

• 3 children: Vere Dessein (2002), Rhune Dessein (2004), Noore Dessein (2006)

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