PhD Winter School 2026 by KBC: AI and Environment, Social and Governance (ESG): Friend or Foe?

Via VLIR (Flemish Inter-University Council)

KBC organises a Winter School for a select group of PhD candidates and postdocs of the Belgian universities.

This edition, which is titled AI and Environment, Social and Governance (ESG): Friend or Foe? has the following to offer:

• Career stories of PhD holders
• 2 participating companies with real-world cases to be tackled in interdisciplinary teams (across research backgrounds and universities): KBC and Cordeel.
• 2 participating companies to present: Monsana and Trevi.

This Winter School targets PhD candidates (≥ 3rd year of their PhD trajectory) and postdocs of the Belgian universities who

1. want to get an inside view of the corporate world, and reflect on labour market trends and challenges, innovation as driver for sustainability, … ;
2. want to learn from PhDs coming from different academic backgrounds why they decided to transfer to the corporate world, which competences they brought to the work floor, and which competences still needed further developing;
3. want to expand their professional network.

Check out the full programme here. For the biographies of the speakers and the abstracts of the sessions, click here.

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Why getting involved in the business cases? Because

1. you want to apply your knowledge and ideas to real-world challenges;
2. you want to challenge yourself as part of an interdisciplinary team of PhD candidates and postdocs coming from different fields of expertise and different universities;
3. you want to give your CV a competitive edge.

KBC puts great emphasis on diversity, diverse teams and diverse expertise to solve problems in a sustainable way, and therefore welcome early-stage researchers from all research backgrounds.

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The cases

• 2 real-life cases by KBC and Corneel respectively to be solved in teams of 5 PhD candidates and postdocs.
• Cases are the following.
  • Case by KBC -> view here.
  • Case by Cordeel -> view here.
• PhD candidates and postdocs from the Flemish and the Walloon universities will be selected to participate and work in interdisciplinary teams of 5 on 1 of the cases.

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What we expect?

• 2 January – Sign up and share your motivation for participating, including your preferred case.
• 7 January – You’ll receive confirmation of participation and learn who your team members are.
• After 7 January – Arrange your first team meeting with your assigned team members.
• 9 January, 11:00 – Online call with your company representative to discuss case details
  (attendance by all team members is not required).
• Teamwork – Collaborate in teams of five to work on your assigned case.
• 30 January – Submit your case presentation (or discuss with your company representative).
  A style guide is available for reference →  view here
• 23 February 2026 – Final event at KBC, Brussels
  All participants are expected to be present.

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How to register?

Deadline for registration is 2 January 2026.

Registration form: click here.

Cancellations

Participation in the KBC Winter school is free of charge. However, if you cancel your registration after 12 February 2026, we’ll charge a no-show fee of 150 euros. Only in case of illness, corroborated with a doctor’s note, you will not be charged the no-show fee.

In case of questions, do not hesitate to reach out to the organizing team: [email protected] .

Good luck!