After studying Biology at the Universities of Hasselt and Leuven, I obtained my PhD at the Ecophysiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology research group at the University of Antwerp in 1996. After a 10-year postdoctoral period I became assistant professor at the Systemic Physiological and Ecotoxicological Research group and recently evolved to be the head of the new ECOSPHERE research group. My research focuses on effects of environmental factors on the performance of fish. Studies are comparative in nature and include freshwater and marine teleosts and elasmobranchs.