Bjorn Gabriels

• Doctoral defence: 31 Augusut 2026 at 2.30 p.m.
• De Cinema, Maarschalk Gérardstraat 4, Antwerpen
• Supervisors: Gertjan Willems (UAntwerpen) & Bénédicte Rochet (UNamur)
• Confirm your attendance: bjorn.gabriels@uantwerpen.be​

Abstract

From 17 April to 19 October 1958, Belgium invited the world to Expo 58. The Brussels World’s Fair was conceived as a showcase of the country’s post-war reconstruction and modernisation, intended to position Belgium as a crossroads of international culture and politics. Under the slogan “Pour un monde plus humain”, the Fair sought to celebrate humanity under the banner of optimistic humanism. Expo 58 offered an impressive programme of cinematic spectacle. While the Belgian film sector had long lamented the absence of a fully developed national film industry, the Fair coincided with a remarkable surge in Belgian film production. This was particularly evident in colonial cinema, which in 1958 also marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Belgian state’s annexation of Congo. Late-colonial cinema concerning Congo and Ruanda-Urundi foregrounded Belgium as a ‘modern’ colonising power, benevolently committed to the development of cultural Others with whom it purported to maintain a fraternal relationship.

Belgium’s contribution to Expo 58, however, was not limited to its colonial mission. The World’s Fair also served as a major showcase for tourism and industry, while the darker side of ongoing modernisation remained largely invisible. The optimistic discourse surrounding Expo 58 left little room for social unrest or for critical perspectives on colonialism and industrialisation. Nevertheless, new forms of filmmaking emerged in which formal experimentation and critical engagement took precedence over the generally conventional expectations of commissioners. At the same time, the dominant system of commissioned filmmaking also attracted commercial, even populist criticism.

Drawing on a historical-poetical analysis of Belgian documentary cinema, this study explores prevailing conceptions of documentary circulating within the Belgian film landscape. Expo 58 serves as a prism through which to examine the interplay of innovation and continuity. Combining close textual analysis with contextual research, the dissertation investigates individual films while situating them within the institutional frameworks in which they were conceived.

Ultimately, this study argues that Expo 58 functioned not only as a platform for the construction of a national self-image within an internationalist framework, but also as a laboratory for documentary poetics, where different conceptions of film – and of reality – came into contact with one another. While Expo 58 sought to usher Belgium into post-war modernity, Belgian cinema remained rather hesitant in its engagement with emerging forms of cinematic modernism. At the same time, documentary filmmakers continuously negotiated how to give cinematic form to the idealised modernity unfolding before their eyes.

DJ Cloete

• Doctoral defence: 7 September 2026 at 10 a.m.
• UAntwerpen Stadscampus, room R.219 / online
• Supervisor: Kris Van de Poel
• ​Confirm your attendance through this form by 2 September​

Abstract

Insufficient academic literacy is a significant predictor of academic success and therefore requires targeted support within higher education. However, the emergence of Generative AI (GenAI) has complicated the identification of students' support needs, as well-formulated AI-generated texts can mask deficiencies in critical thinking and academic writing skills. To date, limited empirical research has examined how AI literacy and academic literacy intersect within structured support programmes, particularly in the South African and Afrikaans-speaking context.

This study investigates how an AI-supported approach can enhance the academic literacy, writing proficiency, and critical agency of first-year students. Based on the research findings, a conceptual framework is proposed in which academic literacy forms the foundation, AI literacy functions as a mediating competency, and AI-mediated writing practices constitute the interaction layer in which human judgement and responsibility remain central.

Situated within the pragmatic paradigm, a phased mixed-methods research design was employed to evaluate the Write It+ academic literacy support programme across five implementation cycles while simultaneously investigating an AI-supported writing intervention. Within this intervention, students produced successive versions of an academic paragraph using AI feedback aligned with the assessment rubric. Data collection included pre- and post-tests using the Toets van Akademiesegeletterheidsvlakke (TAG), analyses of successive text versions, AI interaction data, and a questionnaire measuring self-efficacy, processing fluency, and critical agency.

The findings demonstrate that the Write It+ programme leads to significant improvements in the academic literacy of first-year students and substantially reduces the proportion of students classified as high risk. In addition, the quality of students' academic writing improved significantly across successive text versions. Although GenAI provided targeted support throughout the writing process, students remained active authors of their texts by critically evaluating, adapting, or rejecting AI-generated suggestions. Furthermore, a moderate positive relationship was found between self-efficacy and critical agency, suggesting that structured interaction with GenAI not only strengthens students' confidence but also enhances their ability to evaluate AI-generated output critically.

This dissertation makes three important contributions to applied linguistics and digital pedagogy. First, it positions AI literacy as an integrated subdomain of academic literacy within higher education. Second, it provides empirical evidence for the effectiveness of the Write It+ programme at scale, an aspect that has not previously been investigated systematically. Third, it introduces the HAIL model (Human-centred AI-mediated Academic Literacy), a human-centred conceptual model in which AI is employed to support academic literacy without displacing human agency from the writing process. In doing so, this study advocates a process-oriented approach to academic writing in which the student, rather than the technology, retains ultimate responsibility for the final text.