1. What was your favourite subject during your student days?

The subject “International Security” at the University of Hull (UK) because of its small scale: we discussed in the professor's office with colleagues from Nigeria, China, Canada, and the United Kingdom. It was fascinating to hear those different points of view.

2. Have you ever failed an exam? If so, which subject?

I always worked hard to have the holidays off, including for scout camp, pre-camp and post-camp.

3. What is the strangest thing you have ever done to relieve study stress?

I went to a house party organised by that Nigerian, where I was the only white person. Only then did I realise how my adopted sister from India must have felt.

4. What was your most memorable student experience?

A trip organised by the students of the Bologna Centre (SAIS-Johns Hopkins) to Vienna, where we met the president (because he had studied at the same university) and actively participated in a Viennese ball, both at the Hofburg. For the latter, we learned the waltz and the polka in the auditorium.

5. Did you ever have a student job? What was it?

My father was a pharmacist; I spent a month driving around serving pharmacists; that's when I really learned to drive.

6. If you could go back in time, what advice would you give your younger self?

Study a little less hard and enjoy your student days a little more. That still applies.

7. If you hadn't become a professor, what would you be doing now?

No idea. I'm afraid I don't have the docile character required to be a diplomat.

8. What was your first thought today?

Isn't it too cold to go jogging? The answer was yes, but I went anyway, and I'm glad I did.

9. What is your favourite book, and why?

Lawrence Freedman's “The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy” is rightly considered a standard work in the discipline (although I don't always agree with it; here again is my critical mind).

10. What music or artist do you like to listen to? Do you have a favourite song?

Classical music on Sunday mornings. In the car, I listen to a lot of different things: Fleetwood Mac, Fischer Z, Supertramp, Simple Minds, U2, but also Novastar, Amy McDonald and Sia.

11. If you could meet one historical figure, who would it be and why? 

Metternich, Austrian statesman in the 19^th century. After the Napoleonic Wars, he brought peace to Europe through diplomatic conferences, at which the former enemy was allowed to sit at the table; we can still learn something from that today.

12. What is a travel destination that is still on your bucket list?

New Zealand, but that's quite far away; Ethiopia must also be worth visiting.

13. What is your favourite way to spend a free Sunday?

Walking, preferably in the Ardennes.

14. What is the most enjoyable/interesting thing you have learned recently (outside your field of expertise)?

A fun experience that I can recommend to everyone is Kunstuur (in Mechelen, among other places), where paintings by Flemish masters from the 19^th and 20^th centuries are commented on (digitally) by well-known Flemish people. We only discovered it last year.

15. What is the most adventurous thing you have ever done?

Climbing several four-thousand-metre peaks in Switzerland, with the Dom literally standing out.

16. What is your most precious possession?

My wife is my most precious possession, although she does have competition from my work. Love is a verb.

17. How do you relax?

Walking (without music) recharges my batteries. Three days of skiing is equivalent to a complete reset.

18. Do you have a hidden talent that your students don't know about?

Going through life without a mobile phone. It's adventurous and definitely brings more peace of mind.

19. When you look to the future, what do you see?

A lot of uncertainty in international politics, but also the belief that we can overcome it, even without spending 5% on defence.

20. What is the most important lesson life has taught you?

Be mild. (Still not always easy when you see some presidents or fellow citizens at work).