Janne Teerlinck
Bachelor in Architecture
Bachelor after Bachelor in Landscape Development
ICP Master in Sustainable Development
PhD in Bioscience Engineering
Ever since I first became familiar with the term sustainability and the desperate need for it in the present day world, I knew that helping to achieve this, is what I would want to dedicate my life to.
My Bachelor of Science in Architecture at UHasselt has provided me with a deep understanding of the need for social and spatial changes we face today and the thought processes that precedes to solve these problems. Because sustainability and solutions focussed on the broader contextuality, unfortunately, were often ignored while I grew more and more aware of its necessity, it caught my interest. Since then I looked for other options to learn more about it.
This is how I came across the Bachelor after Bachelor in Landscape Development at HO Gent, KASK. Here I learned to work with GISsoftware, learned the importance of social awareness and how it can be generated by imaging and developed scenario’s, and got a deeper understanding of the need for spatial planning. Sustainability was a fundamental aspect of every course and a main goal that needed to be achieved in the projects we did for the practical courses. Through these courses, my love for sustainable development has only grown stronger, and I’ve only become more passionate in finding sustainable solutions.
After learning more about the importance of transdisciplinarity and the spreading of awareness, while achieving a broader public support, I decided to start the ICP Master of Science in Sustainable Development at KU Leuven. Here students, with various backgrounds, were constantly challenged to learn from each others expertise and to combine this knowledge in the most efficient and effective way possible to tackle various ecological, social as well as spatial problems from a trans/interdisciplinary point of view. While the geographic focus of my courses in Landscape Development were entirely on the landscape of Belgium, here we focussed more on global problematics, broader environmental issues as well as devising and developing solution-oriented and creative strategies tailored to the social and natural landscape. 
From the 1st of December 2021, I will be starting a Doctoral Research (PhD) focussed on the adaptation and mitigation potential of Flemish gardens. Hence, my motivation for chasing this goal is that the survival of our planet depends on sustainable solutions. 
.