معرفی
Irene Vanderfeesten is an Associate Professor in Business Information Systems Engineering at KU Leuven's Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), where she leads the Information Systems Engineering Research Group (LIRIS) in Brussels. She is head of the education commission for the OC Handelsingenieur in de beleidsinformatica and serves as a senior academic staff member on multiple councils including the Council of the Faculty of Economics and Business and the Campus Council FEB.
Her research expertise lies in human aspects of business information systems engineering with a focus on business process modeling, process quality, continuous process improvement, and workflow management. She applies her knowledge in manufacturing, healthcare, banking, insurance, and administration domains, with particular emphasis on Industry 4.0/5.0 applications where she explores human-robot collaboration and smart factory implementations.
Her recent publications reveal a strong trend toward human-centric process management, particularly in Industry 5.0 contexts that prioritize worker well-being alongside technical efficiency. Her work bridges theoretical business process management frameworks with practical applications in manufacturing, healthcare, and digital platform ecosystems, demonstrating expertise in both process modeling techniques and their real-world implementation challenges.
- Industria Education Award 2013 for best lecturer in the Post-Propedeuse of the Bachelor program in Industrial Engineering
- BPTrends Best Student Paper Award 2004
- Scholarship from TU Eindhoven for excellent first-year students
Currently, she serves as promotor for multiple significant research projects including 'Digital Platforms Ecosystems: Nurturing Sustainable Applications Through Governance Mechanisms' (2025-2029), 'Advanced task-agent allocation in industry 5.0' (2023-2027), and 'Sustainable and human-centric process management for smart manufacturing' (2022-2024). She previously led the HORSE project, an EU Horizon 2020 initiative focused on developing technologies for Smart Factories where humans and robots collaborate. Her teaching portfolio includes courses on ICT Governance and Operational Management, ICT-management, and Research Methodologies in Business Information Systems Engineering.
She leads the LIRIS research group which focuses on developing solutions for the analysis, redesign, and automation of business processes with a human-centric approach, particularly in high-tech manufacturing, healthcare, banking, and insurance sectors. The group actively contributes to both theoretical advancements in process modeling and practical implementations in industry settings.
