Bashir Abdi receives honorary doctorate from Ghent University
(09-02-2026) Ghent University is awarding Bashir Abdi an institutional honorary doctorate for his unique combination of elite sports and social commitment. In addition, Ghent University is awarding six honorary doctorates on Dies Natalis for academic achievement.
Bashir Abdi (born 1989, Mogadishu) is an internationally renowned athlete and an inspiring figure in the world of sports. He achieved great fame as a long-distance runner and is considered one of the most successful Belgian athletes of recent decades. His performances at the highest level, combined with his social engagement, make him an exceptional role model.
Bashir Abdi came to Belgium as a refugee at a young age and grew up in Ghent, where he developed his passion for athletics. The city also plays a significant role in his social engagement. Abdi is the co-founder of Sportaround, an organization that uses sports to promote social cohesion and health. He also co-founded the Bashir Abdi Fund with Ghent University Hospital, which funds initiatives to support healthcare providers physically and mentally. These activities illustrate how Bashir Abdi uses his success to create social value in his home city and elsewhere.
Bashir Abdi made Belgian sporting history with his Olympic triumphs: in Tokyo (2021), he won the bronze medal in the marathon, and at the most recent Games in Paris (2024), he won silver. He also set the European marathon record in 2021 and achieved several victories and honorary placings in international competitions.
Rector Petra De Sutter and Vice-Rector Herwig Reynaert are acting as promotors for Bashir Abdi as a future honorary doctor of Ghent University: “Ghent University is particularly proud to welcome Bashir Abdi as an honorary doctor to our community. Bashir's athletic achievements are undeniable, but he is also a role model for many in society. Sport connects, motivates, and allows you to excel: Bashir is a prime example of this. The values he exemplifies—inclusion, social engagement, and the pursuit of excellence—are also those of Ghent University.”
Bashir Abdi has already received several awards for his achievements, including the National Trophy for Sports Merit (2021) and the Flemish Sports Jewel (2024). He is internationally recognized as an inspiring role model for perseverance and integration. By awarding this institutional honorary doctorate, Ghent University wishes to honor not only his exceptional sporting achievements but also his role as an inspiration and bridge-builder in a diverse society.
The presentation of the institutional honorary doctorate to Bashir Abdi will take place on 8 March 2026, at approximately 11:15 during the Bashir's Run running event at the Wouter Weylandt Stadium in Gentbrugge.
Dies Natalis: faculty honorary doctorates for scientific merit
On Friday 20 March 2026 Ghent University will celebrate its Dies Natalis. Six faculty honorary doctorates will be awarded for scientific achievements.
Rector Petra De Sutter and Vice-Rector Herwig Reynaert: "What immediately struck us is that the six nominated honorary doctorates, besides being groundbreaking scientists, are also exemplars of socially relevant and impactful research. Science connects, both between researchers and research groups, but also, and above all, between researchers and society. That is what we at Ghent University also strive to stand for, and we are therefore pleased to see that our honorary doctorates embody this."
Professor Vishva Dixit
The Faculty of Science has nominated Professor Vishva Dixit to receive an honorary doctorate from Ghent University.
Professor Dixit is a Senior Fellow of Physiological Chemistry at the University of California (San Francisco, USA) and Vice President of Early Discovery Research at Genentech, a leading American biotechnology company. Professor Dixit's groundbreaking research on cell death and inflammation in the body has influenced scientists worldwide for decades in the fields of immunology, cancer, inflammation, and molecular cell biology. In particular, he and his research group have made fundamental contributions to better understanding the function and impact of TNF (Tumor Necrosis Factor). This opens up prospects for improved treatment and cures for many diseases and inflammations in the human body.
Promotors: Professor Peter Vandenabeele and Professor Mohamed Lamkanfi
Professor Jean Bennett
The Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences has nominated Professor Jean Bennett to receive an honorary doctorate from Ghent University.
Professor Bennett is a world-renowned pioneer in gene therapy for hereditary blindness. She is affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), where she is currently Professor of Ophthalmology and Vice Chair for Basic Research at the Scheie Eye Institute and the Center for Advanced Retinal and Ophthalmic Therapeutics (School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA).
Professor Bennett's exceptional career is characterized by a consistent integration of basic, translational, and clinical research. For example, she developed a specific gene therapy that restores vision in patients with congenital blindness due to a genetic cause, a major breakthrough in medicine. With her research, Professor Bennett has restored sight to patients with hereditary blindness worldwide.
Promotors: Professor Elfride De Baere and Professor Bart Leroy
Professor Ingrid Baroness Daubechies
The Faculty of Engineering and Architecture has nominated Professor Ingrid Baroness Daubechies to receive an honorary doctorate from Ghent University.
Professor Daubechies, a Belgian-American mathematician and physicist, is one of the most renowned and influential scientists of our time in the field of applied mathematics and engineering. She is affiliated with Duke University as the James B. Duke Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Mathematics. In the 1980s, Professor Daubechies pioneered wavelet theory and developed Daubechies wavelets: efficient basis functions that significantly advanced harmonic analysis and signal and image processing. Her work on wavelet design also laid the mathematical foundation for JPEG 2000 image compression and contributed to time-frequency methods used, among other things, in the detection of gravitational waves.
Besides her remarkable scientific achievements, Professor Daubechies is deeply committed to inspiring future generations of students and researchers in mathematics and engineering.
Promotors: Professor Aleksandra Pizurica and Professor Hendrik De Bie
Professor Marianne Bertrand
The Faculty of Economics and Business Administration has nominated Professor Marianne Bertrand to receive an honorary doctorate from Ghent University.
Marianne Bertrand is a Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She conducts research in labor economics, with areas including political economy, and is the highest-ranked Belgian in the world in the IDEAS ranking of economists by scientific impact. Professor Bertrand is the founder of the current gold-standard method for measuring discrimination in the labor market, which was later further refined at Ghent University. Her work captures the imagination as it consistently exposes inequalities in a more vivid and substantiated way than ever before. For example, she demonstrated a remarkable "bend" in how wages are distributed within male-female families: as long as the man earns more, almost any ratio is possible, but earning exactly the same appears to be a psychological threshold that is crossed much less often. In other words, families where the woman earns slightly less are much more common than families where the woman earns slightly more. This pattern points to a deeply ingrained norm: "a man should earn more than his wife."
Promotor: Professor Stijn Baert
Professor Edward Deci and Professor Richard Ryan
The Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences nominates Professors Edward Deci and Richard Ryan to receive honorary doctorates from Ghent University.
Professors Edward Deci and Richard Ryan are the founders of Self-Determination Theory: for five decades, both researchers have systematically developed, refined, and disseminated the theory. Self-Determination Theory posits that a limited number of basic psychological needs—autonomy, relatedness, and competence—are universal and essential for human motivation, growth, and well-being.
Around the world, schools, sports clubs, therapeutic settings, and organizations are inspired by the insights of Self-Determination Theory. In Flanders, Ghent University's well-being policy is an example of this. The research work of Professors Edward Deci and Richard Ryan has a global impact.
Both are Professors Emeritus affiliated with the Department of Psychology at the University of Rochester (New York, USA). From 2005 to 2017, Professor Deci also held the title of Helen F. and Fred H. Gowen Professor. Professor Ryan is also affiliated with the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education (Australian Catholic University, North Sydney, Australia) and is Director of the Center for Self-Determination Theory in Celebration, Florida.
Promotors: Professor Maarten Vansteenkiste and Professor Bart Soenens
Professor Richard Katz
The Faculty of Political and Social Sciences has nominated Professor Richard Katz to receive an honorary doctorate from Ghent University.
Professor Richard Katz is affiliated with the Department of Political Science at Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, USA). His research led to the influential concept of the "cartel party." This describes how political parties increasingly become part of the state apparatus (including through government funding) while simultaneously losing touch with society. The idea of the "cartel party" became a milestone in political science and is now standard material in many textbooks. Professor Katz also made important contributions to political science, including candidate selection and the changing organization of political parties in Europe and North America.
Promotor: Professor Bram Wauters