Mieke Matthyssen

Mieke worked from 2015 to 2020 as a postdoctoral researcher for the Huoshen Foundation in the Department of Special Education. Since 2025, Mieke holds the Huoshen Chair of Ghent University sponsored by the same foundation.

“Huo-shen” literally translates as “lively body/person/identity”. The Huoshen Chair is grounded in the Eastern-inspired belief that embodiment and body awareness, health, well-being, and meaning are not separate entities but form an integrated whole that deserves special attention in education, care, and research into young people’s quality of life. From this perspective, the Chair provides a platform for research on, and the exchange of information and experiences regarding, psychophysical activities for young people and their guides (trainers, teachers, youth workers, educators, parents, therapists, etc.). The focus is on body-oriented practices that include a reflective component, using the body as a gateway to greater bodily, emotional, and self-awareness—and ultimately to more well-being and resilience. In this field, Mieke conducts research (among others with colleagues from the department), gives guest lectures, supervises MA and PhD theses, and coordinates the series “Body-Oriented Work with Young People (Lichaamsgericht Werken met Jongeren)” published by Garant.

She also serves as a teaching assistant in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures (from which she graduated in 1998) and conducts anthropological research into Chinese health strategies and Chinese psychology, always from the perspective of Chinese philosophy, cosmology, and medicine.

Before graduating as a sinologist, she obtained her professional bachelor's degree in “Social Work” (1994, Social University College Ghent), during which time she gained extensive experience working with individuals with physical and mental disabilities.