Rik received master and PhD degrees in Engineering from Ghent University, Belgium in July 1994 and February 1998, respectively. His PhD was about Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and was prepared in the context of a close collaboration between the Department of Radiology (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences) and the Department of Electronics and Information Systems (Faculty of Engineering).

After a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Arizona (Tucson, USA) he returned to Ghent, became a full-time lecturer in 2001, and founded the Multimedia Lab at the Faculty of Engineering. Later on, Multimedia Lab became one of the founding teams of the Interdisciplinary Institute for Broadband Technology (IBBT). Currently, Rik's lab consists of about 30 team members.

In 2004, he was appointed full professor. His research interests include multimedia content delivery (including presentation and archiving), coding of multimedia data, metadata technology, content adaptation, interactive (mobile) multimedia applications, and e-health.

Rik is teaching several courses, dealing with fundamentals of multimedia, (advanced) multimedia applications, and internet technology. These courses belong to study programs at the Faculty of Engineering (bachelor/master of Computer Science Engineering & bachelor/master of Electrical Engineering), and the Faculty of Sciences (bachelor of Informatics). In the past, he had teaching duties in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences as well (master of Biomedical and Clinical Engineering & training program in Nuclear Medicine).

Throughout his carreer, Rik has been closely collaborating with a large number of research groups and partners, coming from different backgrounds: engineering, biomedical technology, sciences, arts, (digital) rights management, media and communication sciences. He has been a member/secretary/chairman of quite a large number of committees, not only within his own faculty both also outside his faculty/university. These activities just illustrate his strong belief in the importance of open-mindedness, and the importance of a multidisciplinary approach!!

Apart from this, Rik is trying to have a good time while being outside the university as well. He has two children (Bram and Kim, born in 1999 and 2001 respectively). When he was young(er) himself, Rik was a decent tennis player. But he had to stop playing competition when he was 15 due to medical reasons. However, in 2006, after an absence of more than 20 years, a few friends convinced him to cautiously make a comeback on tennis courts. While playing at an amateur level, he would qualify his current level as 'decent but much less than in the good old days' (for specialists amongst you: he is currently ranked B+2/6 in Belgium, or ITN4 worldwide, and plays in the Belgian National Interclub League).

Rik has been an active flute player for many years as well. He has happy memories of the numerous concerts he played as a member of different orchestras and ensembles (e.g., Britten's The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra and Schubert's Fifth Symphony under the guidance of Rudolf Werthen, Prokofiev's Peter and The Wolf, the yearly performance of Bach's Saint Matthew Passion under the direction of Jan Vallach, etc.). Currently, however, Rik's musical ambitions are limited to visiting concert halls.

Contact:
Rik Van de Walle

Ghent University
Faculty of Engineering
Department of Electronics and Information Systems
Multimedia Lab
Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium

t: +32 9 33 14914
f: +32 9 33 14896
m: +32 478 39 62 31
t secr: +32 9 33 14911
e: rik [dot] vandewalle [at] ugent [dot] be