Elise Trox

Hi everyone! My name is Elise, I’m currently in between my first and second master. I joined the VSDW back in 2020 because I wanted to do something besides studying, that would still be related to veterinary medicine. After I had been to South Africa to work in a wildlife rehabilitation centre, my interest in working with wildlife grew. Besides this, I’ve always had a passion for many aspects considering nature and biology, like ecology, climate change, and biodiversity. I thus decided that joining the VSDW was the perfect way to combine all these interests of mine! Plus, it was a great way to meet other students, and perhaps also some contacts for my future career. Being the president this year, I’ll do my very best to organise as many new and interesting events for you all, together with the amazing VSDW team of course. 🙂 Hopefully you’re all just as excited for what’s to come, and I look forward to seeing you during our activities!

Lise Collijs

Hi! My name is Lise and I am currently a first master student. I joined VSDW in my second year to learn more about my passion for wildlife, and how I can protect it. Besides my love for land animals, I am also determined to protect marine animals. In a few years, I want to do something with the conservation of sea life and with that, the whole ocean. That is also the reason why I became a certified advanced diver. VSDW is a perfect place to start building on this dream, with a team that shares the same passions. I am very proud to be vice-president this year and hope to see you all soon at one of our events!

Timone Schoonhoven

Hi, I’m Timone and I’m a 2nd year masterstudent. In the past years I volunteered in different rescue centres and research groups around Europe and Africa. This was mainly with primates, big cats, whales, sea turtles and rhinos. I’m intrigued by a lot of animals and like getting experience with species that I’m not familiar with. I joined VSDW to educate other students about wildlife and its conservation and to be part of a group that feels the same passion! I hope to involve fellow students in the wonderful world of wildlife, by organizing educational events!

Harm Kwak

Since I was a kid, I always had a big love for animals. Although I never thought of becoming a vet, yet here I am in my 2nd Master of Veterinary Medicine. During my studies I wanted to do more than just being ‘a student’. I wanted to engage myself with topics that are not often taught during the current curriculum. Especially native wildlife catches my interest. With the VSDW it’s possible to explore more trough organizing events.

Lisa Lardenoije

Hi, my name is Lisa. I’m a first-year master veterinary student. Since my early childhood, I’ve dreamed of becoming a veterinarian. I love to spend my free time working on farms or at vet clinics to improve my veterinary skills. Although wildlife has always fascinated me, it was VSDW that introduced me to the medical side of it. Therefore, VSDW is the perfect opportunity to gain more knowledge and experience about wildlife and development. I can’t wait to see what VSDW can accomplish this school year! Are you ready to discover this with us?

Maeve Eykholt

Hi I’m Maeve Eykholt, a new addition to the VSDW team as PR-extern. I’m currently in my second bachelor and am thrilled to be part of this amazing team. VSDW, for me, fills a gap that our schoolbooks can’t fully cover. We are able to learn from colleagues, vets and interested parties about topics that I’m passionate about like wildlife (both close to home and further away), one health, conservation and veterinary sciences in third world countries. I am excited to learn more about these topics, make new contacts in these fields and to eventually be able to share this knowledge with my fellow students. I look forward to seeing you at our events!

Illias Clerin

Greetings! I’m Illias, currently in my second master year of veterinary studies. My journey with VSDW began as a result of my unwavering passion for wildlife, the preservation of nature, and my desire to spark interest in others on these vital subjects. My interest in wildlife blossomed after coming into contact with extraordinary animals from small to big all over the globe. In our rapidly changing world, the interaction between people and wildlife is more pronounced than ever, for better or worse. It’s our responsibility as humans to do better. VSDW became the perfect platform for me to harmonize all of these passions. In my role as one of this year’s PR interns, my duties involve reaching out to speakers and orchestrating events. I’m committed to bringing you exciting and informative activities along with the entire VSDW team. I hope you’re as thrilled as I am about what’s in store, and I can’t wait to see you at our events! Let’s work together to make a positive impact on wildlife and the environment, one event at a time.

Laura Evenepoel

Hey everyone, My name is Laura. Proudly I can announce myself as a marine biologist. You are probably wondering why I decided to study for six more years. While I loved being a marine biologist, I was still missing something in my work field. I saw how we as humans influence these beautiful creatures and, as a biologist, I could not do anything about it. That is why I made this big decision! I am currently a second year bachelor Veterinary medicine student. I have some experience doing research about marine wildlife and I can not wait to learn more about the veterinary side of it all. I joined VSDW in order to spread some marine love into the world! I’m looking forward to meeting you all and remember the following words, when the workload of this study seem to be too much, EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE!

Lyann Wessel

Hello, my name is Lyann Wessel and i am a third year bachelor student. For as long as i can remember I have wanted to become a wildlife vet, to participate in the conservation of wildlife in different countries and learn as much as i can about our beautiful world and the animals that inhabit it. This is why I joined VSDW as soon as I had the chance. With VSDW I hope to share the passion and knowledge we have for wild animals. I’m so excited to be able to learn and share our experiences with you all!

Nicoline Nieveen

Hi, my name is Nicoline. I am a first master vet student at Ghent University. From an early age it was clear what I wanted to be when I grew up. This was becoming a vet. However, since I started studying it became clear where my real passion lies, working with and for wild life. Therefore, I have joined VSDW since this year as a commission member. I have a great admiration for wild life, these animals command so much respect from people. Therefore it seems very interesting to me to work with wild life. Not only the every day animals on the street need help, but also the animals that are on their own and life in the wild can use our help. Which wild life animals I want to work with is not entirely clear to me at the moment, but step by step I am getting closer to finding my true passion and making my dreams come true. By joining the VSDW and organizing events and activities I hope to contribute to finding the passion of other colleagues. Just as the VSDW has helped me find my passion. I am very excited to learn more about the wild life and to meet people that work in this field.

Ophelia Santens

Mila Zantvoort

Hi! My name is Mila and I’m a master student in veterinary medicine. I grew up with small animals but I have always loved wildlife and wanted to know more about it. After an internship at a wildlife rescue centre in Belgium, I realized how important it is for veterinarians here to have an understanding about wildlife as well. The animals in our “backyard” need help from time to time as well. I decided to join VSDW to expand my knowledge of animal species we don’t necessarily come across during our studies and to learn more about conservation efforts in different parts of the world. Moreover it is the perfect opportunity to get to know like-minded people who share similar interests. This year Emma and I will focus on organizing workshops so hopefully I will see you at one of them!

Emma Laenen

Hi everyone! My name is Emma and this year again I am part of the VSDW, but this year on the board as responsible for workshops. I am now in my final year option small animals. I am very interested in small animal veterinary medicine, but also in the medicine for wildlife and especially marine mammals. For this reason, I also chose to work on dolphins for my master’s thesis and took my elective subject not in veterinary medicine, but in marine biology. Together with the rest of the team, we have already been busy organizing interesting lectures or workshops for you. So it’s promises to be a great year! I’ll hopefully see you at the next events!

Delano Linders

Hi there, My name is Delano Linders Dasiman. I was born in the Netherlands, grew up in Suriname and currently studying veterinary medicine in Ghent, Belgium (2nd master – Ruminants). From a very young age, I’ve known that I wanted to work with animals. In Suriname my passion for wildlife and stray animals was born. There I volunteered at the local zoo and several animal rights organizations, before moving back to Europe to pursue my dream: becoming a veterinarian, for the sake of helping more animals. It is my ambition to return to Suriname and start a wildlife rehabilitation center. I also want to contribute in decreasing the number of stray animals there by volunteering at spay and neuter programs. I joined VSDW because I want to be more in touch with people who share my passion for wildlife and to be more invested in this particular field of work, early on in my career.

Delphine Colpaert

Hi ! I’m Delphine, currently in my last year of Veterinary Medicine. I’ve always been sure I wanted to be a vet, and my fascination for wildlife only grew over the years, especially for marine animals (I was the kind of child that would ditch everything to watch a documentary about coral reefs). So I joined the faculty of Ghent after a gap year in Australia that confirmed I love the bush life and working with animals. I always tried to learn more than what we were taught through our lessons at the faculty, so I first started going to the lectures the VSDW organized, then joined the commission and I’m very proud to currently be on this team. My absolute dream would be to work for the conservation and rehabilitation of wildlife, whether exotic or native, endangered, or not, wherever on the planet. I hope to learn a lot more through this experience and to organize events/workshops you’ll be inspired by!