Brent Bleys
Professor in Ecological Economics
Ghent University
Professor in Ecological Economics
Ghent University
Hi there! I am an Associate Professor at the Department of Economics of Ghent University and an ecological economist. I hold a PhD in Applied Economics: Commercial Engineering (2009) from the Free University of Brussels (VUB).
I teach classes on Ecological Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Intermediate Macroeconomics and Statistical Analysis to students at the Faculty of Economics and Business Adminstration at Ghent University.
My research interests include Beyond GDP metrics, pro-environmental behavior, post-growth policies including working-time reduction, and measuring and promoting sufficiency. I have published on these topics in, amongst others, Ecological Economics, Social Indicators Research, Environment & Behavior and Journal of Happiness Studies.
Research projects that I am currently involved in include the ToBe and MERGE Horizon Europe projects on Beyond GDP measures, frameworks and post-growth policies, two interdisciplinary FWO-SBO projects - one on the sustainable use of the (deep) subsurface (DIAMONDS) and one on sustainable consumption corridors and demand-side measures in climate policy (DEER), and a BELSPO project on working-time reduction (COLORBEL). At our Department, I currently (co)supervise 3 PhD students and 2 post docs.
At the Faculty I am Chair of the sustainability committee that oversees implementing the UN Global Compact's Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME) and I am also a member of the central UGent sustainability committee. Outside of the university, I am a reprensentative of the scientific communities at the Federal Council for Sustainable Development of Belgium where I co-chair the working groups on "Financing the Transition" and "Strategy". I am also a member of the Scientific Committee on National Accounts at the National Bank of Belgium.
Finally, I am country representative for Belgium in the European Society of Ecological Economics. In the summer of 2026 I will be co-chairing the biannual ESEE conference at Ghent University (June 30th - July 3rd) - something I am really looking forward to!