Soetkin Vanhauwaert

Soetkin Vanhauwaert is assistant conservator of the Art Collections of the University of Leuven, where she is involved in the daily management of the collection, as well as contributes to the collection valorization.

Soetkin studied Art History at the University of Leuven, and subsequently completed the Advanced Master in Medieval and Renaissance Studies. At the same university, she successfully defended her PhD in Art History in 2021 with her research on the sculpted St John’s Head in the Southern Netherlands under the supervision of prof. dr. Barbara Baert and dr. Cyriel Stroo (KIK-IRPA). Further, as scientific fellow, Soetkin is part of the team of the Brain-Belspo project “Ornamenta sacra. Iconology of Liturgical Objects”. Her research concerns medieval and early modern devotional imagery, with a special focus on sculpture. She is further interested in religious material culture and saints’ cults.