About me
I’m Ellen Roels, a postdoctoral researcher at KU Leuven and Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in Belgium working with prof. Benjamin Gorissen and prof. Bram Vanderborght. I obtained my PhD in 2023 on the topic of self-healing soft robotics.
I am interested in combining materials science and robotics, as I believe there is still a lot of undiscovered potential in the boundaries between these fields. You can take a look at my main publications here.
Thanks to my passion for science communication, you might find me talking about science even when I’m not in the lab.
Interests
soft robotics
self-healing polymers
polymer processing
material non-linearities
human-robot interfaces
science communication
Experience
Postdoctoral researcher, Vrije Universiteit Brussel & KU Leuven & FWO (2023-now)
Visiting researcher, Freiburg University (2024)
Visiting researcher, AMOLF (2023)
Ph.D. in Engineering, Vrije Universiteit Brussel & FWO (2018-2023)
Awards
KVAB science communication award, 2024
euRobotics Georges Giralt PhD Award (finalist), 2024
Belgian NCTAM Best PhD Thesis Award (finalist), 2024
Freiburg Rising Star, Universität Freiburg, 2024
Best paper award, RoboSoft 2023
Vlaamse PhD cup (semi-finalist), 2023
Best poster award, 1st Winterschool on Smart Materials for Soft Robotics 2021
Wetenschapsbattle (finalist), 2020
Agoria award of the Vlaamse Scriptieprijs (shortlist), 2018
IE-net award (2nd place), 2018