CoRDa | Institute for Comparative Research and Data Collection | Staff

Patrick Vander Weyden (°1968) earned a Doctorate in Political and Social Sciences at the Catholic University of Leuven-Catholic University of Brussels, and is Professor at Ghent University where he teaches courses in Comparative Political Systems and Political Research Methods. He is currently involved in research on methods and techniques in the social sciences, political parties, electoral systems and democratization in developed and developing countries. Prof. Dr. Vander Weyden is also editor in chief of the Dutch Journal 'Samenleving en Politiek' and is the director of the Institute for Comparative Research & Data Collection (CoRDa).

Sophie Colpaert (°1980) finished her Master in Romance Languages at the University of Antwerp in 2002. After a short career in the Medical-Linguistic and Logistics Sector, she started working for Ghent University. In 2008 she coordinated a large-scale survey project in which nearly 1000 members of a Flemish political party were questioned on their political attitudes and opinions. Sophie is currently working on the forthcoming publication 'De Basis Spreekt: Onderzoek naar de leden, mandatarissen, en kiezers van sp.a', in which the results of the above-mentioned large-scale survey will be presented.

Hector Edwards (°1962) holds a Bachelor, with a Major in Accountancy, and a Master of Social Science Degree from the University of Guyana. In 2003 he was awarded the Degree of (General) Master of Business Administration by Waynesburg College in the United States. In 2008 Hector received a four-year Scholarship from the Flemish Interuniversity Council. This Full Scholarship was awarded within the framework of the VLIR-UOS Own Initiative Project between Ghent University and the University of Guyana. He currently is Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Guyana, and teaches several courses in accounting and management at the Department of Management & Business Studies. Hector's research interests include corporate donations, corporate social responsibility and employee welfare.

Dongrim Jeong (°1978) has a Bachelor Degree in Political Science and Diplomacy from the Ewha Woman's University in Seoul. She also holds a Master Degree in Political Strategy and Communication from the Brussels School of International Studies. In 2009 Dongrim was awarded a Korean PhD Scholarship for Doctoral Research at Ghent University. She will be conducting her research, which focuses on political attitudes towards minorities in South Korea, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Patrick Vander Weyden.

Nina Mangelschots (°1981) studied Commercial Engineering at the Faculty of Applied Economics at the University of Antwerp. After her studies in Commercial Engineering she did an additional Master in International Relations and Diplomacy. In 2006 she received a PhD Scholarship from the Flemish Interuniversity Council, an umbrella institution of the six Flemish Universities and a number of Government Bodies active in the field of Higher Education and Research, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Patrick Vander Weyden. Her research focuses on perceptions on democracy and democratization in developing countries, in particular in the Caribbean region.

Marieke Merckx (°1981) obtained a Master's Degree in Political Science at the Catholic University of Leuven in 2004. From 2004 until May 2006, she was employed as an assistant of a Belgian member of the European Parliament. In May 2006 she started her Doctoral Research supported by a Full PhD Scholarship from the Catholic University of Brussels, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Patrick Vander Weyden. Her research concentrates on the consolidation of democracy in plural societies, with a specific focus on the role of (ethnic) political parties in the Surinamese consolidation process.

Lenandlar Singh (°1979) holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science from the University of Guyana, and a Master of Science Degree in Computer Science from the University of Brighton. In 2008 he received a four-year PhD Scholarship from the Flemish Interuniversity Council. This Scholarship was granted as a result of the VLIR-UOS Own Initiative Project that was launched between the University of Guyana and Ghent University. Lenandlar teaches several courses in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Guyana. His research interests currently include free and open source software, IT education and e-democracy.

Troy Thomas (°1981) holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics from the University of Guyana. After finishing his Bachelor Degree, Troy decided to pursue a Master in Development, Policy and Analysis offered by the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Guyana. He currently teaches several courses on pure and applied statistics as well as on the use of statistical software in data analysis in the Department of Mathematics, Physics and Statistics at the University of Guyana. In 2008 he was awarded a PhD Scholarship for four years by the Flemish Interuniversity Council within the framework of the VLIR-UOS Own Initiative Project that was initiated between Ghent University and the University of Guyana. His research interests include experimental designs, regression analysis, categorical data analysis and Monte Carlo methods.