1. What was your favourite subject during your student days?
Anything to do with educational policy and leadership. So the subjects I now get to teach myself. It comes full circle. And also didactics.
2. Have you ever failed an exam? If so, which subject?
Yes, for my first mock exam. After that, never again. The wake-up call had worked.
3. What is the strangest thing you have ever done to relieve study stress?
Study stress helped me take action and keep focus, without paralysing. So no need for strange practices to relieve stress.

4. What was your most memorable student experience?
Getting into (an embarrassing) conversation on the street after a long and heavy night out with my master's supervisor who was on his way to his office at KULeuven in the morning. And being recommended for a job at the University of Antwerp by the same supervisor behind my back.
5. Have you ever had a student job? What was it?
Every year, one summer month was dedicated to holiday work. I did many things, but my job in ‘den bouw’ is particularly memorable. Demolition work, installing insulation, burning roofing. Totally different world, hard work and harsh language. Well paid though, and afterwards another 10 months of knowing why studying is not such a bad thing.

6. If you could go back in time, what would you advise your younger self to do?
I am from late December (I just barely overcame the birth defect) and was a late bloomer. That always brought some sense of not being able to live up to expectations (imposter, you know). Now I know that everyone muddles along to the best of their ability and that ‘not comparing yourself to others’ is the key to organising your own happiness. Knowing that as a young Jan would have given more mental peace of mind.
7. If you hadn't become a professor, what would you be doing now?
I would become a teacher for a while first, then school leader, inspector or teacher trainer. That I became a professor is a very fortuitous twist of fate (see also question 4).
8. What was your first thought today?
I have a kind of mantra. It pops up now as if programmed into my brain when I wake up. I used to brood invariably. Now I think about why I look forward to the day, about why I can be content. I wish myself and those dear to me the best for the day ahead.
9. What is your favourite book, and why?
I like non-fiction more than fiction. Books that are narrative and meanwhile illuminate a fascinating theme are hard for me to put down. Think ‘A Small History of Almost Everything’ by Bill Bryson, or his book ‘The Body’. Stuff like that. I also enjoy self-management books of all kinds. Name one, and it is here in the cupboard.
10. What music or artist do you like to listen to?
I am a musical chameleon, but not a connoisseur. No talent for being a fan of anyone. Musically, I particularly enjoy the sound of a piano. Furthermore, a child of the alternative ‘90s. It may be a tad bombastic. Think Queen, Meat Love, Iron Maiden, Muse, Linkin Park. Nick Cave has some of that too. That said, at the end, only one can be The Boss.
11. If you could meet one historical figure, who would it be and why?
Sometimes I fantasise about what it would be like to go further and further back in time in jumps of one generation at a time and then meet one of my ancestors each time for a walk, good conversation and supper. Not that I think I would encounter historical figures, but it would teach me a lot about myself and this world.
12. What is a travel destination still on your bucket list?
I am lucky - apart from Antarctica - to have visited all continents a few times. So I don't think so much in terms of travel destinations anymore. I do think in terms of travel companions.
13. What is your favourite way to spend a free Sunday?
Sunday is runday.
14. What is the most fun thing you have learnt recently (outside your field)?
I started trumpet lessons a while back and recently played in a brass ensemble for the first time. Making music together is not only fun, it is also connecting and soothing.
15. What is the most adventurous thing you have ever done?
The most adventurous is probably yet to come. Last week, I learned how to enter a ‘burning’ building with a compressed air mask blindfolded. Am firefighter in the making. So I am preparing for the real adventure.
16. What is your most precious possession?
Apart from the people who are dear to me, I could do without anything tangible. Not tangible but very dear is my collection of experiences, encounters and life lessons over the years.
17. How do you unwind?
By being active. Walking, cycling, volunteering, learning new things. I get restless from real rest.
18. Do you have a hidden talent that your students don't know about?
I'm probably more handy than you might expect. Plugging sockets, bricklaying a wall, putting up a garden shed. Because the joiner was only waiting, I put the roof on our house myself. And it's still there.
19. When you look into the future, what do you see?
It depends on the glasses I put on. Sometimes I see blurred, then sharp. Sometimes dark, then light. In good moments, sharp and light. Then I see ‘enough for everyone’ and see the older version of myself and my wife cycling between the Italian vineyards on the electric gravel bike.
20. What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
When you look at things differently, things change.