Centre Pieter Gillis embodies the University of Antwerp's mission of active pluralism, by means of education, research and socal service.
Centre Pieter Gillis is responsible for the interdisciplinary courses which are organized for all students of the University of Antwerp. In addition, the Centre also coordinates Community Service learning.
The Centre takes initiatives within the university, which are directed to dialogue, interdisciplinary exchange and societal engagement. Every year, a Pieter Gillis Lecture is organized, focusing on a theme that is related to our search for meaning and to living together in diversity in democratic societies. The Centre is also a platform for interfacultary dialogue and university wide reflection.
The Centre's name refers to the humanist Pieter Gillis, who lived in Antwerp and was a friend of Desiderius Erasmus and Thomas More. In the spirit of his humanism, the Centre takes questions relating to religions and worldviews seriously and aims to study and discuss them with an open attitude.