Reinout Verbeke
General Direction
- reinout.verbeke@naturalsciences.be
- +32 2 627 43 78
Reinout Verbeke is a science communicator at the Institute of Natural Sciences, with a passion for making natural history accessible to the public.
Function
Reinout creates press releases, news articles, background stories, social media posts, videos, or podcasts about the often mind-blowing discoveries of our researchers. He aims to bring the past, present, and future of life on this planet to a wider audience. To achieve this, he teams up with our scientists, other science communicators and graphic designers at the institute.
Current Project(s)
Reinout is currently making a series of articles, podcast episodes and educational posters about the geology of Belgium, titled 'Planeet België / Planète Belgique'.
Area of Expertise
Reinout has around twenty years of experience writing and editing popular science articles. In his work, he consistently strives to find the right balance between nuance and accessibility for a broader audience.
Professional Experience
Reinout began his career in the editorial team of the popular science magazine Eos, first as final editor and later as news coordinator. He is also a board member of SciMingo, a non-profit organization that trains researchers in science communication and organizes the Vlaamse Scriptieprijs and the PhD Cup.
Publication highlights
As a journalist at Eos, Reinout published a report on science fraud and publication pressure among (medical) researchers in Flanders. As a science communicator at the Institute of Natural Sciences, he wrote press releases for exciting discoveries, helped create an Iguanodon Special and gained valuable experience by contributing to videos and social media posts. For instance, he reported on the 2018 en 2022 excavation seasons in Wyoming, digging for Jurassic dinosaurs.