Name：HENS, Kristien
Period： September 15, 2025 ~ December 3, 2025
Affiliation：Full Professor, University of Antwerp
Research Topic：Deep sea science and mining. Investigating the challenges and possibilities of an ethic of the invisible.

Dr. HENS, Kristien is a Full Professor of Bioethics in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Antwerp (Belgium). She is trained as a philosopher and literary scholar and has a broad interdisciplinary background in bioethics and environmental ethics. Her research interests include ethics and philosophy of postgenomics and microbiology.

During her stay, she will discuss the philosophy and ethics of deep sea science with Professor Makoto Taniguchi of the RIHN Project and project members and will actively interact with people related to deep sea microbiology through lab visits, interviews and lectures.