Research Grants (Funded projects)

I serve(d) as a Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator in the following research grants:

International & EU projects

• Cyber4CA

  2025 - 2028. Development of Innovative Graduate Educational Program in Cyber Security for Digital labor market of Central Asia (Cyber4CA) Funding body: ERASMUS - Capacity building in the field of higher education. 799 985.26 EUR - 74 863.62 EUR (University of Antwerp). Members: 17 institutions. One of the key elements of Cyber Security (CS) is its relevance in the field of Higher Education. Growing cybersecurity threats require specialists with in-depth knowledge in areas such as quantum cryptography, blockchain technologies, SOC, information security incident investigation, practical pentesting, Internet of Things (IoT) security, AI and many others.The integration of CS necessitates graduates who possess knowledge related to the field. This is where the Cyber4CA project steps in, aiming to advance students' skills further.
• GREET

  2025 - 2029. Generative Explainee-aware Explainability and Transparency in Proactive Cyber-Physical Eco-Environments (GREET) Funding body: Horizon Europe - MSCA Doctoral Networks. 4495846.32 EUR - 577080.00 EUR (University of Antwerp). Members: 13 Institutions (Academia and Industry). As an interdisciplinary endeavour, the GREET network brings together leading institutions and companies in Cyber-Physical System (CPS), AI, software engineering and cognitive interaction research across Europe with the aim of training a new generation of scientists, technologists, and entrepreneurs that will move Europe into a leading role in the scientific and technological innovation in Generative AI-driven CPS, its proactivity and explainability. Linking the leading academic and industrial partners in the above areas, GREET will form an effective and unique training network powerfully combining the best research training with a range of academic and industrial placements, specialist research and knowledge transfer workshops. It will develop and train a new generation of young researchers through a set of key research projects, developing breakthrough CPS systems and services that feature generative cognition, explainee-aware generative explainability, and transparent proactivity in highly secured CPS eco-environments. It will shape the delivery of training in the novel generative AI-driven CPS across Europe: delivering key insights into the science and models of the proposed CPS, setting up its scientific foundation, and equipping the DN’s recruited Doctoral Candidates with skills to drive the next innovative steps in this key area of generative AI-driven CPS. These steps include building a sustainable innovation ecosphere and community, disseminating and exploiting this new CPS’s learning and understanding of the eco-internals, ecosurroundings and eco-dynamics in many vital societal and economic services, including Industry 5.0, smart city, healthcare, energy, emergency handling, social robotics and elderly care. The innovation perspective of these new CPS is substantial, which will be particularly important for handling services that involve humans and in critical situations, e.g., in emergency and hazardous environments.  
• AMAZING-6G

  2025 - 2028. Amazing Large-Scale Trials and Pilots for Verticals in 6G (AMAZING-6G) Funding body: Horizon Europe - Joint Undertaking Smart Networks and Services - European Commission. 14 220 129.75 EUR - 651 700.00 EUR (IMEC). Members: 31 European institutions (Research and Industry). AMAZING-6G proposes a novel set of 14 use cases in the domains of Healthcare, Public Safety, Energy and Transport (including Rail) which will be showcased in large-scale trials and pilots across Europe. Innovative technology enablers are planned to be developed and tested in the areas of Communications, Compute-as-a-Service, Applications and AI, IoT and localization. Security aspects will be taken into consideration in the development of solutions. Framed in this context, the significance of large-scale trials in B5G/6G networks lies not only in their ability to validate the technical capabilities of the technology but also in their capacity to unveil new use cases and applications that were previously inconceivable. As we move towards a world where the Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality, and artificial intelligence play central roles in our daily lives, these trials provide a unique opportunity to explore the potential of B5G/6G in fostering innovative solutions across various sectors, from healthcare and transportation to utilities and public/environment safety. Through large-scale trials, stakeholders can gain valuable insights into the transformative power of B5G/6G networks and strategically position themselves to harness the full spectrum of opportunities that this cutting-edge technology offers.
• BEL6GICA

  2024 ---- Blueprint for Excellence and Leadership in 6G through Interregional Concerted Action (BEL6GICA) Funding body: FOD Economie Belgie. 1.500.000 EUR. Members: imec, Universite catholique de Louvain, Patrimoine de l Universite de Mons, Multitel, Universiteit Gent, Universiteit Antwerpen, Universite Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), KU Leuven. Belgium. BEL6GICA is a concerted action that combines the contributions of the best academic research groups and institutes in this field across Belgium to map the landscape, identify specific needs, review complementarities and gaps, and establish a roadmap to maximize the impact and opportunities for Belgium in a future world where a region's competitiveness will depend heavily on the frictionless use of artificial intelligence (both centrally and at the edge of the network among citizens, government and businesses), the associated public and private data flows, the link between the physical and virtual worlds, and the know-how around it. Moreover, we will take in account both sustainability for 6G and 6G for sustainability. As Nokia's CEO said: "There is no green without digital". This is the world of 6G.
• 6G-XCEL

  2024 - 2026. 6G Trans-Continental Edge Learning (6G-XCEL) seeks to address these challenges through research on high edge network use cases that employ multi-party AI controls running over compute accelerators to coordinate control across radio and optical networks. It will develop a reference framework for AI in 6G that will pave the way towards global validation, adoption and standardisation of AI approaches. This framework will enable decentralised AI-based network controls across network domains and physical layers, while promoting security and sustainable implementations. Funding body: Horizon Europe - Joint Undertaking Smart Networks and Services - European Commission. 2 994 474.25 EUR - 299 858.75 EUR (IMEC). Members: 11 EU + 13 USA institutions (Research and Industry).
• iSEE-6G

  2024 - 2026. Integrated SEnsing, Energy and communication for 6G networks (iSEE-6G). The idea of Joint communication and sensing (JCS) capabilities is a revolutionary and innovative solution. A single system has the potential to offer significant advances in various fields, such as smart transportation, smart cities, smart homes, healthcare, security, and environmental monitoring. iSEE-6G extends beyond JCS and propose a Joint Communication, Computation, Sensing, and Power transfer (JCCSP) unified radio platform, which includes all support elements of the proposed solutions in future 6G networks. Funding body: Horizon Europe - Joint Undertaking Smart Networks and Services - European Commission. 4 340 962.00 EUR - 499 836.00 (BE). Members: 12 European Institutions (Research and Industry).
• Hexa-X-II

  2023 - 2025. A holistic flagship towards the 6G network platform and system, to inspire digital transformation, for the world to act together in meeting needs in society and ecosystems with novel 6G services (Hexa-X-II) Funding body: Horizon Europe - Joint Undertaking Smart Networks and Services - European Commission. 25,654,444.00 EUR - 1,021,313.00 (IMEC). Members: 44 Consortium Members (Industry and Academia).
• 6GSTART

  2022 - 2024. Starting the Sustainable 6G SNS Initiative for Europe (6GSTART). Funding body: Horizon Europe - European Commission. 2,986,748.00 EUR - 132,788.00 (IMEC). Members: 17 Consortium Members (Industry and Academia).
• TrialsNet

  2023 - 2025. Trials supported by Smart Networks beyond 5G (TrailsNet). Funding body: Horizon Europe - Joint Undertaking Smart Networks and Services - European Commission. 16,789,132.50 EUR - 596,250.00 (IMEC). Members: 26 Consortium Members (Industry and Academia).
• FOR-FREIGHT

  2022 - 2025. Flexible, multi-mOdal and Robust FREIGHt Transport (FOR-FREIGHT) Funding body: Horizon Europe - European Commission. 7,151,679.00 EUR - 417,375.00 (IMEC). Members: 18 Consortium Members (Industry and Academia).
• DEDICAT 6G

  2021 - 2023. Dynamic coverage Extension and Distributed Intelligence for human Centric applications with assured security, privacy and trust: from 5G to 6G (DEDICAT 6G). Funding body: H2020 European Commission. 6,461,391.25 EUR Members: 14 Consortium Members (Industry and Academia).
• VITAL-5G

  2021 - 2023. Vertical Innovations in Transport And Logistics over 5G experimentation facilities (VITAL-5G). Funding body: H2020 European Commission. 6,494,425.00 EUR Members: 16 Consortium Members (Industry and Academia).
• DAEMON

  2021 - 2023. Network intelligence for aDAptive and sElf-Learning MObile Networks (DAEMON). Funding body: H2020 European Commission. 4,997,025.00 EUR Members: 11 Consortium Members (Industry and Academia).
• WLAN MAC Modeling and Network Slicing

  2022 - 2023 ---- WLAN MAC Modeling and Network Slicing Funding body: Huawei. Confidential EUR. Members: imec-UGent, imec-UAntwerp. Antwerp, Belgium .
• 5G-Blueprint

  2020-2023. Next generation connectivity for enhanced, safe & efficient transport & logistics (5G-Blueprint). Funding body: H2020 European Commission. 13,913,735.00 EUR. Members: 28 Research and Industry partners from European countries.
• InterConnect

  2019-2022. Interoperable Solutions Connecting Smart Homes, Buildings and Grids (InterConnect). Funding body: H2020 European Commission. 35,877,928.98 EUR. Members: 56 Partners - Industry and Academia.
• Safeguards of the cultural heritage.

  2019-2022. Safeguards of the cultural heritage: Tools and practices for its intergrated management in Santiago de Cuba and the Eastern Region of Cuba. Funding body: VLIR Belgium. 600,000.00 EUR. Members: UAntwerp, KULeuven, UGhent, VUB (Belgium) - Universidad de Oriente (Cuba).
• 5GMobix

  2018-2022. 5G for cooperative & connected automated MOBIility on X-border corridors (5GMobix). Funding body: H2020 European Commission. 26,948,801.75 EUR. Members: 46 Consortium Members (Industry and Academia).
• 5G-CARMEN

  2019-2021. 5G for Connected and Automated Road Mobility in the European unioN (5G-CARMEN). Funding body: H2020 European Commission. 18,566,123.75 EUR. Members: 25 Research and Industry partners from European countries.
• Fed4FIRE+

  2017-2021. Fed4FIREplus: Federation for FIRE Plus Funding body: H2020, European Commission. 9,999,375.00 EUR. Members: 22 members (Academia and Industry) within Europe.
• FUTEBOL

  2016-2019. Federated Union of Telecommunications Research Facilities for an EU-Brazil Open Laboratory (FUTEBOL) Funding body: H2020, European Commission - EU Brazil Call. 3,000,000.00 EUR. Members: Trinity College Dublin (IE) Coordinator EU, imec (BE), UNIVBRIS (UK), VTT (FI), IT (PT), Intel (DE) - UFRGS (BR) Coordinator BR, UFES, UFC, UFMG, UNICAMP, INTEL, DIGITEL.
• eWINE

  2016-2018. elastic WIreless Networking Experimentation (eWINE). Funding body: H2020, European Commission. 2,352,546.00 EUR. Members: iMinds (BE), Trinity College Dublin (IE), TU Brelin (DE), TU Dresden (DE), Institut Jozef Stefan (SI), Thales Communications (FR), Martel (CH), SigFox Wireless (FR), Innovative Solutions Slawomir Pietrzyk (PL), Spacetime Networks Oy (FI).
• FAVORITE

  2014-2016. Federation And Virtualization Of a RadIoTEstbed (FAVORITE) / OC Federation for FIRE (Fed4FIRE). Funding body: FP7, European Commission. 104,667.00. EUR / 12,244,569.00 EUR. Members: 42 members (Academia and Industry) within Europe.
• Future WWW Prefetching and Caching Architectures

  2005-2008. Future WWW Prefetching and Caching Architectures Funding body: EU - Alban Programme (Excellence program). 7,458.00 EUR. Members: Personal Grant.

National projects

• Net4Robo

  2026 -- Dynamic Beyond 5G Network Services for Remotely-operated Humanoids-Robots Funding body: imec. 100.000,00 EUR (imec-UAntwerpen). Members: IDLab UAntwerp. Belgium.
• Magnolia

  2026 - 2028 ---- Multi-Access 6G Networking and Orchestration for Low latency ImmersiveApplications (MAGNOLIA) Funding body: imec ICON. 3.637.455,00 EUR - 728.000 EUR imec-UAntwerpen. Members: Telenet, Nokia Bell Labs, PreviewLabs, Televic, Televic Rail, imec-UGent, imec-UAntwerp (Belgium). Belgium.
• ZERO

  2025 - 2027 --- ZEro-touch and ZeRO-trust framework for intelligent and trustworthy Next-Generation Networks (ZERO) Funding body: University of Antwerp / IOF SEP. 100.000 EUR. Members: Personal Grant. Antwerp, Belgium.
• SLICES FLANDERS

  2023 - 2026 --- SLICES Flanders 2022 - Flemish participation in Scientific LargeScale Infrastructure for Computing/Communication Experimental Studies Funding body: Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek - Vlaanderen (FWO). 2 000 000 EUR - 800 000 EUR (UAntwerp). Members: imec, University of Antwerp, Ghent University. Belgium.
• ValArch5G

  2022 - 2025 ---- Validated Architectures using private 5G for teleoperation, collaborative operation for ASVs/AGVs (ValArch5G) Funding body: Flanders Make ICON. 1.687.828,00 EUR - 81,167,00 EUR imec-UAntwerpen. Members: Flanders Make-MotionS, Flanders Make- DecisionS, e-BO enterprises, Bekaert, GEOxyz, Acelleran, imec-UGent, imec-UAntwerp (Belgium). Belgium.
• VELOCe

  2022 - 2023 ---- Verifiable, Low-latency End-to-end Communication (VELOCe) Funding body: imec ICON. 2.372.296,67 EUR - 463.590,00 EUR imec-UAntwerpen. Members: Televic Conference, e-Bo Enterprises, Qorvo, imec-UGent, imec-UAntwerp (Belgium). Belgium .
• 5GECO

  2022 - 2024 ---- Intelligent, flexible and automated management of neutral host sharing of Open RAN with shared transport network (5GECO) Funding body: imec ICON. 2,900,000 EUR - 695.385 EUR imec-UAntwerpen. Members: Accelerant, Nokia Bell Labs, Citymesh, imec-UGent, imec-UAntwerp (Belgium). Belgium.
• IOF Consortium IDLab

  2021-2026. IOF Consortium IDLab. Funding body: IOF University of Antwerp. 1 IOF Manager FTE equivalent for 6 years. Members: IDLab UAntwerp. Antwerp, Belgium.
• MOZAIK: Scalable and Secure Data Sharing

  2021-2025. Funding body: FWO Belgium - SBO/E Strategic Basic Research-Economic. 1,905,609.00 EUR. Members: University of Antwerp, Gent University, KU Leuven. Belgium.
• FIVE G'D

  2020-2023. Funding body: Vlaamse Ministry. 1,746,517.00 EUR. Members: imec, Verhaert, Crescent, DroneMatrix. Belgium.
• Internet of Water

  2019-2023. Funding body: Vlaamse Ministry. 9,000,000.00 EUR. Members: imec, Aquafin, De Watergroep, VITO, Vlakwa, VMM, Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship. Antwerp, Belgium.
• WTSN - Wireless Time Sensitive Networks

  2020-2021. Funding body: imec. Confidential EUR (imec-Uantwerpen). Members: IDLab UAntwerp, IDLab UGhent. Belgium.
• SmartWaterway

  2019-2021. Funding body: Vlaamse ICON. 2,464,257.00 EUR. Members: Blue Line Logistics, Citymesh, De Vlaamse Waterweg, Flir Systems Trading, imec-UAntwerp, imec-UGent, Pozyx, Seafar, Stad Gent (Belgium). Belgium.
• HAI-SCS

  2019-2021. Helicus Aero Initiative & Scheduling, Connectivity & Security (HAI-SCS) Funding body: VIL ICON, Vlaamse Ministry. 3,614,990.00 EUR. Members: Skeyes, SABCA, Baloise, NSX, Orange, Helicus, IDlab-imec-UAntwerp, COSIC-KULeuven. Belgium.
• IMEC-UA A

  2020. Funding body: imec. Confidential EUR. Members: IDLab UAntwerp. Belgium.
• AI & Slicing 5G RAN

  2020. AI & Slicing 5G RAN. Funding body: Private. Confidential EUR. Members: Accelleran - imec-UAntwerp. Antwerp, Belgium.
• Better than Wired

  2020.Funding body: imec. Confidential EUR. Members: IDLab UAntwerp, IDLab UGhent. Belgium .
• 5G vehicular communications

  2020. Funding body: Private. Confidential EUR. Members: Toyota Belgium - imec-UAntwerp - imec UGent. Brussels, Belgium.
• IMEC-UA A

  2019. Funding body: imec. Confidential EUR. Members: IDLab UAntwerp. Belgium.
• Virtualized 5G RAN

  2019-2020. Funding body: Private. Confidential EUR. Members: Accelleran - imec-UAntwerp. Antwerp, Belgium.
• IMEC-UA A

  2018. Funding body: imec. Confidential EUR. Members: IDLab UAntwerp. Belgium.
• Virtual and Remote Laboratories

  2016-2017. Virtual and Remote Laboratories: analysis and research on new methodologies to improve the in-class and remote education. Funding body: University of Zaragoza - Academic Unit - Teaching and Learning Enhancement Program. 500.00 EU. Members: University of Zaragoza - iNiT Research Group. Teruel, Spain.

Participation on other projects

I participate(d) in the research related to the following research projects:

International & EU projects

• CONCORDA

  2017-2021. Connected Corridor for Driving Automation Funding body: CEF and INEA - European Commission. 48,000,000.00 EUR. Members: 26 European consortium partners.
• Protego

  2018-2021. Data-protection toolkit reducing risks in hospitals and care centers (Protego). Funding body: H2020 European Commission. 4,457,722.00 EUR. Members: GFI (SP), Southampton (UK), IBM (Israel), OSP (IT), Marina Salud (SP), UAlcala (SP), imec (BE), KUL (BE), ICatalyst (UK).
• FLEXNET

  2018-2021. Flexible IoT Networks for Value Creators (FLEXNET) Funding body: EU Celtic-Plus. 7,810,223.00 EUR. Members: 14 Research and Industry partners from 6 countries (Spain, imec Belgium, Canada, South Korea, Poland).
• ORCA

  2017-2020. Orchestration and Reconfiguration Control Architecture (ORCA). Funding body: H2020, European Commission. 4.936.475.00 EUR. Members: imec (BE), Trinity College Dublin (IR), Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (BE), Technische Universitet Dresden (DE), National Instruments Dresden GMBH (DE), Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (US), Martel GMBH (CH).
• WiSHFUL

  2015-2017. Wireless Software and Hardware platforms for Flexible and Unified radio and network controL (WiSHFUL) Funding body: H2020, European Commission. 5,171,001.00 EUR. Members: iMinds (BE), Trinity College Dublin (IE), CNIT (IT), TU Berlin (DE), nCENTRIC (BE), Rutjers (US), UFJR (BR), SNU (KR).
• CREW

  2010-2015. Cognitive Radio Experimentation World (CREW). Funding body: FP7, European Commission. 4,884,529.00 EUR. Members: iMinds (BE), imec (BE), Trinity College Dublin (IR), TU Dresden (DE), TCS, EADS, IJS (SI).

National projects

• SmartHighway

  2017-2020. Funding body: MOW and imec - Belgium. 1.500.000.00 EUR. Members: IMEC COT, IMEC-IDLAB, IMEC PERSYS, IMEC BAN, IMEC-WAVES-UGent, MOW, KU Leuven. Antwerpen, Belgium.
• CONNECT

  2015-2020. CONNECT. Funding body: Science Foundation Ireland (SFI). 24,251,878.00 EUR. Members: 10 Irish universities, 38 Industry partners. Dublin, Ireland.
• CTVR

  2010-2015. CTVR. Funding body: Science Foundation Ireland (SFI). 15,022,734.00 EUR. Members: 6 Universities, 68 Industry partners. Dublin, Ireland.
• Walkie-Talkie

  2012-2014. Walkie-Talkie: Vehicular Communication Systems to Enable Safer, Smarter, and Greener Transportation (TIN2011-27543-C03-01). Funding body: Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain. 100,000.00 EUR. Members: Polytechnic University of Valencia, University of Murcia, University of Zaragoza, Miguel Hernendez University of Elche. Valencia, Spain.
• SEISCIENTO

  2009-2011. SEISCIENTO: providing adapting ubiquitous services in vehicular contexts (TIN2008-06441-C02-01) Funding body: Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain. 157,000.00 EUR. Members: Polytechnic University of Valencia, University of Murcia. Valencia, Spain.
• SECURA-II

  2009-2010. SECURA-II: Support for QoS in Ubiquitous Computing Environments based on Wireless Ad hoc Networks. Funding body: Generalitat Valencia. 12,000.00 EUR. Members: Polytechnic University of Valencia. Valencia, Spain.