We have supervised several EuroScholars students over the last 10 years in our laboratories at the Department of Chemistry at KU Leuven.

Overall it has been a very positive experience for all people involved. I liked the initiative very much as it further contributed to internationalization of my group. The EuroScholars students all were highly motivated and worked hard on their project, together with a local mentor (Ph.D. student or postdoctoral associate).

Quite oftern (a) publication(s) resulted from the internship. The following EuroScholars students published 1 or more publications:

P. Yuan (University of California, Berkely) and M.L. Clark (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute).

In 2022, we have submitted another publication: “A novel bis-boron complex prepared via a one-pot reaction and evaluation of its photophysical properties”. A publication in which one of our EuroScholars students contributed aswell.

I am convinced also for the EuroScholars students themselves that it was an interesting experience, being exposed to a different cultural and learning environment. Afterwards I stayed in touch with the EuroScholars students, and learned that many of them went on to do a successful Ph.D. in the USA and pursue successful careers.

Currently, the Department of Chemistry is offering the following research projects within the EuroScholars Program:

• Modification of natural products with medicinal products
• Multicomponent reactions
• Synthesis of novel fluorescent materials  
• Modification of natural products with medicinal activity
• Synthesis and characterization of thia analogues of pillararenes
• Synthesis of Heterocycles with AntiCoronavirus activity