Born and raised in Belgium, I obtained academic degrees in my own country, as well as in the US and the UK, including a PhD in Literature from the University of Southern California (1990) and a second PhD, in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford (2009).

I had opportunities to share and exchange ideas in around 20 countries, delivering lectures and presentations as university professor (Soka University, Tokyo, Japan), as director of the Toda Peace Institute (Tokyo and Honolulu), and as Visiting Research Professor at Queen's University Belfast (Northern Ireland). I am a member of the Board of Directors of the International Peace Research Association Foundation.

Currently I am the director of the Min-On Music Research Institute (MOMRI) in Tokyo. In the field of peace studies, I focus on peacebuilding and the ways in which we can avoid and prevent violence by strengthening elements of the culture of peace here and now in our daily lives and communities. Further, I focus on the application of music in peacebuilding from various angles.

I always look forward to connecting with like-minded people from all backgrounds, enhancing my understanding of the topic, and to exploring new insights through discussions and exchanges, using some of my publications as a basis for dialogue: Music and Conflict Transformation: Harmonies and Dissonances in Geopolitics (editor, 2008, 2015, I.B. Tauris); Music and Solidarity: Questions of Universality, Consciousness and Connection (co-editor with Felicity Laurence, 2011, Transactions), Music, Power and Liberty: Sound, Song and Melody as Instruments of Change (co-editor with Craig Robertson, 2016, I.B. Tauris) and statement of values for our research on music in peacebuilding: a synthesis of Galtung and Ikeda’s peace theories in the Journal of Peace Education, Vol. 13, Iss. 3, 2016.