Axel Faes
Postdoctoral Researcher
- Data Scientist
- Computational Neuroscientist
- Computer Engineer
References
Liesbet M. Peeters
liesbet.peeters[at]uhasselt.be
Associate Professor (Postdoc advisor) Biomedical Data Sciences
Marc Van Hulle
marc.vanhulle[at]kuleuven.be
Full Professor (PhD advisor) Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology
Work & Research Experience
Postdoctoral Researcher: Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare
UHasselt
January 2024 - Current
- Scientific Coordinator of the Flanders AI Research program, Use Case Real World Evidence.
-
Technical Machine Learning lead of the Biomedical Data Sciences Group, UHasselt
Postdoctoral Researcher: Brain-Computer Interfacing and Machine Learning
KU Leuven
May 2023 - January 2024
- Project: "Sign Language Alphabet decoding from intracranial brain activity"
-
Group: Prof. Marc van Hulle, Computational Neuroscience, Laboratory for Neuro-and Psychophysiology, KU Leuven
Data Science Consultant
Flanders BCI
2022 - 2024
- Provided consulancy for physical experiments using Synamps RT and Neuvo EEG Systems.
-
Supported the data analysis for hybrid BCI with new analytical EEG modeling techniques & signal detection- and classification algorithms.
-
Infer emotion from EEG signals using machine learning techniques.
-
Usage of ECoG signals from semi-invasive recording for imagined movement detection and language processing.
Research Stay Idrogenet Srl, Gloreha: Robotic Rehabilitation
Lumezzane, Italy
Dec. 2022 - Jan. 2023
- Develop custom software for the control of the Gloreha robotic rehabilitation device,
-
Specifically the R-TOUCH PRO Sinfonia, a custom-built robotic exoskeleton for hand rehabilitation.
PhD Researcher in Computational Neuroscience
KU Leuven
Sep. 2018 - May 2023
- Cognitive and Molecular Neuroscience
-
PhD Thesis: Finger Movement Decoding: From Source-Localisation to Tensor Regression Modelling
Web Performance Research Internship
UHasselt
Jul. 2016 - Sep. 2016
- I worked on the iMinds PRO-FLOW project @ Expertise centre for Digital Media (EDM)
-
focus on the difference between the http versions (http1.1, https, http2).
Summer Research Internship Physical Computing
UHasselt
Aug. 2015 - Sep. 2015
- Interfacing between human entity, a drone and virtual objects @ Expertise centre for Digital Media (EDM).
-
(C++, Optitrack motion capture, custom built drone)
Teaching & Academic Activities
Bio-informatica (3740) Co-lecturer (co-titularis)
UHasselt
Sept. 2025 - Sept. 2026
BKO (Basis Kwalificatie Onderwijs) traject - Onderwijsprofessionalisering
UHasselt
2025
Data Science in Healthcare - Data Science in de gezondheidszorg (4747) Lecturer (lid onderwijsteam)
UHasselt
Sept. 2025 - Dec. 2025
Advanced Topics in Data Science (4569 & 4585) Lecturer Federted Learning (lid onderwijsteam)
UHasselt
June 2024 - Sept. 2025
Bio-informatica (3740) Co-lecturer (co-titularis)
UHasselt
Sept. 2024 - Sept. 2025
Guest Associate Editor Use of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in Multiple Sclerosis
Frontiers in Immunology
2024 - 2025
VLAIO Evaluator for BAEKELAND SPIN OFF MANDATES
VLAIO
2025
Student Research Competition Judge (International Conference on Functional Programming)
ICFP
2024
Brain-Computer Interfacing (B-KUL-H08M0A) Guest Lecturer
KU Leuven
2022-2025
Educational background
Flemish Sign Language course
Flemish Sign Language Centre (Vlaams Gebarentaal Centrum)
Sep. 2022 - May 2024
- Graduates are able to engage in day-to-day conversations with deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals.
Doctoral Programme in Biomedical Science (PhD) in Computational Neuroscience
KU Leuven
Sep. 2018 - May 2023
- Cognitive and Molecular Neuroscience
-
PhD Thesis: Finger Movement Decoding: From Source-Localisation to Tensor Regression Modelling
Advanced Master of Science in Engineering (M.Sc.) in Artificial Intelligence
KU Leuven
Sep. 2017 - Jul. 2019
- Engineering and Computer Science (76% - Cum Laude)
-
Thesis: An Information Theoretical Approach to EEG Source-Reconstructed Connectivity (on Github)
Honoursprogramme of the Faculty of Engineering Science (Research Track)
KU Leuven
Sep. 2016 - Oct. 2018
- Research Assistant: design of type-&-effect system for Eff based on row polymorphism
-
Research Assistent: efficient compilation of algebraic effect handlers (in Eff)
Master of Science in Engineering (M.Sc.) in Computer Science (Burgelijk Ingenieur - ir.)
KU Leuven
Sep. 2016 - Sep. 2018
- Artificial Intelligence & Theoretical Computer Science (76% - Cum Laude)
-
Thesis: Algebraic Subtyping for Algebraic Effects and Handlers (on Github)
Business Summer School: United in Manchester (0739)
The University of Manchester
Jul. 2015 - Aug. 2015
Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Computer Science
UHasselt
Sep. 2013 - Jul. 2016
- Physics and General courses (79% - Magna Cum Laude)
-
Thesis: Machine learning techniques for flow-based network intrusion detection systems (on Github)
Honors & Awards
| Jan 2018 |
FWO Fundamental Research Grant,
FWO
|
Belgium |
| Mar 2018 |
Finalist,
Cyber Security Challenge 2018
|
Brussels, Belgium |
| Sep 2017 |
3rd place,
ICFP 2017 Student Research Competition
|
Oxford, UK |
| Jul 2016 |
Bachelor Award,
in Computer Science
|
UHasselt, Belgium |
| May 2016 |
3rd place,
ACM CHI 2016 Student Design Competition
|
San Jose, CA, USA |
| Feb 2016 |
2nd place,
BeGDC (Belgian Game Development Championship)
|
Brussel, Belgium |
| Jan 2016 |
IELTS,
Academic Module (8.0/9.0)
|
Brussel, Belgium |
Grants & (open-source) Projects
Federated Learning for Population Health Management
Co-promotor
2025 - Current
- FWO Senior Research Project (2025)
-
Project: "Federated Learning for Population Health Management"
-
Funding: Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Belgium (applied, result expected in September 2025)
-
Amount: approx. €1,150,000 (including salaries and operational costs for 4 years)
Use Case Real World Evidence – Flanders AI Research Program
Scientific Coordinator
2024 - Current
- Funding: Flemish government (FAIR program)
-
Duration: 2024–2028
-
Role: Scientific coordinator (UHasselt) and AI content lead
-
Team: approx. 10 researchers across 4 institutions
ELIXIR Belgium – Roadmap 2023–2025
Consortium Partner
2023 - 2025
- Funding: FWO (approx. €11M in total, with contributions from BELSPO and FNRS)
-
Duration: 2023–2025
-
Role: Consortium partner (UHasselt), focusing on health data re-use and federated analyses
-
Collaborations: KU Leuven (Yves Moreau), University of Antwerp (Geert Vandeweyer), VIB (Frederik Coppens)
-
Context: ELIXIR Belgium is part of ELIXIR Europe, an ESFRI initiative funded by the European Commission and national agencies
Cardinal: scripting language
Lead Developer
Jan. 2015 - Current
- Written in C (and since 2023, in C++14). High performance (on par with Luajit 2.1 -joff).
ICAL parser for KU Leuven schedules
Lead Developer
Aug. 2016 - Current
- An nodejs application to create an iCalender file for courses at KU Leuven. (>1000 active users)
Household Survival
Researcher
Sep. 2015 - Dec. 2015
- A tower-defense game written in Unity utilising Optitrack motion capture.
-
Combine the virtual world and reality using augmented reality
Publications
Papers in Preparation
| [1] |
Axel Faes
Liesbet Peeters
"Block-Term Tensor Decomposition for Signal Reconstruction"
Submitted to (in preparation)
|
| [2] |
Valentina Pergher*
Axel Faes*
Yide Li
Marc M. Van Hulle
(* equal contribution)
"How stimulus type and task structure can affect ERP signatures"
Submitted to Frontiers in Psychology, section Cognition (2.6 IF) (Under review)
|
| [3] |
Anh Phuong Do
Axel Faes
et al.
"Individual Reference Intervals for Clinical Event Prediction"
Submitted to IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics (6.7 IF) (Under review)
|
| [4] |
Dongho Chun
Axel Faes
"Effects on clustering algorithms based on classification of Atrial Fibrillation based on ECG data"
(In preparation)
(senior author)
|
| [5] |
Ward Ceyssens
Axel Faes
"Cross Subject training for finger movement decoding with high-density ECoG"
Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering (4.6 IF) (Under review)
(senior author)
|
| [6] |
Dries Cornelissen
Axel Faes
"Block-Term Decomposition for arrhythmia detection and prediction on sinus rhythms"
Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering (4.6 IF) (Under review)
(senior author)
|
| [7] |
Meseret Assefa Kerga
Axel Faes
"Predicting Cirrhosis Patient Survival Using Machine Learning: A Data-Driven Approach"
Submitted to IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics (6.7 IF) (Under review)
(senior author)
|
International Journal Papers
Conference Papers
| [17] |
Axel Faes
Ashkan Pirmani
Yves Moreau
Liesbet Peeters
"Applying Federated Learning to Block-Term Tensor Regression for Decentralised Data Analysis of Biomedical Data"
IEEE Conference on Federated Learning Technologies and Applications (IEEE FLTA 2025)
Spotlight
|
| [18] |
Qiang Sun
Eva Calvo Merino
Liuyin Yang
Axel Faes
Marc Van Hulle
"Proprioceptive Feedback Challenges Motor Intention Detection from EEG during Human-Exoskeleton Interaction"
Proceedings of 2025 International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (ICORR) 2025
|
| [19] |
Robin Marx
Maarten Wijnants
Peter Quax
Axel Faes
Wim Lamotte
"Web Performance Characteristics of HTTP/2 and comparison to HTTP/1.1"
International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies, pg 87-114
|
| [20] |
Robin Marx
Peter Quax
Axel Faes
Wim Lamotte
"Concatenation, embedding and sharding: Do HTTP/1 performance best practices make sense in HTTP/2?"
WEBIST 2017 - Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies
|
Other publication
Publications
Thesis
Posters
Extended Abstracts
Supervised students, talks and other media
Students
| [1] |
"Brecht Heeren"
Master of Science in Computer Science (2025-2026)
Federated Machine Learning for Health Data
|
| [2] |
"Denzell Mgbokwere"
Master of Science in Computer Science (2025-2026)
Optimalisatie en Typechecking in Single-Pass Compilers - een casestudy met de Wren Programming Language
|
| [3] |
"Robert Rysskin"
Master of Science in Computer Science (2025-2026)
Herontwerp van Wren Bytecode - Naar Efficiëntere Executie en Geheugengebruik
|
| [4] |
"Anh Phuong DO"
Doctoral Program in Sciences, Statistics (co-promotor)
Individual Reference Intervals for Clinical Event Prediction
|
| [5] |
"Matteo Ramina"
Master Statistics & Data Science (2024-2025)
Estimating Household Wealth in Guyana - Remote Sensing and Convolutional Neural Network Approach
|
| [6] |
"Mohsen Soleimanisemsani"
Master Statistics & Data Science (2024-2025)
AI for time series imputation
|
| [7] |
"Meseret Assefa Kerga"
Master Statistics & Data Science (2024-2025)
Predicting Cirrhosis Patient Survival Using Machine Learning - A Data-Driven Approach
|
| [8] |
"Dongho Chun"
Master of Science in Computer Science (2024-2025)
Clustering with Cardiovascular Health Data
|
| [9] |
"Dries Cornelissen"
Master of Science in Computer Science (2024-2025)
BTTR for arrhythmia detection/prediction on sinus rhythms
|
| [10] |
"Ward Ceyssens"
Master of Science in Computer Science (2024-2025)
Cross Subject training for finger movement decoding with high-density ECoG
|
| [11] |
"Qiang Sun"
Doctoral Program in Biomedical Sciences (daily supervision 2022-2023)
Hand exoskeleton dexterity achieved by shared control with a semi-invasive brain-computer interface
|
| [12] |
"Eva Calvo Merino"
Doctoral Program in Biomedical Sciences (daily supervision 2022-2023)
Restoring finger dexterity with an exoskeleton controlled by human intracranial recordings
|
| [13] |
"Aurélie de Borman"
Internship Student 2021
Investigating the effect of Source Mixing on Directed Connectivity estimated between Simulated Reconstructed EEG Sources
|
| [14] |
"Diogo Sousa Morais"
Internship Student 2021
Estimating the effectiveness of source localized EEG for BCIs
|
| [15] |
"Guilherme de Borras Silva"
Internship Student 2021
Cluster Permutation Analysis of N-Back related EEG-ERP Data
|
| [16] |
"Iris Vantieghem"
Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence (2020-2021)
Using Neural Networks to derive Directed Connectivity between Reconstructed EEG Sources
|
| [17] |
"Didier Quintius"
Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence (2020-2021)
Neural Network Approach to the Inverse Problem
|
Supervised students, talks and other media
Talks, presentations and other media