Second Opinion | FTI
Healthcare changemakers present their concrete challenges to leading artists and cultural creators during Second Opinion on Thursday, 22 October, at M Leuven.
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What if artists offered a second opinion on the biggest challenges facing healthcare?
During Second Opinion, we bring together a select group of healthcare leaders, artists, cultural practitioners and creative thinkers to explore the future of care. Drawing on their diverse perspectives, they explore new ways of thinking and unexpected solutions to tomorrow’s challenges. Because perhaps the greatest innovation in healthcare begins not only with technology, but also with imagination, empathy and a new way of looking at what it means to be human.
Putting Healthcare’s Challenges on the Table
Today, the healthcare sector has access to unprecedented medical and technological capabilities, yet it faces major challenges. Staff shortages, rising costs and growing demand for care are putting organisations under pressure. In this context, how can we build a healthcare system that not only heals, but also connects, empowers and gives meaning?
What if Healthcare Itself Got a Second Opinion?
What if we applied the concept of a second opinion to the challenges facing the healthcare sector? During Second Opinion, healthcare professionals present their real-world challenges to artists and cultural practitioners. Through their unique perspectives, new insights and fresh ideas emerge for the future of care.
What Can Artists Bring to the Table?
Bringing healthcare professionals together with artists and cultural practitioners creates space to explore societal challenges through different disciplines. What happens when an artist approaches, from a different perspective, the challenges that healthcare organisations grapple with every day?
Culture creates space for imagination, empathy and new ways of seeing. These qualities are also present in healthcare and, through dialogue with artists and cultural practitioners, can open up new perspectives on the challenges of tomorrow.
The greatest innovation in healthcare stems not only from technological progress, but also from new perspectives on what health, wellbeing and humanity mean. In an era of superhuman capabilities, we need a human second opinion more than ever.
Keynote speaker: Nils Fietje
Nils Fietje of the WHO (World Health Organization) is a pioneer and expert in evidence-based research into the use of culture as an effective tool in healthcare.
Healthcare Sector Invitees
- Margot Cloet (Managing Director of Zorgnet-Icuro)
- Magali Feys (Director of General Policy and Chief of Staff to Frank Vandenbroucke, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Social Affairs)
- Tom De Boeck (Director-General of Opgroeien)
- Mathias Neelen (Policy Adviser to Caroline Gennez, Flemish Minister for Culture and Care)
- Dirk De Ridder (Director of Quality at UZ Leuven)
- Riet Ory (Director of Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation at CM)
- Katrien Van Gerven (General Director of Regional Hospital Heilig Hart Leuven)
- Bart Tirez (Regional Director of Familiehulp Leuven)
- Mohamed Abdulkahim (Psychiatrist)
- Jan Vanwezer (Director of Residential Care Centre De Wingerd and Co-founder of LIVEZ)
Cultural Sector Invitees
- Koen Van Mechelen (Visual artist, social thinker and founder of LABIOMISTA)
- Sarah Vandeursen (TV creator, actress, presenter and singer)
- Adriaan Severins (Sound artist and theatre-maker)
- Elise Caluwaerts (Soprano, Global Eisenhower Fellow 2025, recipient of the Hap & Marcia Wagner Fellowship Award, and founder of DeMaestros)
- Sarah Bekambo (Multidisciplinary artist, programmer and curator)
- Els De Bodt (General Director of LOV2030)
- Micha Hamel (Composer, poet, theatre-maker and researcher)
- Lotte Martens (Textile designer and creative entrepreneur)
- Dirk De Lathauwer (Director of fABULEUS)
The network
FTI brings people, ideas and disciplines together to imagine what our future could look like. Drawing on science, technology, culture and entrepreneurship, we create space for new perspectives, unexpected encounters and ideas that are already shaping the world of tomorrow. Second Opinion is part of the FTI Leuven Festival, bringing these different worlds together to explore the future of care.
Second Opinion builds on the European conference Culture & Care: A Joint Call for Change, which took place in Leuven on 26 and 27 February 2026 as part of Body & Soul and LOV2030 – Leuven & Beyond, European Capital of Culture 2030. The initiative is organised by the City of Leuven through LEF vzw, in collaboration with In4Care.
Discover our Body&Soul projects
Folded Memory
Folded Memory explores how Leuven can create space for loss, farewell, and comfort. Through art, textiles, and encounters, the project builds a city where no one has to carry their loss alone.
Culture & Care
With Culture & Care, we zoom in on how culture and care can reinforce each other in addressing today’s societal challenges.
What if a cultural experience can be just as valuable as a consultation?
What if art doesn’t just inspire, but also contributes to greater resilience, connection, and well-being?