Practical Information
On this page you can find more practical information about the conference. We will regularly update this page, so keep an eye out for new information. If you have any questions in the meantime, don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
Conference venue
Main conference venue
All conference activities, aside from the concert and city tour, will take place in the beautiful historical Sint-Pieters Abbey in the city centre of Ghent.
Address: Sint-Pietersplein 9, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
More information about how to reach the venue is available in the ‘transportation’ section.
To find the room in which your panel is taking place, please consult the online program (rather than the pdf version), as this will always have the most up-to-date information reflecting any potential last minute changes that are not yet integrated into the pdf version of the program.
Concert & talk back : ‘What Can the Arts Do for Transitional Justice?’
The concert and talk back are scheduled on Thursday the 14th of March at 20:00 and take place at the movie theatre ‘Plateau’, Paddenhoek 3, Ghent.
Decolonial walk in Ghent city
The decolonial walk is scheduled on Saturday the 16th of March at 10:00 and starts from the entrance of library ‘De Krook’, at Miriam Makebaplein 1, Ghent.
Hotels & transportation
Booking your accommodation
A variety of hotels, located in proximity to the conference venue, have been reserved at preferential rates for in-person delegates. Please consult this list to view the options. The offered rooms are subject to availability.
Getting to Ghent
By train (from Brussels Airport)
The most convenient way to reach Ghent from Brussels Airport is by train. There are regular direct train connections (journey time approx. 55 minutes), or connections with transfer in Brussels (journey time approx. 65 minutes). The train station at Brussels Airport is located directly under the departures and arrival halls, at level -1. The platform is easily reached by lift or escalator.
The Gent-Sint-Pieters railway station is closest to the location of the conference and to the city centre of Ghent.
For train schedules, see www.belgiantrain.be/en
By taxi
More information on how to use a taxi to and in Ghent can be found here.
By car
More information on how to reach Ghent by car can be found here. Please read this information carefully as the city centre is a low emission zone and has several car-free areas.
Other ways to get to Ghent
A complete overview of different ways to get to Ghent can be found on the Visit Gent website.
Directions to the Sint-Pieters Abbey
All conference activities, aside from the concert and city tour, will take place in the Sint-Pieters Abbey, Sint-Pietersplein 9, Ghent.
Please note that while the Sint-Pieters Abbey is located on Sint-Pietersplein, it is not in the same location as the Gent-Sint-Pieters railway station – they are 1,5km away from each other.
By public transport
You can use this route planner to plan your trip by using public transport: https://www.delijn.be/en/routeplanner/
You can buy tickets online here or you can buy tickets at a public transport shop, called the ‘Lijnwinkel’. There is one located next to the Gent-Sint-Pieters railway station, and another in the city centre at the Korenmarkt square. Some stops have ticket vending machines as well.
From the Gent-Sint-Pieters railway station, you can take the following bus lines to the stop ‘Gent Heuvelpoort’ : 34, 55, 70, 71, 76, 77, 78. From there, you can walk to the Sint-Pieters Abbey.
From the stops Ottogracht, Sint-Jacobs, and Zuid (Woodrow Wilsonplein), you can take bus 5a and 5b to the stop ‘Sint-Amandstraat’.
By bike
Riding a bicycle is the most used mode of transportation for going to work or to school in Ghent. You can find more information on getting around by bike here.
By taxi
More information on how to use a taxi in Ghent can be found here.
By car
There is an underground car park next to the Sint-Pieters Abbey, at Sint-Pietersplein 65, Ghent. It is open 24/7 and the maximum price is €1,5 per hour. If you park your car for more than 9 hours and less than 24 hours, you’ll pay €9,5.
More information on how to reach Ghent by car can be found here. Please read this information carefully as the city centre is a low emission zone and has several car-free areas.
Other ways of getting around in Ghent
More information on getting around in Ghent can be found here.
Online participation
Online program
In an effort to be more inclusive and accessible to a global audience, we will livestream plenary sessions and offer an online program. Delegates presenting online can use the meeting links shared with them via email and via the website to gain access to their sessions, and other online sessions they wish to attend.
The format for each activity is indicated in the programme, and a filter can be used in the programme tab of this website to view activities that are accessible online.
The following in-person sessions will be livestreamed:
- Conference Kick-off & Keynote Session (Wednesday)
- Justice Visions Plenaries (Thursday and Friday)
- Closing Remarks (Friday)
For non-presenting delegates, online participation is free of charge but registration is required to access the meeting links on the conference website. We have also allocated conference rooms for on-site delegates who wish to attend online panels of interest, please consult the rooms indicated in the programme.
Please note that due to high demand, we have also opened hybrid panels to online audiences.
Technical information for participating online
In case you are unfamiliar with the Teams platform, you can consult this short user manual. It contains instructions, for example, to test your configurations in advance to ensure all works well.
We strongly encourage you to have a look at this information prior to the start of the conference, and are always available to answers questions via justicevisions@ugent.be.
Please note that delegates presenting online (either as part of an online or a hybrid session) should have received a personal Teams invitation via email. Please use your invitation to access your session, as it grants you rights to using video, audio and sharing a presentation on-screen.
When attending online as non-presenting delegates, please refer to the webpage with access links that has been shared with you via email.
– For panel sessions, you will join the Teams meeting as non-presenting attendee. Non-presenting attendees will not be able to turn on camera or sound, but this can be selectively enabled by the chair during the Q&A. Everyone can use the chat function.
– For the Kick-off & Keynote, the Justice Visions Plenaries on Thursday and Friday morning, and the Closing Remarks, the links will direct you to the session livestream on YouTube.
Registration and fees
Presenting delegates
Participation in the program is free of charge for presenting delegates, and includes all catering (if in-person). Registration for presenting delegates has closed and no further additions to the program can be accommodated. We will inform presenting delegates of important updates to the program via email.
For those delegates interested in joining the cultural activities on Thursday evening and Saturday morning, we ask that you please register here. Participation is free of charge, but places are limited.
All in-person delegates can collect their badge on Wednesday between 13:00 and 17:00, or on Thursday or Friday morning between 8:30 and 9:00 am.
Non-presenting delegates
Non-presenting delegates can register for in-person or online conference attendance until 8 March 2024. All registration options (including cultural activities) are available here. While most participation options are free of charge (welcome event, cultural program, online attendance), there is a fee (covering catering and other organizational costs) for non-presenting delegates who wish to join in-person on Thursday and/or Friday.
All in-person delegates can collect their badge on Wednesday between 13:00 and 17:00, or on Thursday or Friday morning between 8:30 and 9:00 am.
Sustainability notice
For those attending the Ghent-based event in person, we strongly encourage you to use public transport for your travel whenever possible. We ensure local, sustainable, and vegan/vegetarian catering throughout the event. We will not print the conference brochure, and will limit single-use materials.
Catering & social activities
Social and cultural activities can be joined for free by all delegates, but we do ask that you register in advance in the ‘registration tab’.
Vegetarian and vegan catering during lunch and coffee breaks is provided for presenting delegates free of charge.
Uploading papers
Paper presenters will be asked to upload their (draft) papers between February 21 and 5 March 2024 on the conference website, so that session chairs and fellow presenters can prepare for the session optimally. We do not foresee to publish the papers in conference proceedings, but may reach out to you regarding future publication opportunities.
Paper guidelines:
- Focus: Choose one of the questions from your stream as the organizing principle
- Length: between 5000-7000 words
- Format: Chicago 17th (author – date) style guide
You will receive an invitation via e-mail to access the secure document library that has been created for sharing conference papers. Please check your spam folder, or use this link in case you have not received the e-mail.
When following the link/invitation, you may be prompted by Ghent University to ‘log in’ to the system. Simply enter your e-mail address (the e-mail address that we use to communicate with you) to gain access.
We ask that you save your paper as a PDF file and use the following naming convention: Last name author(s)_Paper title. Then locate your panel in the folder structure of the document library and use the ‘upload’ button for uploading your file.
