The founder and driving force behind Transition Stories is Wouter Cyx. He graduated as an industrial engineer - electromechanics and has a master's degree in Public Management from the Antwerp Management School. In 2008 he started his career at VITO as a building energy researcher. In addition, he was guest lecturer 'energy efficiency in buildings' at the Hogeschool Brussel from 2009 to 2013. In 2011 he made the switch to the City of Antwerp, where he was responsible for the development and management of strategic energy projects. An example of this was the development and implementation of the first heat network in Antwerp, in the city area Nieuw Zuid. He was also the driving force behind the development of the strategic energy vision. At the end of 2016 he left the city of Antwerp to fully devote himself to the successful start-up of the company Kelvin Solutions. Wouter combines a technical baggage with a wide range of knowledge about business administration and policy sciences. Through trial and error he has learned how technical projects can be translated into a vision for which public support is created.
Emma Adriaensen is the youngest member of our team. She graduated in political science at KU Leuven and obtained a master's degree in Governance Networks at Erasmus University in Rotterdam. This gave her a good academic basis with experience abroad to join the policy development and participation processes around local energy and climate policy.
The start of her career was dominated by the translation and application of national regulations on quality assurance within the accountancy profession.
Emma joined Transition Stories in 2020 as Junior Expert in Policy and Participation in local energy, climate and circular economy policies. From the start Emma is involved in, amongst others, the participation trajectories and policy underpinning of local climate plans, the elaboration of a blueprint "Business Parks of the Future" and the execution of market research & strategies for the start-up of cooperation projects on business parks.
In her personal life, Emma has played an active role in local youth councils and local associations for many years. This has given Emma a good feel for how local advisory councils work and the challenges that local authorities face in this area.
Peter is passionate and skilled in uniting people, ideas and technology for a sustainable future. He has built an exceptional track record in managing complex European projects and driving innovation & network thinking in the energy sector and IoT.
The foundations of his career as a qualified business engineer were laid at the University of Antwerp and VOKA. His further experience at VITO as an innovation developer led, among other things, to the establishment of Flux50 and paved the way for his entrepreneurial career at Condugo and Venture Link. In short, Peter is a connector, innovation thinker and network thinker who feels completely at home within the challenges of policy, energy technology and participation with economic and policy stakeholders.
At Transition Stories, Peter is an important link in setting up all kinds of collaborations between governments and companies and in devising business models around concrete sustainability projects on business parks (energy efficiency, iOT, mobility, renewable energy).
In his personal life, Peter is a committed cyclist and swimmer. After the sporting effort, he likes to find mental relaxation with, for example, a good book.
Katelijne Schiltz has gained a lot of experience in Senegal and at Unizo and Velt, among others, Katelijne decided to start a new chapter at Transition Stories.
As a working student, she recently graduated as a Sociologist from UA. Herewith she showed her work ethic and managed to gain a good academic basis in participatory processes in local energy and climate policy. Her greatest substantive passion is the climate justice topic.
Katelijne started at Transition Stories in 2022 as Junior Expert Policy and Participation around local policy in energy, climate and circular economy. From the start, Katelijne has been engaged in, among other things, the participation processes and policy substantiation of local climate plans and the development of the trainings offered Transition Stories since 2022.
In her personal life, Katelijne can be found at the seaside, or on a sailing yacht where she enjoys endless sea views.
Nathalie Van Yck joined the team in 2022. She has a bachelor degree in journalism, giving her a keen eye for text and image. Her interest in conscious and organic living has been a common thread in her life for the past decade and eventually led her to Transition Stories where she takes care of administration and a part of project support.
After her education, she mainly worked in administrative positions where management, communication and customer contact were key. The combination of skills and interests makes Nathalie feel at home in our team.
In her personal life, Nathalie is quite busy with her family. She also enjoys reading, writing, hiking in the woods and holidays in France.
Erik combines a large technical baggage with experience and interest in sustainability and climate adaptation. He started his career in 2006 at KU Leuven as a researcher and technical advisor in the department of biomedical kinesiology. In 2009, he joined Aquafin as area engineer and later as "study manager rainwater plan" where, in addition to designing sewerage, he supported urban water management. Among other things, he did an energy and water study together with Circular/Ducoop where the feasibility of a CESCo -a new circular housing concept- was investigated.
He recently moved to Transition Stories to fully play his role as "transition accelerator." In this, he complements his technical background with setting up collaborations to set up sustainability projects.
Erik earned a master's degree in civil electrical and mechanical engineering, majoring in mechanics with an option in biomedical engineering from the Catholic University of Leuven in 2006.
In his spare time, Erik enjoys engaging in useless DIY projects and pulling miles on his bike.
