{"id":836,"date":"2026-06-15T11:30:03","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T11:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/?page_id=836"},"modified":"2026-07-19T15:20:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T15:20:12","slug":"keynote-speakers-2027","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/agri2027\/keynote-speakers-2027\/","title":{"rendered":"Agri2027 &#8211; Keynote speakers"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"836\" class=\"elementor elementor-836\" data-elementor-post-type=\"page\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3042dfa0 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"3042dfa0\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-54fff61 elementor-widget elementor-widget-spacer\" data-id=\"54fff61\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"spacer.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer-inner\"><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-fd41620 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"fd41620\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Keynote speakers<br>BrIAS Agri2027<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f5d9e35 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-nav-menu--dropdown-tablet elementor-nav-menu__text-align-aside elementor-nav-menu--toggle elementor-nav-menu--burger elementor-widget elementor-widget-nav-menu\" data-id=\"f5d9e35\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;layout&quot;:&quot;horizontal&quot;,&quot;submenu_icon&quot;:{&quot;value&quot;:&quot;&lt;svg aria-hidden=\\&quot;true\\&quot; class=\\&quot;e-font-icon-svg e-fas-caret-down\\&quot; viewBox=\\&quot;0 0 320 512\\&quot; xmlns=\\&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.w3.org\\\/2000\\\/svg\\&quot;&gt;&lt;path d=\\&quot;M31.3 192h257.3c17.8 0 26.7 21.5 14.1 34.1L174.1 354.8c-7.8 7.8-20.5 7.8-28.3 0L17.2 226.1C4.6 213.5 13.5 192 31.3 192z\\&quot;&gt;&lt;\\\/path&gt;&lt;\\\/svg&gt;&quot;,&quot;library&quot;:&quot;fa-solid&quot;},&quot;toggle&quot;:&quot;burger&quot;}\" data-widget_type=\"nav-menu.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<nav aria-label=\"Agri2027\" class=\"elementor-nav-menu--main elementor-nav-menu__container elementor-nav-menu--layout-horizontal e--pointer-underline e--animation-fade\">\n\t\t\t\t<ul id=\"menu-1-f5d9e35\" class=\"elementor-nav-menu\"><li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-home menu-item-987\"><a href=\"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/\" class=\"elementor-item\">Home<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-857\"><a href=\"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/agri2027\/registration-2027\/\" class=\"elementor-item\">Registration and fees<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-855\"><a href=\"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/agri2027\/abstract-submission-2027\/\" class=\"elementor-item\">Abstract submission<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-861\"><a href=\"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/agri2027\/keynote-speakers-2027\/\" class=\"elementor-item\">Keynote speakers<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-858\"><a href=\"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/agri2027\/program-2027\/\" class=\"elementor-item\">Programme<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-856\"><a href=\"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/agri2027\/committee-2027\/\" class=\"elementor-item\">Committee<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-860\"><a href=\"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/previous-editions\/\" class=\"elementor-item\">Previous editions<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-859\"><a href=\"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/conference-venue\/\" class=\"elementor-item\">Conference venue<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-854\"><a href=\"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/agri2027\/sponsors-2027\/\" class=\"elementor-item\">Sponsors<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-867\"><a href=\"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/agri2027\/field-trip-2027\/\" class=\"elementor-item\">Field trip<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\t\t\t<\/nav>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-menu-toggle\" role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-label=\"Menu Toggle\" aria-expanded=\"false\">\n\t\t\t<svg aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\" class=\"elementor-menu-toggle__icon--open e-font-icon-svg e-eicon-menu-bar\" viewBox=\"0 0 1000 1000\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M104 333H896C929 333 958 304 958 271S929 208 896 208H104C71 208 42 237 42 271S71 333 104 333ZM104 583H896C929 583 958 554 958 521S929 458 896 458H104C71 458 42 487 42 521S71 583 104 583ZM104 833H896C929 833 958 804 958 771S929 708 896 708H104C71 708 42 737 42 771S71 833 104 833Z\"><\/path><\/svg><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" role=\"presentation\" class=\"elementor-menu-toggle__icon--close e-font-icon-svg e-eicon-close\" viewBox=\"0 0 1000 1000\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M742 167L500 408 258 167C246 154 233 150 217 150 196 150 179 158 167 167 154 179 150 196 150 212 150 229 154 242 171 254L408 500 167 742C138 771 138 800 167 829 196 858 225 858 254 829L496 587 738 829C750 842 767 846 783 846 800 846 817 842 829 829 842 817 846 804 846 783 846 767 842 750 829 737L588 500 833 258C863 229 863 200 833 171 804 137 775 137 742 167Z\"><\/path><\/svg>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<nav class=\"elementor-nav-menu--dropdown elementor-nav-menu__container\" aria-hidden=\"true\">\n\t\t\t\t<ul id=\"menu-2-f5d9e35\" class=\"elementor-nav-menu\"><li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-home menu-item-987\"><a href=\"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/\" class=\"elementor-item\" tabindex=\"-1\">Home<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-857\"><a href=\"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/agri2027\/registration-2027\/\" class=\"elementor-item\" tabindex=\"-1\">Registration and fees<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-855\"><a href=\"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/agri2027\/abstract-submission-2027\/\" class=\"elementor-item\" tabindex=\"-1\">Abstract submission<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-861\"><a href=\"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/agri2027\/keynote-speakers-2027\/\" class=\"elementor-item\" tabindex=\"-1\">Keynote speakers<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-858\"><a href=\"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/agri2027\/program-2027\/\" class=\"elementor-item\" tabindex=\"-1\">Programme<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-856\"><a href=\"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/agri2027\/committee-2027\/\" class=\"elementor-item\" tabindex=\"-1\">Committee<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-860\"><a href=\"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/previous-editions\/\" class=\"elementor-item\" tabindex=\"-1\">Previous editions<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-859\"><a href=\"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/conference-venue\/\" class=\"elementor-item\" tabindex=\"-1\">Conference venue<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-854\"><a href=\"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/agri2027\/sponsors-2027\/\" class=\"elementor-item\" tabindex=\"-1\">Sponsors<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"menu-item menu-item-type-post_type menu-item-object-page menu-item-867\"><a href=\"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/agri2027\/field-trip-2027\/\" class=\"elementor-item\" tabindex=\"-1\">Field trip<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\t\t\t<\/nav>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-aae315c e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"aae315c\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-64085aef elementor-widget elementor-widget-spacer\" data-id=\"64085aef\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"spacer.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-spacer-inner\"><\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3d74c65d elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"3d74c65d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1>Prof. Eldert van Henten<\/h1><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><strong style=\"margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant-emoji: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 21.008px; line-height: inherit; font-family: BuckeyeSans, proximanova, Arial, sans-serif; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-language-override: inherit; color: #666666; letter-spacing: 0.4px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"color: #324a6d; font-family: Poppins, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: normal;\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.rgstatic.net\/ii\/profile.image\/1169334269411329-1655802423444_Q512\/Ej-Van-Henten.jpg\" alt=\"E.J. VAN HENTEN | Personal professor of Biosystems ...\" width=\"189\" height=\"189\" \/><\/strong><b style=\"color: #666666; font-family: BuckeyeSans, proximanova, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 21.008px; letter-spacing: 0.4px;\"><\/b><\/p><p><b>Short Bio:<\/b>\u00a0<\/p><p>Prof.dr.ir. Eldert J. van Henten is personal professor of Biosystems Engineering at the Agricultural Biosystems Engineering Group of Wageningen University. Van Henten is active in the field of agricultural robotics for close to 30 years. He is passionate about integrating fundamental concepts in vision and robotics into working demonstrators of agricultural robotics while addressing engineering scientific challenges at TRL 4 to 6. Contributing to various EU funded projects and leading the NWO funded Perspective Program FlexCraft, resulted in proof of concept demonstrators of fruit harvesting robots, autonomous field robots and a robot for manipulating chicken parts in the food processing industry as well as a wealth of insights into key robotic challenges and potential solution directions. Van Henten is (co-)author of more than 200 papers in peer reviewed journals and conference proceedings yielding an h-index of 45 in Scopus, 57 in Google Scholar and 48 in Research Gate. Between 2010 and 2023 he served as (co-)chair of various topic groups related to his agricultural robotics expertise within RoboNed, IEEE-RAS, ISHS and SPARC \u2013 euRobotics.<\/p><p><strong>Why autonomous robots are still not commonly used in greenhouses and what we can do about that\u2026<\/strong><\/p><p>A quick review of available technology in protected cultivation will reveal that there is quite some technology on the market and in use in advanced greenhouse operations. Still, even then these production systems heavily lean on human labour especially for the more complex and challenging tasks. Continuously growing labour costs and increasing challenges with the sourcing of sufficiently trained personnel pose a serious threat to labour intensive farming practices like protected cultivation. Support and substitution of human labour by machines is more frequently called for. Yet, in the more challenging tasks, the perception, cognition, decision making and eye-hand coordination of humans still excel those of machines. Until recently, no autonomous robotic solutions were adopted in greenhouse crop production, despite decades of research and development. This presentation will review the state of the art in greenhouse mechanisation and robotics and will address a number of technical and non-technical challenges for deployment of autonomous systems in the more complex operations in protected cultivation. Solution directions offering an opportunity to counter these challenges will be indicated. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-23cc307 elementor-widget-divider--view-line elementor-widget elementor-widget-divider\" data-id=\"23cc307\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"divider.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-divider\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-divider-separator\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-afdfb07 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"afdfb07\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1>Prof. Matthias Erb<\/h1><p>\u00a0<\/p><p><strong style=\"margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variant-emoji: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 21.008px; line-height: inherit; font-family: BuckeyeSans, proximanova, Arial, sans-serif; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-language-override: inherit; color: #666666; letter-spacing: 0.4px;\"><img alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1029 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260507_Erb-45-252x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"189\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260507_Erb-45-252x300.jpg 252w, https:\/\/briasagri.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260507_Erb-45-859x1024.jpg 859w, https:\/\/briasagri.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260507_Erb-45-768x915.jpg 768w, https:\/\/briasagri.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260507_Erb-45-300x358.jpg 300w, https:\/\/briasagri.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260507_Erb-45-850x1013.jpg 850w, https:\/\/briasagri.be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/260507_Erb-45.jpg 912w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 189px) 100vw, 189px\" \/><\/strong><\/p><p><strong>Short Bio:<\/strong><\/p><p>Matthias Erb holds a Professorship in Biotic Interactions at the University of Bern, Switzerland. He studied at ETHZ and Imperial College London before doing his PhD with Ted Turlings at the University of Neuch\u00e2tel and working as a Junior Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology. His work explores the impact of plant chemicals on plant-environment interactions, with a focus on root exudates and volatiles.\u00a0<\/p><p><strong>Plant volatile perception<\/strong><\/p><p>Plant leaves respond to stress volatiles from their environment. How they perceive these volatiles is poorly understood. Over the last years, we explored how maize leaves respond to volatiles from herbivore-attacked neighbors. This work resulted in several novel insights into the mechanisms underlying plant volatile perception. We are now leveraging these findings to develop approaches to reprogram maize defenses at the field scale.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-964e912 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"964e912\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Keynote speakersBrIAS Agri2027 Prof. Eldert van Henten \u00a0 Short Bio:\u00a0 Prof.dr.ir. Eldert J. van Henten is personal professor of Biosystems Engineering at the Agricultural Biosystems Engineering Group of Wageningen University&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":980,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_canvas","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"class_list":["post-836","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=836"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1032,"href":"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/836\/revisions\/1032"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briasagri.be\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}