Lukas (b. 2000) studied History at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (2022–2025) and Art History at Ghent University (2018–2022). His research centers on the colonial history of Central Africa.
His MA thesis in History explored everyday forms of violence in the early years of the Belgian Congo, following the end of Leopold II’s notorious red rubber regime. For this work, he was awarded the Dr. Renée De Bock-Doehaerd Prize in 2025, recognizing the best master’s thesis with a historical focus at VUB. The thesis was later adapted into the article “After Red Rubber: Violence and Early Colonial Governance in Belgian Congo (1908–1914)”, submitted to The Journal of Belgian History.
As a member of SHOC, Lukas is contributing to the DIGICOLJUST 2 project, “Military Violence and Its (Dis)Contents in Colonial Congo”. This collaborative initiative between ULB, VUB, and the Belgian State Archives investigates themes such as colonial violence, subaltern agency, impunity, and military misconduct in both the Congo Free State (1885–1908) and Belgian Congo (1908–1960). Drawing on military tribunal archives, Lukas will examine how murder and violence were legally addressed in early colonial Congo, as well as the methodological challenges posed by these sources.
In parallel, he is preparing an FWO application for a PhD project on the emergence and application of “mental sciences” (psychology and psychiatry) in colonial French-speaking Central Africa between 1900 and 1960.