The speaker: Sophie Van Eck Sophie Van Eck is a Professor at the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics of ULB. Her research focuses on the chemical composition of stars—particularly evolved red giant stars—as well as stellar binarity. Her field of expertise is therefore stellar astrophysics. After completing her PhD at the Faculty of Sciences of the Université libre de Bruxelles, Sophie Van Eck pursued a postdoctoral position at the European headquarters (Munich) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). She then returned to ULB, where she held a postdoctoral position followed by a role as a qualified researcher with the FNRS. She is currently a Professor in the Department of Physics within the Faculty of Sciences at ULB.