lip Verneert holds a PhD in Arts (KU Leuven/LUCA School of Arts) with a thesis on the potential of musical improvisation in connecting participatory music projects and formal music education. He has a Master's degree in Educational Sciences, completed a postgraduate degree in Psychotherapy (systemic therapy), and studied jazz guitar at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles. Since 2009, Filip has been director of Muziekmozaïek vzw, the organization for folk and jazz music in Belgium, editor-in-chief of the Flemish magazine Jazz & Mo’, and chairman of the B-Jazz International Contest, an international competition and network for young jazz musicians. As co-organizer of Ethno Flanders, Filip is a member of the Ethno Committee, an international steering group that ensures that the Ethno program develops in a sustainable and democratic manner. Musically, he plays with the Filip Verneert & Enrique Simón Quartet and is the founder and artistic director of the Ghent Youth Jazz Orchestra, a big band that aims to give opportunities to promising young musicians. Filip Verneert is also a guest lecturer at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, where he teaches the subject ‘creativity and expression’, and has published the books ‘Naar een didactiek van de Folk’ (Towards a Didactics of Folk) and ‘De JazzBoom’ (The Jazz Boom). Since 2024, he has been a postdoctoral researcher at Ghent University, affiliated with the Jonet Academic Chair - Center for Social Action and Music Making (CESAMM). His research encompasses community music, music education, and improvisation, with a particular interest in the social effects of collective free improvisation.