5 years of Clusity: let's celebrate together!
Five years ago, something special started. A community built on curiosity, connection, and a shared belief that tech is better when we build it together. This summer, we're marking that milestone the only way that makes sense: with all of you.
On Thursday, June 4, 2026, we welcome you to Campus De Nayer in Sint-Katelijne-Waver for a festive evening of inspiration, honest conversations, and -most importantly- the kind of connections that last well beyond the night.
Whether you've been with us from day one or are only just discovering Clusity, this is your evening too.
Agenda
17:00 — Welcome Doors open. Enjoy drinks (cocktails & mocktails), finger foods, and browse our community marketplace featuring Clusity merch and makers from within our own community.
18:00 — Plenary: 5 years of Clusity & launching something new… We come together for a look back at what we've built and a look forward at what's next. Short, sharp, and worth your full attention. We also have something new for you, but we’ll keep it a secret until then… 🤫
18:30 — Breakout sessions Choose the conversation that speaks to you. Three rooms run in parallel, each with three 20-minute talks and short breaks in between.
Finding work in tech today — practical insights for job seekers navigating the current tech landscape (Guest speakers: Hamideh Baggali, Kristel Seymus, and Izzy Claerhout)
Tech talks — from building your own AI agents to low-code tools and what's coming next (Guest speakers: Tessa Ickx, Dayhana Correa, and Saja Tawalbeh)
Inspiring stories — personal talks from speakers in our public speaking programme, on growth, resilience, and the paths we take (Guest speakers: Annelies Van den Eede, Reyhane Attarian, and Ying Zhao)
20:00 — Walking dinner & networking The evening opens up. Dinner is served, the marketplace stays open, and the rest of the night is yours to connect, catch up, and celebrate.
Five years. One community. One evening worth showing up for.
The Talks
“How to bring a folding chair to the hiring table”
Izzy Claerhout - Co-founder at match.career.
Izzy is a social entrepreneur with a background in recruitment, talent acquisition, and community building. Their work focuses on redesigning hiring conversations so people are seen not only for what they’ve done, but for the environments, values, and contexts in which they can truly thrive.
Applying for jobs often feels like you’re only invited to the table if you fit perfectly into a vacancy or CV template. But what if you brought your own chair? In this talk, we explore how job seekers can become visible beyond job titles, skills, or LinkedIn profiles. You’ll learn how to name your context, energy, values, and way of working more clearly, so conversations shift from “am I qualified?” to “where do I truly belong?”
2. “Navigating the Tech jobmarket in challenging times and coming out stronger,”
Kristel Seymus - CEO and co-founder of Planet Talent.
Kristel has spent over two decades launching young tech talent and she's seen this story before.
Tech jobs are transforming. AI is reshaping roles faster than anyone predicted. The market is slower than expected. And yet this is one of the best moments to position yourself, if you know how. Kristel Seymus has been hiring en developing tech-talent for almost thirty years. In this session she shares what she sees from the inside and what moves actually make the difference right now.
3. “Both”
Ying Zhao - Data and accounting analyst at CN Consult.
Ying is a sensitive and peaceful foodie who seek for challenges to keep growing and finding balance between being empathetic and being analytical.
Ying shared: “I was told to choose between being empathetic and being analytical, but I discovered that the combination of feminine intuition and data skills is the most powerful and underused combination in the professional world. I am going to show you why this combination is so important and give you some takeaways to begin this journey.”
4. Claude 101: Do More With Less, Master the Full Ecosystem
Dayhana Correa - Founder of GoStartup.com.co.
Dayhana Correa turns non-technical founders into AI builders. Ranked Top 20 Business Influencer in Colombia by Favikon. YouTube Creator 88K+, Founder GoStartup.com.co, SheAI Ambassador in Belgium, and Speaker at HEEX 2026 Japan. Backed by Google and Notion.
The full Claude ecosystem: models, Skills, Projects & AI tools, for every woman in tech.
5. Grow in Systems. Lead Yourself.
Annelies Van den Eede - Lecturer, Researcher & Policy Advisor at HOGENT University of Applied Sciences and Arts.
Her work focuses on future-proofing education and infrastructure through training in entrepreneurial mindset, sustainable space management, and data-informed, co-creative design. She also brings experience in academic leadership during periods of major change. With a background as a veterinarian and PhD researcher, she is especially interested in how people grow, lead, and make sound decisions in complex systems.
The visible challenge is never the whole challenge. Drawing from horses, leadership, and real transformation work, Annelies explores what resilience in complex systems really asks of us. When pressure rises, we often narrow too quickly - and risk misreading ourselves. This keynote invites women in tech to rethink growth, confidence, and adaptation. Instead of becoming harder or smaller, what if we learned to read the system, lead ourselves with calm clarity, and build around shared purpose? A keynote about self-leadership, systems, and the kind of resilience that helps us grow in complexity without disappearing into it.
6. Mastering the AI-Powered Job Search
Hamideh Baggali - A Ph.D. Coach transitoing to Data Engineering at Ypto & Becode.
Hamideh is an academic coach and data engineer. She holds a PhD in Education and has conducted workshops for PhD researchers at VUB and VIB as a freelancer, focusing on AI in academic writing and wellbeing. Now she is developing her career in data engineering and doing a project for Ypto Company, and she love supporting professionals in integrating AI into their work.
This talk aims to empower you in discovering how to transform your job search using the power of Artificial Intelligence. Here, participants will learn practical strategies to optimize LinkedIn profiles, tailor CVs for ATS systems, create personalized cover letters, conduct company research, and prepare for interviews using modern AI tools and prompt engineering techniques. Looking forward to seeing you soon!
7. Transfer Learning
Saja Tawalbeh - eXplainable AI Engineer at Toyota Motor Europe.
She received bachelor’s in computer science in Jordan. Then, she completed her master’s in AI, specifically in natural language processing, and worked as a research assistant in the same area for two years at Jordan University of Science and Technology. She is currently an eXplainable AI Engineer at Toyota Motor Europe. She is also a senior research fellow and pursuing my Ph.D. in Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) at the Faculty of Science, University of Antwerp, sqIRL/IDLab, imec, Antwerp, Belgium. Additionally, she was a lecturer in the Department of Applied Computer Science at Karel de Grote University of Applied Sciences, Antwerp, Belgium. She is also passionate about photography, playing chess, and exploring new places on long walks, which helps her feel more connected to the world around her. Walking also proves to be an excellent way to brainstorm new ideas or troubleshoot research-related challenges
Training modern AI models often requires massive datasets, weeks of computation, and significant resources. Re-training from scratch for every new task makes this process costly and inefficient. Transfer learning provides a solution, by reusing and adapting knowledge from previous tasks, AI models can learn faster, require less data, and generalize more effectively.
In the talk, we will explore what transfer learning is, how transfer learning works, review key, and highlight the advantages it brings. More importantly, we will look at its practical applications and how they can accelerate real-world AI development.
8. "What AI Knows… and What We Forget”
Reyhane Attarian - Senior Cybersecurity Analyst at Sopra Steria.
Reyhane is a Senior Cybersecurity Analyst at Sopra Steria, where she has worked on a wide range of security initiatives, from detection to protecting critical organizations, including financial institutions.
She also worked as a research assistant at KU Leuven, an influence that continues to shape her analytical and problem-solving approach in industry.
Driven by a continuous curiosity, she also focuses on the application of AI in cybersecurity, exploring how innovative solutions can be designed across different architectural perspectives, as well as understanding their limitations and how they can be improved for different organizations. Known for asking challenging questions and pushing boundaries, Reyhane brings a critical and inquisitive perspective to the field. She is passionate about advancing cybersecurity in the age of AI and actively supports the presence and impact of women in tech.
AI is transforming how we work—but also how we trust.
In this keynote, Reyhane explores a critical reality: AI systems don’t truly understand—they predict. And while their outputs can be clear, confident, and compelling, they can also be misleading in ways that are easy to overlook. Drawing on her experience in cybersecurity and AI, she reveals the hidden risks behind today’s rapid adoption of AI, especially in environments where decisions carry real consequences. This is not just a technical issue-it’s a human one. And in a world shaped by AI, those who ask better questions will help shape better outcomes. No technical background is needed—just curiosity."
9. "Learning to Code in the Age of Vibe Coding"
Tessa Ickx - Lead Data Scientist at Cegeka.
Tessa Ickx is Lead Data Scientist at Cegeka, coding teacher at CodeFever, and founder of Pixiboo. She's been teaching kids to code and building AI solutions in parallel for years now, which gives her a pretty unique view on what learning to code actually means today. :)
AI can write your code now. So... do we still need to learn it?
Tessa Ickx has been on both sides of that question: teaching kids to code at CodeFever, building AI-powered solutions at Cegeka, and founding her own tech venture Pixiboo. In this talk, she shares what those three worlds have shown her about learning, coding, and what "getting it" actually means in 2025. Spoiler: vibe coding is real, it's powerful, and it makes foundational skills more important than ever. A personal, honest take on where we're headed and what we should hold onto.
Register now — we can't wait to celebrate with you.
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Ticket entry price is 30 euros and includes free finger food, drinks, dinner and a special drink.
For our Full Members on the platform (12,5 eur/month or 129eur/year) the event is included in the membership. Register via the platform, or send an e-mail to rein@clusity.be to be added. :) -
Thomas More campus De Nayer is easy to reach by train, bus, car and bike.
There are trains every 30 minutes to arrive from Antwerp and Brussels, and every hour to go home. We adjust the timing of our event to the train hours. If you come from far and want to carpool, let us know at elke@clusity.be so we can match you with others! -
All women in tech, women curious about tech, men who support our cause and just people curious about the talks and the network!
The event is to celebrate our 5 years and to gather with the community, but it is also the perfect place to get to know us for the first time!
Everyone is welcome!