curriculum vitae Johan Billen
Name :Johan BILLEN
Corr. address :Zoological Institute, K.U.Leuven, Naamsestraat 59, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium
phone number : 32-16-323975 fax number : 32-16-324575
e-mail :
Acad. career :July 1984Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium) - PhD
1985-1987Postdoctoral researcher Belgian Fund for Scientific Research
1987-presentfull Professor Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Biology Department)
Teaching :course "Invertebrate morphology and systematics"
course "General and comparative morphology and histology"
Memberships :French section IUSSI (Int. Union for the Study of Social Insects)
German section IUSSI (Int. Union for the Study of Social Insects)
Honorary member Italian section IUSSI (Int. Union for the Study of Social Insects)
Royal Entomological Society, Belgium
Royal Zoological Society, Belgium
Fellow Royal Entomological Society, London
Scientific functions :Board member Royal Zoological Society, Belgium (1987-2006)
Member of the Committee for Staff Appointment and Promotion of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural History, Brussels, 1997-2005
Editorial Board member Int. Journal of Insect Morphology and Embryology (Pergamon Press), 1995-1999
Editorial Board member Arthropod Structure and Development (Elsevier), since 2000
Editor-in-Chief of Insectes Sociaux (Birkhäuser Verlag), the official journal of IUSSI, since 1990
Congresses :Organizer of the First joint Congress of the French and British sections of IUSSI, Diepenbeek (Belgium), 19-21 September 1984 (76 participants)
Organizer of the First European Congress on Social Insects, Leuven (Belgium), 19-22 August 1991 (180 participants)
Organizer of the First Benelux Congress of Zoology, Leuven (Belgium), 4-5 November 1994 (214 participants)
Convenor of the Social Insects section at the 20th Int. Congress of Entomology,Florence (Italy), 25-31 August 1996
Symposium organiser "Symposium 12 : Phylogeny and evolution of the Formicidae" during 11th Int. Congress of IUSSI, Bangalore (India), 5-11 August 1990
Symposium organizer "Exocrine glands and social organization" during 12th Int. Congress of IUSSI, Paris (F), 21-27 August 1994
Symposium organiser "Section 13 : Social insects" during 20th Int. Entomological Congress, Firenze (It), 25-31 August 1996
Symposium organiser "Exocrine secretions and social communication" during 13th Int. Congress of IUSSI, Adelaide (Australia), 29 Dec. 1998 – 4 Jan. 1999
Symposium organiser "Semiochemicals and communication in social systems" during 14th Int. Congress of IUSSI, Sapporo (Japan), 27 July – 3 August 2002
Research area :Exocrine glands in social insects: comparative morphology and ultrastructure, phylogeny, pheromone chemistry, behavioural aspects
Int. Collaborators :Prof. J.J. Boomsma (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
(in alphabetical order)Prof. A. Buschinger (Technische Hochschule Darmstadt, Germany)
Prof. C. Currie (University of Wisconsin, MA – U.S.A.)
Prof. O. DeSouza (Universidade Federal de Viçosa, MG - Brasil)
Dr. D. Grasso (Università di Parma, Italy)
Prof. A. Hefetz (University of Tel Aviv, Israel)
Prof. F. Ito (Kagawa University, Japan)
Prof. E.D. Morgan (Keele University, England)
Dr. C. Peeters (Université Paris 6, France)
Prof. C. Sarmiento (Universidad Nacional, Bogota, Colombia)
Dr. J.O. Schmidt (USDA, Tucson, AZ - U.S.A.)
Prof. S. Turillazzi (Università di Firenze, Italy)
Dr. R.K. Vander Meer (USDA, Gainesville, FL - U.S.A.)
Group leader : subcontractor in EU-network “Social evolution : an integrated study of the effects of kinship, communication, productivity and disease” (1999-2000) – together with Universities of Copenhagen (DK), Erlangen (D), Firenze (I), Keele (UK), Sheffield (UK), Uppsala (S), Würzburg (D), and ETH Zürich (CH).
Group leader : subcontractor in EU-network “Integrated studies of the economy of insects societies” (2000-2004) – together with Universities of Copenhagen (DK), Firenze (I), Helsinki (Fin), Keele (UK), Lausanne (CH), Oulu (Fin), Regensburg (D), Sheffield (UK), Würzburg (D), and ETH Zürich (CH).
Publications :over 170 articles in international journals
(The detailed publication list is available at