Background and experience
Wouter van Dun is a Research Fellow in Philosophy at the Department of Sport and Social Sciences (2025–2028), where he leads the project "Limit-Situations in Elite Sports: An Existential-Phenomenological Study". His research is driven by a deep interest in how existential vulnerability is experienced, expressed, and navigated within the high-performance sports environment. Drawing on existential, phenomenological, and philosophical anthropological theory, the project advocates for an embodied humanism amidst an increasingly technocratic sports culture—placing the athlete’s humanity at the center.
Wouter holds a BA in Sport Science and an MA in Philosophy from the Catholic University of Leuven. He completed his graduate studies at the Husserl Archives: Centre for Phenomenology and Continental Philosophy (HUA), where he wrote his master’s thesis on A Neurophenomenology of Dreaming: Continuity between Dreams and Waking Life.
Following graduation, Wouter undertook a research stay at the Department of Phenomenological Psychopathology and Psychotherapy at Heidelberg University Clinic, focusing on the role of imagination in psychopathology. Since 2024, he has also been a certified Philosophical Counselor, offering athletes philosophical guidance to help them navigate the often turbulent path of elite sports careers.
Research
Wouter's work is grounded in an interdisciplinary framework that includes phenomenology, existentialism, philosophical anthropology, psychopathology, enactivism, and embodied humanism. These philosophical perspectives inform his approach to the philosophy of sport.