Professor, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Leuven, Belgium
Since 1988 Rik Torfs has been a full professor at the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), where he was Dean of the Faculty of Canon Law from 1994-2003. He has in addition been since 2000 visiting professor at both the University of Strasbourg (France) and the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa). The author of nearly 350 articles and numerous books dealing with canon law, law, and Church and State relationships, Professor Torfs is editor of the European Journal for Church and State Research, is a member of the Board of Directors of the European Consortium for State-Church Research, and is a newspaper columnist and host of his own television program. In 2009 he became a member of the Commission for Intercultural Dialogue (Assises de l'Interculturalité) of the Belgian government.
Professor Torfs has played a prominent role in the Belgian media and commentates regularly on the relation between church and society. On 13 June 2010 he was elected a member of the Belgian Senate, and on 17 May 2013 he was elected to a four-year term as Rector of KU Leuven.