Dirk Houttekier (° 1962) holds a master degree in sociology, in quantitative analysis of the social sciences, and an executive MBA. In 2006 he joined the End-of-Life Care Research Group of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. In 2011 he obtained a PhD in social health sciences with research on place of death and circumstances of dying in Brussels Capital Region, Belgium and Europe. Today he works as a supervising researcher at the Ghent University & VUB End-of-Life Care Research Group.