Kenneth Lasoen joins Lisa Burke to expose modern espionage, from cyberattacks to insider threats and the hidden power struggles shaping our world today.

I wonder if John Le Carré's protagonist spy, George Smiley, could recognise the world of tradecraft today.

Dr Kenneth Lasoen is one of Europe’s foremost intelligence and security scholars. He serves as Associate Professor of Intelligence & Security at the University of Antwerp, Senior Lecturer at the KSI Institute, and is an advisor to governments, institutions and major corporations on national security, counterintelligence, and risk mitigation.

His academic background includes degrees from Ghent, Leuven, Brunel and Cambridge; and the Belgian Royal Military Academy. Kenneth’s research focuses on espionage, insider threats, economic and industrial spying, and how intelligence agencies shape geopolitics and corporate competition. He also briefs senior industry leaders on cybersecurity, supply-chain vulnerabilities, and foreign influence operations.

Espionage has slipped out of the shadows and into everyday life. It’s no longer a distant Cold War memory of trench coats, microfilm and whispered exchanges in European capitals. In the 2025 world, the spy wars are being fought through our smartphones, coded supply chains, university labs, satellites, corporate R&D hubs, and even the unlocked devices on our desks. Every industry is a target. Every citizen, a potential data point. Every corporation, hackable banks of information.

Kenneth reveals the uncomfortable truth:


• Allies spy on allies, because they can

• Insider threats (it just takes one) can bankrupt global companies


• Cyber incidents can cripple supply chains instantly


• The Internet of Things is, in reality, the Internet of Hacked Things

• Some of the most devastating breaches begin with the simplest human error (or human intent)

Russia, China, North Korea and Iran might operate aggressively in the intelligence space, but Western governments, corporations and academia are deeply enmeshed in their own networks of surveillance, information-gathering and counter-espionage.

Kenneth also brings the story closer to home: into research labs, corporate headquarters, scientific centres, and even vineyards. He explains why security failures often start from the inside, why organisations underestimate their risk, and how a single breach, digital or human, can destroy decades of innovation.

There are vulnerabilities across all parts of our society that touch every citizen and business.

https://ksi.institute/en/

Kenneth Lasoen joins Lisa Burke to expose modern espionage, from cyberattacks to insider threats and the hidden power struggles shaping our world today.

I wonder if John Le Carré's protagonist spy, George Smiley, could recognise the world of tradecraft today.

Dr Kenneth Lasoen is one of Europe’s foremost intelligence and security scholars. He serves as Associate Professor of Intelligence & Security at the University of Antwerp, Senior Lecturer at the KSI Institute, and is an advisor to governments, institutions and major corporations on national security, counterintelligence, and risk mitigation.

His academic background includes degrees from Ghent, Leuven, Brunel and Cambridge; and the Belgian Royal Military Academy. Kenneth’s research focuses on espionage, insider threats, economic and industrial spying, and how intelligence agencies shape geopolitics and corporate competition. He also briefs senior industry leaders on cybersecurity, supply-chain vulnerabilities, and foreign influence operations.

Espionage has slipped out of the shadows and into everyday life. It’s no longer a distant Cold War memory of trench coats, microfilm and whispered exchanges in European capitals. In the 2025 world, the spy wars are being fought through our smartphones, coded supply chains, university labs, satellites, corporate R&D hubs, and even the unlocked devices on our desks. Every industry is a target. Every citizen, a potential data point. Every corporation, hackable banks of information.

Kenneth reveals the uncomfortable truth:


• Allies spy on allies, because they can

• Insider threats (it just takes one) can bankrupt global companies


• Cyber incidents can cripple supply chains instantly


• The Internet of Things is, in reality, the Internet of Hacked Things

• Some of the most devastating breaches begin with the simplest human error (or human intent)

Russia, China, North Korea and Iran might operate aggressively in the intelligence space, but Western governments, corporations and academia are deeply enmeshed in their own networks of surveillance, information-gathering and counter-espionage.

Kenneth also brings the story closer to home: into research labs, corporate headquarters, scientific centres, and even vineyards. He explains why security failures often start from the inside, why organisations underestimate their risk, and how a single breach, digital or human, can destroy decades of innovation.

There are vulnerabilities across all parts of our society that touch every citizen and business.

https://ksi.institute/en/

The Czech republic is the Pays d’Honneur for this biennial event. De Mains De Maîtres is dedicated to the profound artistry of making things by hand.

This, the 5th edition of the biennale, has grown into one of the most prestigious applied Art and Design events in the Greater Region. De Mains de Maîtres was founded in 2016 under the patronage of Their Royal Highnesses, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg.  The mission is to honour craftsmanship and give visibility to those who shape our world with their hands.

In this conversation we will discuss how craftsmanship connects heritage, identity, sustainability, and emotional well-being across generations. It is linked to the materials around us, the conversations and subversions of the day, the need to slow down and connect with our world through our hands and our heads.

Artistry of this level is worth elevating, celebrating, respecting and encouraging through our educational system - another theme of the conversation.

This year hosts Czechia as the Pays d’Honneur, bringing centuries of glassmaking, ceramics, puppetry and design heritage to Luxembourg.

My guests this week are:

- Her Excellency, Ambassador Barbara Karpetová, who has been instrumental in coordinating Czechia’s participation.

- Tom Wirion, Director General of the Chambre des Métiers.

- Embroidery artist Yanis Miltgen, whose sculptural textile work has gained international acclaim.

- Ceramicist Ellen van der Woude, whose work is influenced by nature, harmony and emotional resonance.

Ambassador Barbara Karpetová speaks so eloquently about the changing borders and names of her homeland, and how, throughout this, the language of the artists developed its own conversation with people. The humour that can be spotted in artisans’ work through generations of history; the means to remain resilient through periods of political repression. Craft can hold the history and identity of a nation’s people.

Her Excellency also highlighted the psychological importance of making: the sense of satisfaction in producing something from beginning to end, and the power of craft to reconnect us with our own creativity which is so easily lost in an era of screens and speed.

Ambassador Barbara also spoke about the rich material landscape of ‘Bohemia’ which easily allowed the arts of certain genres to flourish, such as glass-making.

On the Luxembourg side, Tom Wirion, Director General of the Chambre des Métiers, underscored how essential the craft sector is to the country’s cultural landscape.

Tom noted that one of the greatest challenges remains perception: encouraging young people (and parents) to view skilled trades as a stable, innovative, and rewarding career path.

“Buying a crafted object,” he explained, “means investing in a gesture, not just a product.” His vision is to make artisans visible, valued, and actively supported through new pathways, partnerships, and gallery collaborations.  And naturally the educational system has to allow this subject to shine more too.

Ceramic artist Ellen van der Woude, formerly a lawyer, turned to ceramics after personal loss and found profound therapeutic power in clay. Her sculptures embrace movement, tension, harmony, and imperfection: an homage to nature’s organic balance. For this edition, she presents three works inspired by the transition from winter to spring, reminding us that renewal follows even the longest winters.  Ellen’s own confidence in realising that she was indeed an artist only settled once she won the Jury Prize in the first edition of De Mains de Maîtres. She went on to win numerous other awards since. Yanis Miltgen, at just 24 years, found embroidery at the age of 15. Like Ellen, he found working with his hands and mind to be therapy as he had panic attacks at school.

Yanis has won the most prestigious embroidery prize (just last week in London); the Hand & Lock Prize. He also won “Les de(ux) mains” Prize from the Comité Colbert (which is ‘the voice of luxury in France).

Yanis has brought embroidery to an entirely new level of textile sculptural artistry, merging embroidery with metal, silicone, and reclaimed materials. His pieces, often requiring hundreds of hours, push the boundaries of what textile art can be: scientific in process, poetic in effect.

We are reminded at the end by Ambassador Karpetová that even we, as customers, continue this line of artisan appreciation, as we observe the flow of an artists hands’ into our homes, or gifting to a loved one. The continuity of time and art, heritage and thought, all combined. These are the things of divine creation which we can contemplate.

To stand amongst these curated pieces, visit De Mains De Maîtres 20th to 23rd of November, 10am to 6.30pm, no entrance fee at 19 Avenue de la Liberté.

Useful Links

https://www.demainsdemaitres.lu/en/

Czech Embassy

• Website: https://mzv.gov.cz/luxembourg

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmbassadeTchequeLuxembourg/

Tom Wirion – Chambre des Métiers

• https://www.cdm.lu

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-wirion/

Yanis Miltgen

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miltgen_design/?hl=en

Ellen van der Woude

• Website: http://www.ellenvanderwoude.com

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellenvanderwoude/

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/madebyEF/

The Czech republic is the Pays d’Honneur for this biennial event. De Mains De Maîtres is dedicated to excellence in craftsmanship, creativity, and the profound artistry of making things by hand.

This, the 5th edition of the biennale, has grown into one of the most prestigious applied Art and Design events in the Greater Region. De Mains de Maîtres was founded in 2016 under the patronage of Their Royal Highnesses, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg.  The mission is to honour craftsmanship and give visibility to those who shape our world with their hands.

In this conversation we will discuss how craftsmanship connects heritage, identity, sustainability, and emotional well-being across generations. It is linked to the materials around us, the conversations and subversions of the day, the need to slow down and connect with our world through our hands and our heads.

Artistry of this level is worth elevating, celebrating, respecting and encouraging through our educational system - another theme of the conversation.

This year hosts Czechia as the Pays d’Honneur, bringing centuries of glassmaking, ceramics, puppetry and design heritage to Luxembourg.

My guests this week are:

- Her Excellency, Ambassador Barbara Karpetová, who has been instrumental in coordinating Czechia’s participation.

- Tom Wirion, Director General of the Chambre des Métiers.

- Embroidery artist Yanis Miltgen, whose sculptural textile work has gained international acclaim.

- Ceramicist Ellen van der Woude, whose work is influenced by nature, harmony and emotional resonance.

Ambassador Barbara Karpetová speaks so eloquently about the changing borders and names of her homeland, and how, throughout this, the language of the artists developed its own conversation with people. The humour that can be spotted in artisans’ work through generations of history; the means to remain resilient through periods of political repression. Craft can hold the history and identity of a nation’s people.

Her Excellency also highlighted the psychological importance of making: the sense of satisfaction in producing something from beginning to end, and the power of craft to reconnect us with our own creativity which is so easily lost in an era of screens and speed.

Ambassador Barbara also spoke about the rich material landscape of ‘Bohemia’ which easily allowed the arts of certain genres to flourish, such as glass-making.

On the Luxembourg side, Tom Wirion, Director General of the Chambre des Métiers, underscored how essential the craft sector is to the country’s cultural landscape.

Tom noted that one of the greatest challenges remains perception: encouraging young people (and parents) to view skilled trades as a stable, innovative, and rewarding career path.

“Buying a crafted object,” he explained, “means investing in a gesture, not just a product.” His vision is to make artisans visible, valued, and actively supported through new pathways, partnerships, and gallery collaborations.  And naturally the educational system has to allow this subject to shine more too.

Ceramic artist Ellen van der Woude, formerly a lawyer, turned to ceramics after personal loss and found profound therapeutic power in clay. Her sculptures embrace movement, tension, harmony, and imperfection: an homage to nature’s organic balance. For this edition, she presents three works inspired by the transition from winter to spring, reminding us that renewal follows even the longest winters.  Ellen’s own confidence in realising that she was indeed an artist only settled once she won the Jury Prize in the first edition of De Mains de Maîtres. She went on to win numerous other awards since. Yanis Miltgen, at just 24 years, found embroidery at the age of 15. Like Ellen, he found working with his hands and mind to be therapy as he had panic attacks at school.

Yanis has won the most prestigious embroidery prize (just last week in London); the Hand & Lock Prize. He also won “Les de(ux) mains” Prize from the Comité Colbert (which is ‘the voice of luxury in France).

Yanis has brought embroidery to an entirely new level of textile sculptural artistry, merging embroidery with metal, silicone, and reclaimed materials. His pieces, often requiring hundreds of hours, push the boundaries of what textile art can be: scientific in process, poetic in effect.

We are reminded at the end by Ambassador Karpetová that even we, as customers, continue this line of artisan appreciation, as we observe the flow of an artists hands’ into our homes, or gifting to a loved one. The continuity of time and art, heritage and thought, all combined. These are the things of divine creation which we can contemplate.

To stand amongst these curated pieces, visit De Mains De Maîtres 20th to 23rd of November, 10am to 6.30pm, no entrance fee at 19 Avenue de la Liberté.

Useful Links

https://www.demainsdemaitres.lu/en/

Czech Embassy

• Website: https://mzv.gov.cz/luxembourg

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmbassadeTchequeLuxembourg/

Tom Wirion – Chambre des Métiers

• https://www.cdm.lu

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-wirion/

Yanis Miltgen

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/miltgen_design/?hl=en

Ellen van der Woude

• Website: http://www.ellenvanderwoude.com

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellenvanderwoude/

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/madebyEF/

Sean Blake is lucky to be alive. Through recovery via self-compassion Sean now advocates for early intervention & understanding of this mental illness.

Sean Blake, an Irishman from Swords, Dublin, made his way to a Brain Conference in Brussels a couple of weeks ago. This was the first time he travelled alone as an adult, aged 43. All of this was historically linked to his own feeling of unworthiness and inadequacy.

Sean’s story begins in childhood, marked by years of not feeling “good enough.” This relentless inner critic eventually manifested as incessant running and starvation. After a couple of compliments on how he looked through initial fitness, he was locked into an ever-increasing path of torturous training. He was training to become invisible. He was running himself to death.

By his forties, with four children observing this pattern, Sean’s daily life was consumed by a regime where he was running many kilometres before ‘breakfast’. We don’t mention how many kilometres as this can be a trigger of competition for other anorexics who may feel they are not doing enough in comparison. His ‘breakfast’ would be the toast crusts after his children had eaten. They would remember the first time he eventually sat with them to eat a ‘normal’ meal. His daughter commented at that moment that he thought his dad only ever ran and ate different food to them.

Sean was lucky. A voice inside his head found a way to ask for help. When he arrived at St Patrick’s Mental Health Services in Dublin, they told him he was extremely close to death and needed urgent, instant treatment. Over a period of many weeks, Sean unlocked the hold this disease had over his head. He promised himself that if he could get through those months and gain recovery, he would dedicate his voice to this cause.

And that is what he has done.

Sean transformed his feelings towards himself, and took a path to healing through Compassion-Focused Therapy. One of the exercises was to write a letter to himself: a letter of forgiveness and love.

“That letter lifted something off my shoulders, I realised it wasn’t my fault. I am good enough.”

Today, Sean is a Shine See Change Ambassador, a member of NIMC’s lived experience committee (NIMC is the National Implementation Monitoring Committee that  oversees  ''Sharing The Vision'' Mental Health Policy in Ireland), part of the Service User & Supporters Council at St Patrick’s Mental Health Services. He also appeared in the RTÉ documentary Anorexia: My Family and Me, helping to reshape how we talk about eating disorders.

In our conversation, Sean shares how recovery means learning to speak kindly to oneself. We discuss the importance of the words used as a community around food and body image; seemingly harmless words about food, fitness or weight can deeply affect those in fragile states of mind.

Sean is particularly invested in working with Fitness Studios. Here, right under the observation of health advocates, lies a slightly hidden story of obsessive fitness to the point of anorexia athletica.

This episode is a reminder that even the hardest stories can lead to healing when spoken aloud.

https://www.instagram.com/seanblake80/?hl=en

https://www.stpatricks.ie/

https://about.rte.ie/2024/10/14/rte-airs-compelling-new-documentary-anorexia-my-family-me/

https://www.bodywhys.ie/

https://www.instagram.com/gamian_europe?igsh=MTVqZzd1cmNlNWk5Mw%3D%3D

Exploring timeless lessons from the Philosopher Emperor at Trier’s State Exhibition with Dr. Viola Skiba and Helena Huber.

Across the border from Luxembourg, in Germany’s oldest city, two of Trier’s leading museums, the Rheinisches Landesmuseum and the Stadtmuseum Simeonstift, have joined forces for an extraordinary state exhibition on Marcus Aurelius.

This collaborative showcase invites visitors to explore one of Rome’s most fascinating figures: the Philosopher Emperor whose reflections on Stoicism and virtue continue to inspire thinkers, leaders, and citizens nearly two thousand years later.

In this episode Lisa Burke speaks with Dr. Viola Skiba, Director of the Stadtmuseum Simeonstift, and Helena Huber, Curator at the Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier. Together, they unpack the meaning of good governance: what makes a good leader? And for whom? This is a question as urgent today as it was in the Roman Empire.

“Marcus Aurelius is remembered as the ‘good emperor’,” explains Huber. “But his reign was far from peaceful. His stoic philosophy guided him through wars, plague, and political turmoil — and it still offers lessons for ethical leadership today.”

Dr. Skiba adds: “The question of good governance is universal and timeless. From antiquity to our modern democracies, people have always asked: what makes a good ruler, and for whom?”

The exhibition is divided between the two museums. The Landesmuseum explores Marcus Aurelius: Emperor, Commander, Philosopher, combining archaeological treasures with philosophical interpretation. The Stadtmuseum complements this with What Is Good Government? Here, they examine ideals of leadership, justice, and representation through history including striking medieval imagery where kings symbolically kissed or even shared a bed to show peace and trust to their people.

Beyond the exhibition’s intellectual richness, visitors can immerse themselves in Trier’s extraordinary Roman heritage: the Porta Nigra, vast thermal baths, and some of Europe’s most important mosaics. As Huber puts it, “The Romans left us their Instagram of the time; images and monuments showing how they wanted to be remembered.”

For today’s audiences, Marcus Aurelius is more than a historical figure. His Meditations, a private diary of self-discipline, justice, and humility, continue to offer a mirror for leadership and citizenship in the 21st century.

“Peace, justice, prosperity and the common good: these are still the foundations of what we all seek,” says Skiba. “Marcus Aurelius helps us remember that good governance begins with virtue.”

https://www.trier-info.de/en/package-offers/marc-aurel-2025

Two Poles pushing human limits: one running marathons in nearly every country on Earth, the other summiting the world’s highest peaks

What drives a person to test the limits of body and spirit? Wojtek Machnik and Magdalena Skawińska,both Polish-born adventurers have redefined what it means to explore the world and the inner frontiers of discipline and resilience.

Wojtek Machnik: Running the World, One Country at a Time

Wojtek Machnik is a man in motion: he’s visited 193 countries and ran 238 marathons in 181 of them.

After 12 years in corporate banking and insurance, he left it all behind in 2016 to create a company combining travel and running, aligned with his own life’s mission.

Wojtek founded a travel agency for marathon enthusiasts, became a dive instructor, and then, in 2018, launched his life’s defining challenge: the 249 Challenge, to complete a marathon in every country and territory on Earth.

From December 2018 to December 2019, he ran 66 marathons in 66 countries, setting a world record for the most marathons completed in different countries within one year.

When COVID-19 halted global races, Wojtek’s creativity continued despite confinement due to quarantine: he famously ran a marathon in flip-flops around his bed, completing 5,626 loops of a 7.5m circuit. This viral act of defiance inspired runners worldwide.

Later that year, Wotjek broke another world record for the shortest marathon loop — just 5 metres, requiring 8,440 laps and 13 hours of sheer determination.

By 2020, Wojtek had become the first Pole in history and only the 16th person in the world to complete marathons in 100 countries. His goals remain as ambitious as ever:

“I plan to reach 300 marathons in 200 countries by my 50th birthday, on June 20, 2027.”

Beyond his personal achievements, Wojtek has also brought marathons to nations that had none, including Syria, Guyana, and Suriname, creating platforms for unity, health, and peace through sport.

In 2022, in partnership with the Syrian Olympic Committee and Ministry of Tourism, he helped launch the Damascus International Marathon, the first major international sports event in Syria since the war. The following year, runners from 30 countries participated.

Next stops: Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea, and Somalia as part of his planned Horn of Africa Marathon Challenge (2026).

“Running connects people beyond politics, borders, and beliefs,” Wojtek says. “It’s the simplest way to explore, and to understand, our shared world.”

Magdalena and her Mountains

If Wojtek runs across the world, Magdalena Skawińska climbs it.

Magdalena Skawińska’s father was deeply attached to the mountains and from as early as was possible, Magdalena and her mother joined him on these expeditions in Poland, getting up at 2am to hit the mountain tracks before any trails got ‘busy’ or, more notably, bad weather set in.

As a young child Magdalena didn’t always realise the power of this time together, bonding as a family, nor the power of extremely tough self discipline which was instilled.

Since then, Magdalena who, by the way has a demanding day-time job as a lawyer in Luxembourg, has summited several of the worlds highest peak:

Mont Blanc (4,808 m)

Kilimanjaro (5,895 m)

Elbrus (5,642 m)

Aconcagua (6,962 m)

Kazbek (5,047 m)

Mera Peak (6,476 m) – her first Himalayan 6,000er

Lenin Peak (7,134 m) – her first 7,000m summit, conquered in 2024

For Magdalena, mountaineering is more than sport — it’s a spiritual and philosophical act of empowerment.

She has travelled to Yemen, Syria, and Armenia, combining her expeditions with photography and cultural immersion, using her lens to capture both landscapes and the human stories within them.

“Climbing and travelling to unconventional destinations is about reclaiming your own individuality and quiet courage,” she explains. “It’s about defying expectations, especially as a woman, and believing deeply in your own strength, perseverance, and dreams.”

Her story embodies balance between ambition and courage plus reflection and wonder.

Sex, love, and attachment affect our health, happiness, and identity. How are love and intimacy affected by our biology, our backgrounds, and how can we develop an environment for it to flourish?

I’ve done a lot of reading about how long ‘love’ lasts: the being ‘in-love’ part, how that fades, but might, if you’re lucky and work at it, evolve into another form of long-term love. Or it ends. Well, apparently desire isn’t doomed to fade after three years, but could actually deepen and transform across a lifetime. It’s still a little taboo and certain aspects of this remain unspoken, often due to feelings of shame or inadequacy.

So, with my hope to bring clarity and courage to difficult conversations, I was joined by three wonderful voices:

Professor Francesco Bianchi-Demicheli, Associate Professor at the University of Geneva and a world-leading sexologist, whose work spans neuroscience, literature, and the psychology of intimacy.

Guy Brandenbourger, health advocate and founder of Health A Gesondheet Luxembourg - CAP ʰOR™️, who has made it his mission to put sexuality and longevity at the heart of public health debates.

Marie-Adélaïde Leclercq-Olhagaray, Editor-in-Chief of Elle Luxembourg, who understands from her readers that love and relationships are among the most pressing questions women, and men, are seeking answers to today. 

Attachment: The Blueprint of Intimacy

Attachment is the architecture of how we love as adults. Professor Bianchi explained that our early bonds set patterns of intimacy: secure, anxious, avoidant, or disorganised. These invisible scripts influence how we choose partners, navigate desire, and respond to closeness or conflict.

Now as children we don’t have much agency over the situation of family we’re born into. But the good news is that these patterns are not fixed. Encounters with secure, loving partners, or the deep work of psychotherapy, can reshape attachment.

Love Beyond the Myth of Three Years

Perhaps the most liberating truth revealed in this conversation is that the so-called “three-year limit” on love is a dangerous myth. Using brain imaging, Bianchi has shown that love can ignite neural networks across a lifetime. Passion can evolve into intimacy, companionship, and shared purpose.

Love can metamorphose and grow if we nurture playfulness. Couples who play together regulate stress, fuel creativity, and keep joy alive.

“Play is not frivolous,” he said. “It’s a survival skill for love.”

Sexuality Across Life’s Stages

Sexuality is not confined to youth. From puberty to pregnancy, perimenopause to andropause, hormonal transitions profoundly shape desire, mood, and connection. Too often, these changes are dismissed or medicalised without acknowledging their impact on intimacy.

Marie-Adélaïde highlighted how women, in particular, are reframing midlife. Financial independence has shifted dynamics: women no longer remain in relationships out of necessity, but from choice. Increasingly, they seek companionship without obligation: “not a nurse, not a cook, but a partner,” as she put it. Marie-Adélaïde also spoke about the clear shift for financially independent mid-life women to choose, possibly even marry, a partner but not live with them. 

Guy underscored why addressing these realities is urgent for public health. Longevity without quality of life, intimacy, and purpose is incomplete. His CAP hOR™ framework argues for prevention across the first 1,000 days of life, adolescence, adulthood, and senior years, and of course sexual health is part of overall health. Guy also spoke about the often very fixable issues of erectile dysfunction, which many men are too ashamed to speak about. And yet a large percentage of these issues can be treated. 

Intimacy and Passion through artistic endeavours

Professor Bianchi observed that society still divides pleasure into acceptable and unacceptable forms. We applaud someone for practising violin eight hours a day, but stigmatise the same dedication to intimacy. This double standard silences us, when in truth pleasure is not indulgence but evolution: our way of learning, connecting, and discovering meaning.

“We don’t just receive passion from the sky,” says Bianchi, “We create it, and we can recreate it.”

Beyond his scientific work, Professor Bianchi-Demicheli has also created TIAMOFORTE - a groundbreaking fusion of science, poetry, and music. In these poetic-scientific recitals, his words as a sexologist, poet, and storyteller intertwine with the artistry of a pianist, blending knowledge with emotion. The performances explore desire, love, and human bonds not only as biological or psychological forces, but as deeply cultural and creative ones.

Music, literature, and art, he argues, are essential in sustaining intimacy, rekindling passion, and expressing what neuroscience alone cannot capture. In this way, TIAMOFORTE is a living, real-time experiment in how creativity deepens connection, playfulness, and the shared ecstasy of being alive together.

And so hopefully you can sit back, relax and enjoy this show, learning that love can become a lifelong energy to be reshaped, reignited, and deepened. Attachment styles can be redrawn and redeveloped. And sexuality, in all its phases, is not a shameful secret but a powerful thread in the tapestry of health, happiness, and purpose.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/francesco-bianchi-demicheli-a5177535/?originalSubdomain=ch

https://www.linkedin.com/in/guy-brandenbourger-5b586228/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marieadelaideleclercqolhagaray/

https://www.elle.lu/fr/

When a sizeable section of his students told Dr. Abdelfattah Abusrour they want to die, he changed his life to help heal their trauma

This week I had the honour to share space with Dr. Abdelfattah Abusrour, founder of the Alrowwad Cultural & Arts Society located in the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, Palestine.

Abdelfattah Abusrour was born into a refugee family after the 1948 Nakba. His parents lost ten of their fourteen children to poverty, displacement, and disease. Despite their enormous losses, they raised him with compassion not hatred.

“Even with a just cause,” his father told him, “if you carry hate, you lose your humanity.”

Abusrour won a scholarship to study in France, where he completed a PhD in biological and medical engineering. However, he always wanted to return home and did so firstly as a teacher.

It was when teaching that he realised a large proportion of his students had no hope at all - they told him they wanted to die; a stark reflection of life under occupation.

And so he stopped teaching and founded Alrowwad, a community arts centre that uses theatre, dance, photography, and storytelling to transform despair into dignity. He calls this work “Beautiful Resistance.”


“Art is not just therapy,” says Abusrour, “It’s a creative process that allows people to auto-heal, to find peace within, and to become peace-builders in their communities.”

At the heart of Alrowwad are children and women. Through performance and expression, these children find confidence, purpose, and joy. The women’s programmes focus on economic independence and the idea that ‘women change the world’ beginning in their own homes.

Abusrour refuses to show images of Palestinians as helpless.

“We are not objects of pity. We are people of creativity and imagination.” His mission: to build peace with respect and dignity, not charity.

Touring with Alrowwad’s theatre troupe across Europe and the US, he has seen audiences deeply moved as we share our humanity.

“Differences are gifts that should enrich us, not divide us.”

https://alrowwad.org/en/?lang=en

https://www.linkedin.com/company/alrowwad-cultural-arts-society/?originalSubdomain=ps

https://www.linkedin.com/in/abdelfattah-abusrour-822a048/?originalSubdomain=ps

Sex, love & attachment shape health, happiness & identity. How do biology & background influence intimacy, and how can we help it thrive?

I’ve done a lot of reading about how long ‘love’ lasts: the being ‘in-love’ part, how that fades, but might, if you’re lucky and work at it, evolve into another form of long-term love. Or it ends. Well, apparently desire isn’t doomed to fade after three years, but could actually deepen and transform across a lifetime. It’s still a little taboo and certain aspects of this remain unspoken, often due to feelings of shame or inadequacy.

So, with my hope to bring clarity and courage to difficult conversations, I was joined by three wonderful voices:

Professor Francesco Bianchi-Demicheli, Associate Professor at the University of Geneva and a world-leading sexologist, whose work spans neuroscience, literature, and the psychology of intimacy.

Guy Brandenbourger, health advocate and founder of Health A Gesondheet Luxembourg - CAP ʰOR™️, who has made it his mission to put sexuality and longevity at the heart of public health debates.

Marie-Adélaïde Leclercq-Olhagaray, Editor-in-Chief of Elle Luxembourg, who understands from her readers that love and relationships are among the most pressing questions women, and men, are seeking answers to today. 

Attachment: The Blueprint of Intimacy

Attachment is the architecture of how we love as adults. Professor Bianchi explained that our early bonds set patterns of intimacy: secure, anxious, avoidant, or disorganised. These invisible scripts influence how we choose partners, navigate desire, and respond to closeness or conflict.

Now as children we don’t have much agency over the situation of family we’re born into. But the good news is that these patterns are not fixed. Encounters with secure, loving partners, or the deep work of psychotherapy, can reshape attachment.

Love Beyond the Myth of Three Years

Perhaps the most liberating truth revealed in this conversation is that the so-called “three-year limit” on love is a dangerous myth. Using brain imaging, Bianchi has shown that love can ignite neural networks across a lifetime. Passion can evolve into intimacy, companionship, and shared purpose.

Love can metamorphose and grow if we nurture playfulness. Couples who play together regulate stress, fuel creativity, and keep joy alive.

“Play is not frivolous,” he said. “It’s a survival skill for love.”

Sexuality Across Life’s Stages

Sexuality is not confined to youth. From puberty to pregnancy, perimenopause to andropause, hormonal transitions profoundly shape desire, mood, and connection. Too often, these changes are dismissed or medicalised without acknowledging their impact on intimacy.

Marie-Adélaïde highlighted how women, in particular, are reframing midlife. Financial independence has shifted dynamics: women no longer remain in relationships out of necessity, but from choice. Increasingly, they seek companionship without obligation: “not a nurse, not a cook, but a partner,” as she put it. Marie-Adélaïde also spoke about the clear shift for financially independent mid-life women to choose, possibly even marry, a partner but not live with them. 

Guy underscored why addressing these realities is urgent for public health. Longevity without quality of life, intimacy, and purpose is incomplete. His CAP hOR™ framework argues for prevention across the first 1,000 days of life, adolescence, adulthood, and senior years, and of course sexual health is part of overall health. Guy also spoke about the often very fixable issues of erectile dysfunction, which many men are too ashamed to speak about. And yet a large percentage of these issues can be treated. 

Intimacy and Passion through artistic endeavours

Professor Bianchi observed that society still divides pleasure into acceptable and unacceptable forms. We applaud someone for practising violin eight hours a day, but stigmatise the same dedication to intimacy. This double standard silences us, when in truth pleasure is not indulgence but evolution: our way of learning, connecting, and discovering meaning.

“We don’t just receive passion from the sky,” says Bianchi, “We create it, and we can recreate it.”

Beyond his scientific work, Professor Bianchi-Demicheli has also created TIAMOFORTE - a groundbreaking fusion of science, poetry, and music. In these poetic-scientific recitals, his words as a sexologist, poet, and storyteller intertwine with the artistry of a pianist, blending knowledge with emotion. The performances explore desire, love, and human bonds not only as biological or psychological forces, but as deeply cultural and creative ones.

Music, literature, and art, he argues, are essential in sustaining intimacy, rekindling passion, and expressing what neuroscience alone cannot capture. In this way, TIAMOFORTE is a living, real-time experiment in how creativity deepens connection, playfulness, and the shared ecstasy of being alive together.

And so hopefully you can sit back, relax and enjoy this show, learning that love can become a lifelong energy to be reshaped, reignited, and deepened. Attachment styles can be redrawn and redeveloped. And sexuality, in all its phases, is not a shameful secret but a powerful thread in the tapestry of health, happiness, and purpose.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/francesco-bianchi-demicheli-a5177535/?originalSubdomain=ch

https://www.linkedin.com/in/guy-brandenbourger-5b586228/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/marieadelaideleclercqolhagaray/

https://www.elle.lu/fr/