HOGENT student and rope skipper Mike De Decker had the unique opportunity to give a Lightning Talk about his bachelor's thesis in computer science at the recent international TNC25 conference. His project focuses on developing an AI model designed to assist judges in this sport with increasingly complex evaluation criteria. Mike’s project was promoted by Belnet through the GÉANT Future Talent Programme and was selected - along with 24 others - from 96 international submissions.
“Rope skipping is a evolving rapidly,” says Mike about the problem that started it all. “Both the number of skills per routine and the speed at which they’re performed are increasing. On top of that, multiple athletes often need to be judged simultaneously in a single routine. It’s extremely difficult to do all of that with the naked eye, which is why judges are now even allowed to assess the difficulty of certain routines using slow-motion footage. But even then, we still see significant discrepancies in the scores given by different judges, which suggests they’re missing things.”
To help improve his beloved sport, Mike De Decker - student of Applied Computer Science at HOGENT, passionate rope skipper, and recently also a judge - chose to develop an AI model for his bachelor’s thesis that aims to support judges, including himself, in the long run. “Eventually, this could also serve as a foundation for addressing similar challenges in other jury-based sports, such as figure skating and synchronized swimming.”
International exposure at TNC25 thanks to Belnet
Mike’s project is supported not only by NextJump (which offers both a training app and a jump counter) and Gymfed (the Flemish rope skipping federation), but also by Belnet, which gave him the opportunity to give a Lightning Talk at TNC25, the annual conference of GÉANT, the pan-European research and education network to which Belnet belongs.
Dirk Haex, General Director at Belnet, explains: “As part of our mission to promote scientific research and innovation, we are always eager to support young Belgian IT talent through our international network. We were therefore very pleased to have nominated and mentored Mike, just like Félix Gaudin in 2023 and Pierre Van Houtryve in 2019. It’s a fantastic opportunity for him to showcase his idea at the highest international level in R&E.”
“It was an amazing experience to present my project to leading tech experts in the European Research & Education community”, Mike reflects. “Both GÉANT and Belnet supported me tremendously—not just practically and financially, but also by providing presentation training—and I’m very proud to have been selected from so many candidates. The interaction with the other selected students in the Future Talent Programme was also incredibly enriching.”
Curious about Mike's presentation?