A philologist who helps shape the language of international standards
Last updated:
February 4, 2026
You might not immediately expect it from a linguist, but Prof. Dr. Hendrik J. Kockaert has been a fixture in international committees on terminology, translation, and multilingual communication for more than twenty years. At KU Leuven, he has built up impressive expertise in standards development within ISO and NBN.
In November 2025, this exceptional commitment was rewarded with the NBN award in the category 'Non-profit organizations, universities, or government agencies'. The award recognizes his many years of contribution to standards that guide professional communication, translation practices, and terminology work worldwide.
I am a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Arts at KU Leuven, Sint-Jacob Campus in Antwerp, where I teach French linguistics, terminology, financial translation, and translation technology. I coordinate the master's program in translation and am involved in TermNet, the international network for terminology, where I was re-elected as first vice-chair in 2023. I am also active in ISO and NBN. My research focuses on ISO standards for translation quality, terminology, and translation technology."
His career took on an international dimension early on. He gained his first experience with terminology during an internship at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Translation in Luxembourg. This was followed by academic and professional experiences in Eswatini and South Africa, where he obtained a PhD in phonology and acoustic phonetics.
He also remained active outside Europe: between 2018 and 2021, he worked in Qatar as a professor and director of a master's program in translation. This broad experience fueled his view of language as something that must be organized not only culturally, but also socially and professionally.
His involvement in standards development began in 2004, when Prof. Frieda Steurs asked him to participate in the work of NBN and ISO on terminology. "I felt honored," he says. Since then, he has been a member of NBN and chair of ISO TC 37 SC 1 WG 3, the working group that focuses on principles, methods, and vocabulary.
Those early years consisted of intensive analysis and translation of standards into Dutch — an exercise that allowed him to understand the standards framework from the inside out. As he describes it: "My first step in standards development consisted of studying, analyzing, and translating standards into Dutch. It wasn't easy, but it was the way to get to know the standards thoroughly."
His commitment did not go unnoticed within ISO either. Between 2005 and 2025, Prof. Kockaert was honored several times during international working meetings of ISO TC 37 for his many years of dedication, his leadership within terminology committees, and his contribution as co-author of an important ISO standard.
Prof. Kockaert's work revolves around a crucial but often underestimated dimension of standard development: terminology. Among other things, he is working on ISO 704, a standard that lays down the basic principles of terminology work. ISO 704 describes how concepts and terms are systematically related to each other and forms the basis for the "Terms and definitions" section in all other ISO standards.
Terminology goes far beyond words alone. Symbols and colors are also part of terminological work. "Symbols function as indicators of concepts, just like terms do, but visually and independently of language," he explains, referring to standards such as ISO 7010 on safety symbols.
Anyone who thinks that standards are imposed from above is mistaken. ISO standards are developed through an intensive process of consultation and international cooperation. Prof. Kockaert emphasizes that consensus is the core principle here: "Voting is rarely used: every proposed change must be supported by all members."
Standards also undergo a rigorous process from design to final publication and are systematically reviewed every five years. As a result, they can sometimes lag behind rapid technological developments, but at the same time they remain based on widely supported expertise.
Developing standards takes a lot of time and effort, but is largely voluntary. "I don't get paid for it," says Prof. Kockaert, "I do it voluntarily and, to a certain extent, with the support of KU Leuven." At the same time, he points to the tension within the academic world: ISO standards are anonymous, which means that contributions receive little visibility in traditional evaluation frameworks.
Nevertheless, he remains convinced of its importance. His goal is therefore clear: "My goal is to make it clear that ISO standards are a form of high-quality social and scientific output, so that the role of standard development is better recognized within the academic world."
With his expertise, Prof. Kockaert finds himself at a unique intersection of language, technology, and international cooperation. In a world where artificial intelligence and machine translation are becoming increasingly influential, standards remain essential to guarantee quality, reliability, and responsibility.
His work shows that standard development is not just a matter for engineers or technicians, but also for language experts who help determine how we communicate clearly, safely, and consistently around the world.
The NBN Award therefore recognizes more than just a personal journey: it emphasizes the importance of academic engagement in an international standards environment that is constantly changing.
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