An Rydant (°1966) has spent most of her professional life working in the private sector where she acquired considerable experience in the media and entertainment industry, notably as the General Director of Kinepolis Film Distribution, the Programmation Manager Drama and Comedy, and later as the Network Manager for the broadcaster VTM and Marketing Director at Sony Pictures and the World Choir Games 2020/2021. She taught courses on marketing and film distribution for several years at the Institut des Arts de Diffusion (Ecole Supérieure des Arts, Louvain-La-Neuve) and has been an actively involved as as a reviewer assessing grant proposals for film projects since the creation of the Vlaamse Audiovisueel Fonds in 2003. She has also worked in a similar role for the Dutch Film Fund in the motion picture, youth film and Suppletiefonds categories.

In 1988, An obtained a Master’s degree in history at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) with a high distiction, after which she worked as a researcher at the Centrum voor Vrouwenstudies (Center for Women's Studies) at the same university. In 1989, she received a scholarship from the National Fund for Scientific Research to write a doctoral thesis under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Els Witte. However, she decided to end her scientific career due to a lack of career opportunities in 1992.

Nevertheless, her passion for history and research remained intact and she decided to apply for CegeSoma’s project “The Resistance in Flanders during WWII” in spring 2022.

Working on this project from August until December 2022, An has approached her subject from two different angles. The first angle has involved qualitative research into the modes of operation of the Independent Front and its satellite organisations – PM, GP, Solidariteit and others – in 7 Flemish cities: Kortrijk, St. Niklaas, Aalst, Vilvoorde, Tienen, Mechelen and Hasselt. The second angle focuses on a quantitative analysis using a set of clearly defined criteria to develop a proposal for interpreting the socio-demographic profiles of the resistance fighters and the differences between the various resistance organisations in Flanders.

Publications:

• Eenheid in de verdeeldheid. Analyse van het besluitvormingsproces in de Liberale Partij en de Partij voor Vrijheid en Vooruitgang (1958-1966), VUB, onuitgegeven licentiaatsverhandeling, 1988.
• "De communautaire krachtsverhoudingen in de Partij voor Vrijheid en Vooruitgang, de “eenheid” toegelicht (1961-1963)", in: WITTE (E.) Taal en Sociale Integratie 11, 1989, VUB Press, pp. 297-314.
• Le monde libéral et la problèmatique bruxelloise (1945-1962), uiteenzetting tijdens het Colloquium ”Het probleem Brussel sinds Hertoginnedal (1963)”, georganiseerd aan de Vrije Universiteit Brussel op 20 en 21 oktober 1988.
• Productie van een database met een bibliografie van de publicaties in het kader van gender en vrouwenstudies, nationaal en internationaal. 1989.