Anouk Verheyden was born in Belgium in 1974. She received the bachelor's degree in biology and the Ph.D. degree in science from Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium, in 1997 and 2004, respectively. While working towards the Ph.D. degree, she studied wood anatomy, stable carbon and isotope chemistry, and inorganic chemistry of mangrove wood. She is currently continuing her research with the Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium, where she is involved in a project on tropical dendrochronology.