News

For her PhD research, Nelle Meyers (VLIZ, ILVO, UGent) developed a new cost- and time-effective method for the detection and identification of microplastics in the marine environment. The semi-automatic method combines staining of microplastic particles with the fluorescent dye nile red and machine-learning algorithms. The method tested reliably for most types of polymers, even when the...

This spring, the Flanders Marine Institute is opening six vacancies to recruit new PhD candidates. Curious which new research projects we are launching in close collaboration with one or more of the Flemish universities?

The non-profit organisations HYDRO and Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) are awarding the Dr Edouard Delcroix Incentive Award for the fifth time. This international annual scientific prize, worth 2,500 EUR, will be awarded to a young scientist conducting research in the broad field of "ocean and human health". The incentive prize is reserved for candidates who recently obtained their master's...

PLUXIN, one of the most comprehensive studies in Flemish coastal waters, seaports and estuaries, shows that plastic particles are everywhere. The quantities of 'microplastic' are an order of magnitude larger than the larger litter. It accumulates in riverbeds and on their banks. And estuaries, such as the Scheldt, are not sources of plastic to the open sea, but rather settling places. In turn, the...

Be part of the programme of VLIZ Marine Science Day 2024 on 6 March 2024 at De Grote Post in Oostende. The #VMSD24 – formally framed within the Belgian EU Presidency – will revolve entirely around the EU Mission Ocean & Waters, and its three main themes: ocean pollution, climate/carbon, and biodiversity. Make your own research part of the #VMSD24 programme and submit an abstract by 12 January 2024...

The Sea as a Good Cause supports young, original-thinking marine researchers by once again awarding 6 research grants - each worth EUR 5,000. PhD students and junior postdocs in Flanders, as well as PhD students from the South, who dare to think out-of-the box, are eligible for this research funding. Deadline for submitting proposals: 26 January 2024.

Have you recently defended your BSc, MSc or PhD thesis on a marine research theme? Then you have until 31 December to apply for one of the VLIZ Marine Science Awards 2023. From now on, with a slight twist in the conditions to participate.

Last month, the Innovative Solutions for Plastic Free European Rivers (INSPIRE Europe) consortium kicked off the start of a new four-year project. 25 partners spread across Europe and one partner from Thailand will join forces to reduce the plastic pollution in European rivers.

Some 290 shipwrecks lie in the Belgian part of the North Sea alone, with probably more than 1,000 in the entire North Sea, many of them silent witnesses to the two world wars. Until recently, the environmental impact of these wrecks was largely unknown and, as far as the presence of munitions is concerned, they represented a true Pandora’s box. The North Sea Wrecks project has changed this.