News

How did the Flemish seascape evolve over the past 5000 years, both on land and at sea? Scientists from Vrije Universiteit Brussel, KU Leuven, HoWest and VLIZ will answer this question in the newly launched project ‘Testerep’. To this end, the interdisciplinary team of researchers focusses on the area of the former Testerep peninsula. Studying the evolution and demise of the peninsula will reveal...

The VLIZ annual report 2021 presents the highlights and focuses on the services VLIZ offered to the marine scientific community, policymakers, the industry, educators and the general public in 2021. Performance indicators (KPIs), numbers and lists all together give a transparent overview of the organization and functioning of the institute.

The Sea as a Good Cause – VLIZ's charitable activities – annually awards Brilliant Marine Research Idea grants, each worth 5000 euros. In 2022, no fewer than six young scientists with a brilliant idea were awarded the grant. This was possible thanks to the growing number of VLIZ member contributions, donations and sponsorship from enthusiastic companies and marine research enthusiasts.

Every year VLIZ recruits several students working for us in the months July, August or September. For the summer of 2022 we are looking for a number of enthusiastic students for the various departments of the Flanders Marine Institute. Interested students can submit their candidacy via the online form (up to 18 April). In the first week of May you will be contacted by our HR department.

On 1 March 2022, VLIZ and the Institut des Sciences de la Mer et du Littoral (ISML) of the French Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale (ULCO) concluded a collaboration agreement. In doing so, they strengthen their exchange in the field of research, training and expertise on marine scientific knowledge and culture in the Channel and the North Sea area.

Emil De Borger, Merel Van Gorp and Anton Bilsen can call themselves proud winners of respectively the VLIZ North Sea Award, and the two VLIZ Master Thesis Awards. On the online VLIZ Marine Science Day of Wednesday 2 March, these laureates will briefly explain their research and receive their prizes.

Covenants between the government and VLIZ determine the institute's mission for the next five years. After an intensive preliminary phase consisting of an internal self-evaluation, an external evaluation and negotiations, the Government of Flanders approved a new covenant for the period 2022-2026 on 17 December 2021.

Just before Christmas, the Flemish government approved six covenants with Flemish research institutions – including the Flanders Marine Institute. The Flemish Minister for Science Policy, Innovation and Economy Hilde Crevits gives political priority to research with a societal impact: from climate impact on marine life, to better technologies in healthcare. With more than 33 million euros in...

Today, BELSPO, on behalf of the Federal Government, and the EWI Department – the Department for Economy, Science and Innovation – on behalf of the Flemish Government, signed an agreement framework regarding the deployment of their two research vessels. The framework regulates the reciprocity of the use of ship-time between Federal scientific institutions and Flemish scientific research centers. It...

Annually VLIZ reports on the status of marine research in Flanders and Belgium in the form of a policy informing brief, so keeping its finger on the pulse of this dynamic field of research. The most recent census maps the growing research capacity and their scientific output for the year 2020. The report also examines the strong international partnerships, the broad geographic focus of the...

During an economic and innovation mission of Flemish minister-president Jan Jambon, VLIZ signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Basque AZTI. This research centre has a strong marine expertise and is known for delivering cutting-edge products and technologies.

Mid October, the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) received endorsement by the UN Ocean Decade as a Project Action, entitled 'Above and Beyond – Completing the World Register of Marine Species (ABC WoRMS)'.

Flanders and VLIZ help building the great observation and information system of ICOS, that monitors all flows of greenhouse gases between atmosphere, land and ocean. The rapidly available and reliable data from 140 monitoring stations in 13 European countries now supports science and society in their efforts to become climate neutral.

Have you recently graduated as a bachelor or master with a thesis on a marine research topic? Or have you lately obtained a PhD in a marine scientific discipline in a country bordering the North Sea? Then you can apply for one of the three scientific prizes of the Flanders Marine Institute: the VLIZ Professional Bachelor Thesis Award 2021, the VLIZ Master Thesis Award 2021 or the VLIZ North Sea...

Students from 10 secondary schools from Ghana, Nigeria, Benin, Ivory Coast, Cape Verde and Morocco contribute as citizen scientists to the international research project COLLECT. In addition to contributing to the knowledge on the distribution of plastic pollution on African beaches, the project also aims to promote local awareness about plastic waste.

Scientific research yields many different products, such as publications, datasets, software, patents, conference contributions and citizen science initiatives. VLIZ is convinced that the evaluation of the research output cannot be controlled solely by means of quantitative indicators, but that all aspects of the scientific research process (from the research question and methods to knowledge and...

On September 6th, 2021 EU Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginjus Sinkevicius paid a visit to the city of Ostend to familiarise himself with a number of local initiatives within the sustainable blue economy in Belgium. In the company of Flemish Minister of Economy, Innovation and Agriculture, Hilde Crevits, the EU Commissioner visited, among other things, the Marien...

The increasing presence of marine litter in the seas and ocean is one of the major societal challenges of our time. Public organisations, policy makers and the business community are all looking for solutions to tackle this urgent problem. Still, incentives for behavioral change and a smart policy remain the most effective measures to prevent litter from entering the environment. Preventing...