Travel grants north-south cooperation

Travel grant for Blue Science & Technology Summer Training 2023

For 2023 The Sea as a Good Cause awards one travel grant to a promising student in marine sciences affiliated to the Marine Research Institutes listed below. The students should be enrolled in an MSc or PhD program in marine science and be younger than 35. With these travel grants, we wish to inspire and enable students to exchange experience and gain expertise by participating in the Blue Science & Technology Summer Training organized by Ghent University from 3 – 14 July 2023 in Flanders.

The Blue Science & Technology Summer Training 2023 combines academic lectures from top researchers from different (inter-) national knowledge institutions active in the several Blue Economy domains, with seminars provided by European and national policy-makers as well as private companies with an established value in their sector, and practical experience. As such, BlueS&T participants gain first hand insight in the process of designing, launching and running offshore businesses by leading experts in the field. Providing both academic as well as a range of soft, transferable skills.  

The overall budget available for the travel grant is 4.000 EUR and is funded by The Sea as a Good Cause. The fund of maximum 4.000 EUR is used to allow the young marine scientist to participate in. The travel grant includes the travel cost for the flight (lowest fare, economy class), accommodation and subscription fee for the summer school.

Applicants can apply for the grant by sending following documents to filantropie@vliz.be, no later than 7 June 2023. All details can be read in the 'call for proposals'.

• application form (download here)
• cv of the PhD student
• letter of consent of the supervisor affiliated to the student’s university or university college (free format)
• a copy of your master’s degree or prove of your doctoral grant.

• Instituto de Fomento Pesquero (IFOP) – HQ Valparaiso, Chile
• Invemar – Santa Marta, Colombia
• Centro de Investigaciones de Biología Marina (CIBIMA-FC-UASD) - Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
• Dirección General Intereses Marítimos (DIGEIM) & Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral (ESPOL) – Ecuador
• Instituto del Mar del Peru (IMARPE) - Lima, Peru
• Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) – Mombasa, Kenya

Philanthropy travel grants 2018

Proceeding from a cooperation between VLIZ and the Comisión Permanente del Pacífico Sur (CPPS), promising South American students were given the opportunity to gain experience at Flemish marine research groups in the period of 18-29 March 2018.  Candidates were selected based on their CV by local contact persons. The student had to be registered in a MSc- or PhD-programme in marine sciences and had to be under the age of 35. Three young scientist coming from Colombia (Comision Colombiana del Oceano), Panama (Ministerio del Ambiente Panama) and Peru (Instituto del Mar de Peru – IMARPE) complied with the demands and were welcomed in Belgium. Alongside a visit to VLIZ and a mutual participation in the VLIZ Marine Science Day, each visitor had his own personalized programme consisting of visits to marine research groups such as GhEnToxLab (UGent), Institute for agricultural and fisheries research (ILVO) and the Maritime Institute (UGent). Also the participation in a workshops in relation to indicators for altered ecosystem functioning under human pressures and a workshop on scenarios for restoring oyster beds in Belgian waters were part of their program, as well as a day aboard the research vessel Simon Stevin.
After their visit, the students listed opportunities for possible future cooperation between Flemish marine research groups and the institute in their home country.
The budget of the trip was managed by VLIZ, concerning plane tickets (low budget), overnight accommodation, as well as a small per diem for local expenses.

Philanthropy travel grants 2017

Within the framework of the ongoing collaborations between VLIZ and Kenya, VLIZ awarded 3 travel grants to students affiliated to Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI), Technical University of Mombasa (TUM) and University of Nairobi (UoN).
During a short stay of 1 week (Monday 27 February to Friday 3 March 2017) in Flanders, these promising researchers had the opportunity to participate in the VLIZ Marine Science Day 2017 (3 March 2017). Furthermore, they gained hands on experience onboard the research vessel Simon Stevin and in the labs of several marine research groups in Flanders.
For each of the three institutes mentioned above, direct contact persons at the institute were asked to select one student for the travel grant and provide a short CV of the student. The student had to be enrolled in an MSc or PhD program in marine science at the institute and be younger than 35. Each travel grant was EUR 1500 and was managed by VLIZ for booking the flight (lowest fare), accommodation and providing the student with a small per diem for local expenses.

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