Project Factsheets

ADVANCE
Antarctic bioDiVersity dAta iNfrastruCture

• Budget: 998.005 €
• Period: 2023-2026
• Executor: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS)
• Contact: Anton Van De Putte (RBINS)
• BELSPO programme manager: David Cox

Description

Documentation

BOOSTED
Belgium Optical network for Optical frequency Standards and TimE Dissemination

• Budget: 992.190 €
• Period: 2023-2026
• Executor: Royal Observatory of Belgium (KSB-ORB)
• Contact: Bruno Bertrand (KSB-ORB)
• BELSPO programme manager: Koen Lefever

Description

Documentation

BopCo-Ce
Barcoding Facility for Organisms and Tissues of Policy Concern - Centre of Excellence

• Budget: 385.000 €
• Period: 2021-2023
• Executors:
  • Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS)
  • Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA)
• Contact: Thierry Backeljau (RBINS) - Marc De Meyer (RMCA)
• BELSPO programme manager: Aline van der Werf

Description

The Barcoding Facility for Organisms and Tissues of Policy Concern (BopCo) is a joint initiative of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS) and the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) for the identification of policy-relevant biological samples.

BopCo converts taxonomic expertise and DNA know-how into concrete, socially useful results. BopCo currently performs species identifications at the request of a wide range of Belgian and foreign stakeholders, including federal, regional and local governments and agencies, research institutions, NGOs, associations, private companies and individuals.

The aim of the project is a feasibility study for the establishment of a centre of excellence whose tasks are (1) to serve as a national focal point for the identification of biological material on demand, using both morphological and DNA-based techniques, (2) to produce well-documented DNA barcodes of relevant taxa, (3) to maintain reference collections of barcoded organisms and the corresponding DNA barcode databases, and (4) to research and apply new tools and techniques for species identification and DNA barcoding.

Documentation

• Project website: BopCo - Barcoding Organisms of Policy Concern
• Demo video: BopCo - How to identify plants and animals using DNA analysis?
• Promotion folder: BopCo
• Overview poster: A Barcoding Facility for Organisms and Tissues of Policy Concern
• Publications
  • Open access publications
    • Intermediate gastropod hosts of major feline cardiopulmonary nematodes in an area of wildcat and domestic cat sympatry in Greece
    • First record of the West Nile virus bridge vector Culex modestus Ficalbi (Diptera: Culicidae) in Belgium
    • DNA identification of species of the Anopheles maculipennis complex and first record of An. daciae in Belgium
    • First record, DNA identification and morphometric characterization of Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas in the southern Black Sea
  • Science Connection
    • Science Connection nr. 63 (april-mei 2020): DNA-barcoding in de soorten en het eten van wilde dieren
    • Science Connection n° 63 (avril-mai 2020): Des codes-barres ADN les espèces invasives et la viande de brousse

BopCo-CE
Towards a Belgian Expert Centre for the Identification of Biological Specimens and Products of Policy Concern

• Budget: 796.605 €
• Period: 2023-2026
• Executors:
  • Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS)
  • Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA)
• Contact: Thierry Backeljau (RBINS) - Marc De Meyer (RMCA)
• BELSPO programme manager: Marlies Laethem

Description

Documentation

CANATHIST
The Natural History collections collected in central Africa by Belgian institutions

• Budget: 738.170 €
• Period: 2023-2026
• Executors:
  • Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS)
  • Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA)
• Contact: Didier Van Den Spiegel (RMCA) - Patrick Semal (RBINS)
• BELSPO programme manager: Aline van der Werf

Description

Documentation

CHrisis
Heritage in danger

• Budget: 1.100.000 € - Restart and Transition Plan (RTP)
• Period: 2022-2024
• Executor: Royal Institute for Cultural heritage (RICH)
• Contact: Estelle De Bruyn (KIK)
• BELSPO programme manager: Helena Calvo del Castillo

Description

More than 250 heritage sites were impacted by the July 2021 floods. The insufficient preparation of these sites (general lack of emergency plans), the absence of a transversal vision of heritage management, the timing of the floods (summer holiday period), as well as the consequences of the health and economic crisis caused by the coronavirus have seriously hampered the implementation of a coordinated and efficient response strategy. The RICH, in close collaboration with the regional organisations concerned and at their request, has been working since the beginning of the flood crisis to organise this cross-cutting response.

Funding is provided within the Restart and Transition Plan to support the coordination role of the RICH.

Documentation

CoSo
Colonial Sources: Improve access, Share archives and Promote knowledge on the colonial past (Belgium, Burundi, the DRCongo and Rwanda)

• Budget: 918.900 €
• Period: 2023-2026
• Executors:
  • Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) 
  • State Archives of Belgium (AGR/ARA)
• Contact: Dieter Van Hassel (RMCA) - Bérengère Piret (ARA)
• BELSPO programme manager: Georges Jamart

Description

Documentation

DORA
Impact of sound on marine ecosystems from offshore wind energy generation

• Budget: 243.760 €
• Period: 2023-2025
• Executor: Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB)
• Contact: Corinne Vigouroux (BIRA-IASB)
• BELSPO programme manager: David Cox

Description

Documentation

DOT
Database on Offender Trajectories

• Budget: 756.500 €
• Period: 2023-2025
• Executor: Nationaal Instituut voor Criminalistiek en Criminologie (NICC) - Institut National de Criminalistique et de Criminologie (INCC)
• Contact: Luc Robert (NICC-INCC)
• BELSPO programme manager: Aziz Naji

Description

Documentation

ENFORCE
Expertise centre for Forensic Wood Research

• Budget: 720.000 € - Restart and Transition Plan (RTP)
• Period: 2022-2024
• Executor: Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA)
• Contact: Hans Beeckman (KMMA)
• BELSPO programme manager: Aline van der Werf

Description

A substantial part of timber trade is illegal and illegal logging is considered the most profitable breach of biodiversity regulations. 27.5% of total primary tropical timber imports into the European Union are imported through Belgium (mainly through the port of Antwerp). Belgium thus plays a key role in the international timber trade and has an important responsibility to (1) monitor trade in timber and timber products and (2) build research capacity for timber identification and apply it in an enforcement context.

Given the enormity of the illegal timber trade and its associated problems, the Restart and Transition Plan initiates the instauration of a Belgian forensic timber identification centre at the RMCA.  The RMCA's wood collection is among the largest in the world, comprising more than 80,000 wood samples, including more than 13,000 species. This Forensic Wood Research Centre will be the Belgian reference centre for wood identification and include both scientific services and scientific research.

Documentation

• Papers
  • Tervuren wood collection
    H. Beeckman, “A xylarium for the sustainable management of biodiversity: the wood collection of the Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium,” Bull. l’APAD, no. 26, 2003.
    V. Deklerck, “National treasure: valorisation of the Federal Xylarium in Belgium for timber identification and wood technology.” Ghent University, 2019.
  • Wood identification
    • General
      E. E. Dormontt et al., “Forensic timber identification: It’s time to integrate disciplines to combat illegal logging,” Biol. Conserv., vol. 191, pp. 790–798, 2015.
      A. J. Lowe et al., “Opportunities for improved transparency in the timber trade through scientific verification,” Bioscience, vol. 66, no. 11, pp. 990–998, 2016.
      P. E. Gasson et al., “WorldForestID: Addressing the need for standardized wood reference collections to support authentication analysis technologies; a way forward for checking the origin and identity of traded timber,” Plants, People, Planet, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 130–141, 2021.
      S. M. Piabuo, P. A. Minang, C. J. Tieguhong, D. Foundjem-Tita, and F. Nghobuoche, “Illegal logging, governance effectiveness and carbon dioxide emission in the timber-producing countries of Congo Basin and Asia,” Environ. Dev. Sustain., vol. 23, no. 10, pp. 14176–14196, 2021.
      W. Magrath, P. Younger, and H. Phan, “An INTERPOL Perspective on Law Enforcement in Illegal Logging,” Lyon INTERPOL Gen. Secr., 2009.
      A. Hoare, “Tackling illegal logging and the related trade,” What Prog. where next, p. 79, 2015.
      P. Hirschberger, Illegal wood for the European market: an analysis of the EU import and export of illegal wood and related products. WWF-Germany, 2008.
      Low, Melita et al., (2022). Tracing the worldas timber: The status of scientific verification technologies for species and origin identification. IAWA Journal. 37. 1-22. 10.1163/22941932-bja10097.
    • Wood anatomy
      Koch G, Haag V, Heinz I, Richter HG, Schmitt U (2015) Control of Internationally Traded Timber - The Role of Macroscopic and Microscopic Wood Identification against Illegal Logging. J Forensic Res 6: 317. doi: 10.4172/2157-7145.1000317
      P. Gasson, P. Baas, and E. Wheeler, “Wood anatomy of CITES-listed tree species,” IAWA J., vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 155–198, 2011.
      
    • Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS)
      S. Tsuchikawa and H. Kobori, “A review of recent application of near infrared spectroscopy to wood science and technology,” J. Wood Sci., vol. 61, no. 3, pp. 213–220, 2015.
      S. Tsuchikawa, K. Inoue, J. Noma, and K. Hayashi, “Application of near-infrared spectroscopy to wood discrimination,” J. Wood Sci., vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 29–35, 2003.
    • Genetic methods
      A. Michael Höltken, H. Schröder, N. Wischnewski, B. Degen, E. Magel, and M. Fladung, “Development of DNA-based methods to identify CITES-protected timber species: a case study in the Meliaceae family,” 2012.
      A. J. Lowe, K. N. Wong, Y. S. Tiong, S. Iyerh, and F. T. Chew, “A DNA Method to Verify the Integrity of Timber Supply Chains; Confirming the Legal Sourcing of Merbau Timber From Logging Concession to Sawmill.,” Silvae Genet., vol. 59, no. 6, p. 263, 2010.
    • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
      P. Ravindran, A. Costa, R. Soares, and A. C. Wiedenhoeft, “Classification of CITES-listed and other neotropical Meliaceae wood images using convolutional neural networks,” Plant Methods, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 1–10, 2018.
      P. Ravindran et al., “Image based identification of Ghanaian timbers using the XyloTron: Opportunities, risks and challenges,” arXiv Prepr. arXiv1912.00296, 2019.
      P. Ravindran, B. J. Thompson, R. K. Soares, and A. C. Wiedenhoeft, “The XyloTron: flexible, open-source, image-based macroscopic field identification of wood products,” Front. Plant Sci., vol. 11, p. 1015, 2020.
      S.-W. Hwang and J. Sugiyama, “Computer vision-based wood identification and its expansion and contribution potentials in wood science: A review,” Plant Methods, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 1–21, 2021.
    • Identification keys
      K. Vander Mijnsbrugge and H. Beeckman, “Knowledge modelling for a wood identification system,” Silva Gandav., vol. 57, 1992.
      C. A. LaPasha and E. A. Wheeler, “A microcomputer based system for computer-aided wood identification,” IAWA J., vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 347–354, 1987.
      J. Ilic, “Computer aided wood identification using CSIROID,” IAWA J., vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 333–340, 1993.
  • Wood databases
    E. A. Wheeler, P. E. Gasson, and P. Baas, “Using the InsideWood web site: potentials and pitfalls,” IAWA J., vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 412–462, 2020.
    F. Ruffinatto, G. Castro, C. Cremonini, A. Crivellaro, and R. Zanuttini, “A new atlas and macroscopic wood identification software package for Italian timber species,” IAWA J., vol. 41, no. 4, pp. 393–411, 2019.
    F. Ruffinatto and A. Crivellaro, Atlas of macroscopic wood identification: with a special focus on timbers used in Europe and CITES-listed species. Springer Nature, 2019.
    A. C. Barefoot and F. W. Hankins, Identification of modern and tertiary woods. Oxford University Press., 1982.
    M. Gregory, “Wood identification: an annotated bibliography,” Iawa J., vol. 1, no. 1–2, pp. 3–41, 1980.
    I. B. NS, “IAWA list of microscopic features for hardwood identification,” 1989.
    F. Ruffinatto, A. Crivellaro, and A. C. Wiedenhoeft, “Review of macroscopic features for hardwood and softwood identification and a proposal for a new character list,” IAWA J., vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 208–241, 2015.
    I. A. of W. A. Committee, “IAWA list of microscopic features for softwood identification,” IAWA J., vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 1–70, 2004.
    V. Angyalossy et al., “IAWA list of microscopic bark features,” IAWA J., vol. 37, no. 4, pp. 517–615, 2016.
    E. A. Wheeler, “Inside Wood–A web resource for hardwood anatomy,” Iawa J., vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 199–211, 2011.
    
    
• Links:
  • Database for wood identification: Inside Wood - Search the Inside Wood Database (ncsu.edu)
  • Network for promoting the operationalization of innovative tools for species identification and for determining the geographic origin of wood to verify trade claims: Global Timber Tracking Network (GTTN)
  • FSC Home | Forest Stewardship Council (fsc.org)
  • PEFC PEFC België
  • Overview of the importance for forensic science against illegal wood trade, WWF TNRC Topic Brief Using Wood Forensic Science to Deter Corruption and Illegality in the Timber Trade | Pages | WWF (worldwildlife.org)
  • Interpol Forestry crime (interpol.int)
  • Best Practice Guide for Forensic Timber Identification (unodc.org)
    
    
• Regulations:
  • EU: EUTR: Timber Regulation - Forests - Environment - European Commission (europa.eu)
  • EU: FLEGT: FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) - Forests - Environment - European Commission (europa.eu)
  • USA: Lacey Act: USDA APHIS | Lacey Act
  • Canada: Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation on International and Interprovincial Trade Act 1992: Trade in protected species: Canadian act and regulation for wild animal and plant protection - Canada.ca
  • Australia: Illegal Logging Prohibition Act: Illegal logging - DAFF (agriculture.gov.au)
  • UK: United Kingdom Timber Regulation: Regulations: timber and FLEGT licences - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
  • CITES: Front | CITES

ExPoSoils
Climate change experiments in Arctic and Antarctic polar desert soils

• Budget: 488.250 €
• Period: 2023-2026
• Executors:
  • Universiteit Gent (UGent)
  • Université de Liège (ULiège)
  • Universiteit Gent (UGent)
  • Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS)
• Contact: Elie Verleyen (UGent) - Annick Wilmotte (ULiège) - Anne Willems (UGent) - Quinten Vanhellemont (RBINS)
• BELSPO programme manager: David Cox

Description

Documentation

FROID
Finding the world’s oldest ice record around the Princess Elisabeth Station

• Budget: 244.050 €
• Period: 2023-2026
• Executor: Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
• Contact: François Fripiat (ULB)
• BELSPO programme manager: David Cox

Description

Documentation

H-SEARCH
Heritage Science Elastic Archives

• Budget: 664.275 €
• Period: 2023-2026
• Executor: Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA)
• Contact: Wim Fremout (KIK-IRPA) - Eva Coudyzer (KIK-IRPA)
• BELSPO programme manager: Helena Calvo del Castillo

Description

Documentation

Hydrogen Test Facility for scientific and applied research

• Budget: 16.200.000 € - Restart and Transition Plan (RTP)
• Period: 2022-2024
• Executor: The von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (VKI)
• Contact: Peter Simkens (VKI)
• BELSPO programme managers: Anna Calderone - Maaike Vancauwenberghe

Description

This project carried out by the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (VKI) is one of the priorities of the Federal Science Policy to strengthen the federal research infrastructure. Moreover, this project, which is part of the "Federal Hydrogen Vision and Strategy" presented by the Minister of Energy to the Council of Ministers on 29 October 2021, is also of strategic importance for the FPS Economy, SMEs, Self-Employed and Energy.

The aim of the project is to develop a generic infrastructure at a new location that can house the various facilities needed to carry out large-scale experimental tests with hydrogen technologies. The facility should host applied experiments covering the whole value chain of the hydrogen economy, with a particular focus on what falls under federal competence (in the area of hydrogen production, transport and storage, hydrogen applications in mobility and electricity generation, and plant safety).

infraFADA
Upgrading the taxonomic backbone of global freshwater animal biodiversity research infrastructures

• Budget: 397.500 €
• Period: 2023-2026
• Executor: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS)
• Contact: Koen Martens (KBIN)
• BELSPO programme manager: Aline van der Werf

Description

Documentation

LATTITUDE
Sleep at extreme latitudes: examining the differences between Antarctic and arctic environments

• Budget: 242.680 €
• Period: 2023-2026
• Executor: Royal Military Academy (RMA)
• Contact: Nathalie Pattyn (RMA)
• BELSPO programme manager: David Cox

Description

Documentation

LEANI
Low Energy Astrophysical Neutrinos in the Ice

• Budget: 242.920 €
• Period: 2023-2026
• Executor: Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain)
• Contact: Gwenhaël De Wasseige (UCLouvain)
• BELSPO programme manager: David Cox

Description

Documentation

LIFTHAW
Nutrient lift upon permafrost thaw: sources and controlling processes

• Budget: 244.080 €
• Period: 2023-2025
• Executor: Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain)
• Contact: Sophie Opfergelt (UCLouvain)
• BELSPO programme manager: David Cox

Description

Documentation

LINAC@LNK
LINAC@LNK: from nuclear waste characterization to medical metrology

• Budget: 998.955 €
• Period: 2023-2026
• Executor: SCK-CEN
• Contact: Ana Vaniqui (SCK-CEN) - Filip Vanhavere (SCK-CEN) - Christophe Bruggeman (SCK-CEN) - Cristian Mihailescu (SCK-CEN) - An Bielen (SCK-CEN) - Wim Steegmans(SCK-CEN)
• BELSPO programme manager: Helena Calvo del Castillo

Description

Documentation

MAGSCREEN
Construction of a magnetically shielded room

• Budget: 800.810 €
• Period: 2023-2026
• Executor: Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (KMI-IRM)
• Contact: Simo Spassov (KMI-IRM)
• BELSPO programme manager: Georges Jamart

Description

Documentation

MetaBelgica
A shared entity management infrastructure between Federal Scientific Institutions

• Budget: 728.560 €
• Period: 2023-2026
• Executors:
  • Royal Library of Belgium (KBR) 
  • Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (KMSKB-MRBAB) 
  • Royal Institute for Cultural Heritage (KIK-IRPA) 
  • Royal Museums for Art and History (KMKG-MRAH)
• Contact: Hannes Lowagie (KBR) - Karine Lasaracina (KMSKB-MRBAB) - Eva Coudyzer (KIK-IRPA) - Els Angenon (KMKG-MRAH)
• BELSPO programme manager: Helena Calvo del Castillo

Description

Documentation

Metis-Resolution - phase 2

• Budget: 780.000 €
• Period: 2021-2025
• Executor: General State Archives (ARA-AGR)
• Contact: Pierre-Alain Tallier - Nico Wouters
• BELSPO programme manager: Georges Jamart

Description

On 29 March 2018, the Chambre of Representatives unanimously approved the resolution "on the segregation suffered by metis of Belgian colonial origin in Africa". Article 6 of this Metis-Resolution called for "a detailed historical investigation into the role of civil and ecclesiastical authorities in the treatment of the metis during the colonial period in the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi", with the importance of making the necessary budgetary, material and human resources available to the General State Archives (ARA-AGR) in order to achieve the objectives pursued in the Resolution.

The "Metis-Resolution" research project, carried out in accordance with the wishes of the Resolution, is divided into two phases, which correspond respectively to Articles 6 and 7 of the Resolution.

Phase 1 - which corresponds to Article 7 of the Resolution - was the subject of a cooperation agreement between the FPS Foreign Affairs and the State Archives. In this first phase, all personal files of the metis were inventoried and correlations between these files were made. The transfer of the 'African archives' from the FPS Foreign Affairs to the ARA-AGR is currently underway.

The present research project concerns phase 2 of the research, which corresponds to Article 6 of the Resolution, in which a detailed historical investigation is conducted into the role of the civil and church authorities in the treatment of the metis during the colonial period in Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi.

Documentation

• Project website: Resolutie-Metissen
• Virtual exhibition:
  • Metis. Archief, herinnering en identiteit. Een blik op het onderzoeksproject "Resolutie-Metissen" aan het Algemeen Rijksarchief
  • Archives, mémoires et identités métisses Un regard sur le projet de recherche «Résolution-Métis» en cours aux Archives de l'État
• Publications
  • Jalon de recherche – (Re)chercher les archives relatives aux métis et à leur histoire familiale
  • Zoekwijzer - Zoeken naar archieven over metissen en hun familiegeschiedenis
  • Science Connection
    • Science Connection nr. 64 (april-mei-juni 2021): De ‘Resolutie-Metissen’ - Maatschappelijke uitdagingen en mogelijkheden voor onderzoek
    • Science Connection n° 64 (avril-mai-juin 2021): La ‘résolution-métis’ - Enjeux sociétaux et opportunités pour la recherche

NAMSAT
Natural hAzards Monitoring from SATellites

• Budget: 531.920 €
• Period: 2023-2026
• Executors:
  • Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB) 
  • Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (KMI-IRM)
• Contact: Nicolas Theys (BIRA-IASB) - Nicolas Clerbaux (KMI-IRM)
• BELSPO programme manager: Aline van der Werf

Description

Documentation

NEED
Needs Examination, Evaluation and Dissemination: identifying unmet patient and societal needs for a more needs-driven health policy and product development

• Budget: 976.285 €
• Period: 2023-2026
• Executors:
  • Federaal Kenniscentrum voor de Gezondheidszorg - Centre Fédéral d'Expertise de Soins de Santé (KCE) 
  • Sciensano
• Contact: Irina Cleemput (KCE) - Robby De Pauw (Sciensano)
• BELSPO programme manager: Corinne Lejour

Description

Documentation

ORCHESTRA
ecOsystem Responses to Constant offsHorE Sound specTRA

• Budget: 248.650 €
• Period: 2021-2025
• Executor: Universiteit Gent (UGent)
• Contact: Tom Moens (UGent)
• BELSPO programme manager: David Cox - Koen Lefever

Description

Documentation

PASPARTOUT
Pathways of particles, VOCs and moisture into East-Antarctica in a changing climate

• Budget: 488.040 €
• Period: 2023-2026
• Executors:
  • • Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (RMI)
  • Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven)
  • Universiteit Gent (UGent)
  • Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
• Contact: Alexander Mangold (RMI) - Nicole Van Lipzig (KU Leuven) - Christophe Walgraeve (UGent) - Nadine Mattielli (ULB)
• BELSPO programme manager: David Cox

Description

Documentation

PROCHE
Provenance research on the ethnographic collection

• Budget: 2.320.000 €
• Period: 2021-2024
• Executor: Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA)
• Contact: Els Cornelissen (RMCA)
• BELSPO programme manager: Helena Calvo del Castillo

Description

The social and political debate surrounding the restitution of cultural heritage acquired during the colonial period has intensified over the past few years, both on an international and a European level. The Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA) participates in this international debate as a social actor and as manager of the Belgian State patrimony of collections from the countries colonised by Belgium (DRCongo, Rwanda and Burundi), as well as collections collected in other countries in West, South, East and Central Africa.

The RMCA currently manages 128.500 ethnographic objects and musical instruments, of which approximately 85.000 objects from Central Africa. Most of the collection came about through donations, missionaries, civil servants, soldiers and scientific missions. Especially in the Congo Free State period - from 1885 to 1908 - objects were acquired by force or plunder. In the period of the Belgian Congo from 1908 onwards, objects were collected in a context of unequal relations between the colonised and the coloniser. Only a small portion was purchased.

Although the RMCA has well-documented archives on where and by whom a particular object was acquired, there is often little information available on the exact manner of its acquisition (gift, purchase, 'under slight force'). Thorough provenance research into how the 85.000 objects acquired by the RMCA were acquired is essential.

Documentation

• Provenance trail
  • Provenance of the collections
  • De herkomst van de collecties
  • La provenance des collections

PURE WIND
Impact of sound on marine ecosystems from offshore wind energy generation

• Budget: 244.762 €
• Period: 2021-2025
• Executor: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS)
• Contact: Alain Norro (RBINS)
• BELSPO programme manager: David Cox - Koen Lefever

Description

Documentation

RESIST
Recent Arctic and Antarctic sea ice lows: same causes, same impacts?

• Budget: 488.080 €
• Period: 2023-2026
• Executors:
  • Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain)
  • Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (RMI)
• Contact: François Massonnet (UCLouvain) - David Docquier (RMI)
• BELSPO programme manager: David Cox

Description

Documentation

SORBET
Services and OpeRability of the BRAMS nETwork

• Budget: 407.055 €
• Period: 2023-2026
• Executor: Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB)
• Contact: Hervé Lamy (BIRA-IASB)
• BELSPO programme manager: Koen Lefever

Description

Documentation

SUNRISE
Sustained and UNified Research Infrastructure for Solar data sErvices

• Budget: 998.770 €
• Period: 2023-2026
• Executor: Royal Observatory of Belgium (KSB-ORB)
• Contact: Véronique Delouille (KSB-ORB)
• BELSPO programme manager: Koen Lefever

Description

Documentation

SURV-EMIS
Consolidating ship emission monitoring over the North Sea

• Budget: 360.000 € - Restart and Transition Plan (RTP)
• Period: 2022-2024
• Executor: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS)
• Contact: Brigitte Lauwaert (RBINS)
• BELSPO programme manager: David Cox

Description

In 2020, the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS) carried out 158 flight hours over the North Sea as part of the national aerial observation program. These operations led, among other things, to the identification of 10 cases of operational marine pollution observed by ships, and of an accidental marine pollution resulting from a collision between 2 tankers. Suspicious sulphur levels were also measured in the smoke plumes of 10 ships.

In recent years, the RBINS has equipped its surveillance aircraft with innovative 'sniffer' sensors. These sensors measure sulphur, nitrogen and soot emissions from individual seagoing vessels. With the sniffer aircraft, the strict international ship emission standards on the North Sea can be monitored. If a suspicious SOx or NOx emission is measured in the smoke plume of a ship, this ship is targeted for a port inspection in the next European port of call. With this extension, Belgium continues to play a pioneering role internationally in the monitoring of ship emissions. However, additional SOx/NOx/BC sniffer flights are necessary.

Additional funding is provided within the Restart and Transition Plan to support recurrent costs linked to these air observations

Documentation

• Aerial surveillance : Combatting air pollution above the sea (MARPOL Annex VI)

ULTIMO
UnLocking The scIentific potential of the Belgica MOuntains, East Antarctica

• Budget: 318.140 €
• Period: 2023-2026
• Executors:
  • Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB)
  • Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB)
  • Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS)
• Contact: Steven Goderis (VUB) - Vinciane Debaille (ULB) - Sophie Decrée (RBINS)
• BELSPO programme manager: David Cox

Description

Documentation