Since its founding, VLIZ's central task has been to support marine scientific research in the broadest sense and to make this research visible and accessible. Cooperation with universities, research institutes and individual research groups at home and abroad is therefore continuously strengthened.
VLIZ has about 30 cooperation agreements with universities, individual research groups, scientific institutions, network organizations and government agencies, some of which have been in place since the inception of VLIZ. These cooperation agreements collect practical agreements and action items to support data management, dissemination of research results, documentation of research groups' activities and contact information, use of research infrastructure, etc.
At regular intervals, a team of VLIZ staff visits these research groups to better detect needs and desires and evaluate ongoing collaborative agreements. In addition, several other scientific groups are visited to exchange information on activities and services and to proactively stimulate possible collaborations.