13 / 04 / 2022
© VLIZ
At the end of 2021, the Flemish government approved a new agreement with VLIZ for the period from 2022 to 2026. In the new management period, VLIZ will continue and reinforce its current activities while focusing on research at the interface between climate, oceans and biodiversity.
Besides the approval of the new management agreement, 2021 also marked numerous other achievements. The United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development officially began on 1 January and the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is the first VLIZ initiative to have been formally recognised as an ‘Ocean Decade’ action.
In addition, VLIZ intensified the interactions within the Flemish marine science and innovation ecosystem over the past year. This ecosystem includes actors from both the Flemish knowledge institutions and the business world. Just like VLIZ itself, the entire marine scientific community has experienced strong growth and visibility in the past few years.
Other achievements of the past year include: (1) the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) and the activities carried out by VLIZ within this scope which entered the mature operational phase, (2) the considerable number of policy-informing briefs aimed at the targeted dissemination of research results in marine and coastal policy issues (e.g., with regard to climate, recreational fisheries and plastic litter), (3) the innovative research into the link between the ocean and human health whereby VLIZ involves a new interdisciplinary group of scientists into its activities, (4) the development of the VLIZ Marine Robotics Centre into a knowledge hub for marine autonomous systems, (5) the pioneering role played by VLIZ in marine citizen science, both locally and internationally, (6) the visits by several prominent figures to VLIZ and the Marine Station Ostend, (7) the digital 20th anniversary edition of the VLIZ Marine Science Day, and (8) the importance attached by VLIZ to human capital and diversity as the basis for its scientific successes.
In the section ‘Highlights’ of this annual report, we put a spotlight on a few of these achievements. Please bear in mind that this is only a fraction of our activities.
Both the English and Dutch version of the 2021 annual report can be consulted digitally (pdf) via the VLIZ website.