Since VLIZ obtained a research mandate in 2017, several PhD projects have started at VLIZ, or in collaboration with VLIZ. Each of these projects is a collaboration between VLIZ on the one hand and one or more universities and research institutes on the other.
Over the past year, VLIZ has awarded five new PhD titles:
• 12 February 2025 – Stan Pannier (VLIZ, KU Leuven) – ‘Enterprising merchants in the global Atlantic: Frederic Romberg and the Austrian Netherlands trade with West and Central Africa, 1775-1795.’
• 13 February 2025 – Yunmeng Li (VLIZ, UGent & UAntwerpen) – ‘Marine bacteria in sea spray aerosols and their potential immunological effects on human health.’
• 13 October 2025 – Sarah Schmidlin (VLIZ, Ugent) – ‘Early colonization by marine ecosystem engineers: settlement and metamorphosis of the Pacific oyster (Magallana gigas) in a complex sensory landscape of chemical, tactile and sound cues.’
• 4 November 2025 – Michiel Perneel (VLIZ, VIB, UGent) – ‘Spatiotemporal metatranscriptomics of surface microeukaryotic plankton communities in the Southern North Sea.’
• 3 December 2025 – Guilia Leone (VLIZ, UGent & INBO) – ‘Decision Support Framework for Plastic Clean-Up Technologies in Rivers and Estuaries: Minimizing Unintentional Bycatch while Maintaining Efficient Plastic Removal under Realistic Environmental Conditions.’
Over the past year, the research institute also welcomed a new group of PhD students. Four doctoral candidates began research into a topical question within the marine sciences. Their work will contribute to a better understanding of the ocean and coastal areas and will offer solutions to the environmental challenges of today and tomorrow. Their research spans a wide range of topics: from high-resolution biodiversity monitoring and predicting jellyfish blooms in the North Sea, to metagenomic research on plankton and the role of mussels in changes in the carbon cycle. A warm welcome, and a lot of success, to Bram Cuyx, Rutendo Musimwa, Martha Stevens and Maqbool Ahmad.