News | Marine@Ugent

News

Monday, November 27, 2023
The South Korean branch of Marine@UGent will become the region's leading marine research institute.
Wednesday, September 13, 2023
Marine@UGent is proud to announce its support for the WinBig European project, a groundbreaking initiative aimed at fostering gender equality and empowering women across various European regions and sectors of the Blue Economy. This collaborative effort reflects our commitment to promoting inclusivity and diversity in the maritime and marine research communities.
Tuesday, July 4, 2023
To meet our society's growing need for renewable energy, the potential of offshore solar power generation is being explored today. However, the technology has yet to be further developed, and we must ensure that this is done with respect for the marine environment. In the EcoMPV project, technological developments and environmental research go hand in hand. By working together in this pilot project, science and industry will learn to understand the impact of floating solar panels on the offshore environment and be able to avoid or mitigate their effects as much as possible... Learn more
Wednesday, January 4, 2023
UGent, together with its partners in the Belgian UNITED project, received the Blue Innovation Swell Award. For the third year in a row, ‘De Blauwe Cluster’ organised its Blue Innovation Awards. During the Blue Innovation Party in the Antwerp Port House, the winners of each category were announced.
Tuesday, December 6, 2022
These awards are an initiative of The Blue Cluster to highlight innovative projects, products, services, and collaboration. For the 3rd edition, there were many entries involving 50 organisations. The Belgian UNITED project, with one of the six partners being UGent, is selected for the Blue Innovation Swell (collaboration award). Blue Innovation Wave (for SMEs): CPS Monitoring (Marlinks) Moray Base (MULTI.Engineering)   Corporate Blue Innovation Wave (for large companies): Drilled XL monopile foundations for offshore wind farms (DEME) Hydrocat 48... Learn more
Friday, December 2, 2022
Marine@UGent, partners and the EPIBOOST consortium are pleased to announce the next edition of the Blue Science & Technology Summer Training edition 2023. We offer a two-week intensive programme which will provide participants a strong foundation to further develop a career in the blue economy and life sciences.
Wednesday, October 26, 2022
August 2022 can be marked as a huge milestone for the Belgian pilot within the H2020UNITED project. It took the Belgian pilot team two years of testing and preparing, but we finally managed to install oyster and seaweed longlines in the Belgian offshore wind farm of Belwind.
Friday, May 6, 2022
We are happy to announce that we received funding form the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) for a brand new innovative and high-tech saltwater wave flume at Ostend Science Park. Who are we? A multidisciplinary consortium of 15 Marine@UGent researchers with one key research question in common: How to engineer sustainable marine ecosystems? This new infrastructure will be a huge step forward for many marine and maritime researchers, bridging the gap between small-scale, artificial lab studies and complex, expensive field studies.
Monday, May 2, 2022
In September 2014, Ghent University Global Campus opened in South Korea as the first European university to start a campus there. Three bachelor degree programs are offered in life sciences. Whereas the original intention for Ghent University was to only teach, the collaboration has intensified and collaborative research and innovation initiatives are being set up. Prof. dr. Taejun Han, Campus President, explains his big ambitions for the Global Campus: “together with the Marine@UGent community we can boost the global blue economy and develop solutions to contemporary... Learn more
Monday, April 25, 2022
For decades, Belgium’s marine and maritime research and innovation belong to the best in the world. The North Sea, also known as our Eleventh County, is the playground of researchers and scientists searching for solutions to urgent and current concerning climate, energy and the use of raw materials. It is here, at our 11th county that there is a sea of opportunities to further develop and help shape the economic landscape of our country. Yet, today, the 'blue economy' is still largely unknown to the general public. The BLUE BALANCE project wants to change this together... Learn more
Monday, December 13, 2021
Ghent University is expanding its lifelong learning initiatives in the dedicated Blue Economy campus in BlueBridge, Ostend, establishing the campus as an innovative and pioneering campus for marine and maritime education in Belgium and beyond. The university is investing in new initiatives to respond to the rapidly increasing need for educated profiles in the marine and maritime sectors. Next to new dedicated courses and trainings being developed and launched (such as the new Blue Resource postgraduate programme), a new platform, Marine@UGent Academy, will be launched in... Learn more
Tuesday, November 30, 2021
In response to the ever changing economical and societal climate of the Blue Economy, the University of Ghent (UGent), Belgium, and the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT), Ireland, have collaborated to produce a new short course: “Emerging issues in the Blue Economy”. This 5-day training (taking place from the 10th until the 14th of January 2022 in Bluebridge, Ostend) provides an overview of all the sectors within the Blue Economy and will focus on their current status and challenges, as well as their potential for growth and innovation.
Friday, November 5, 2021
Monday 25th October 2021, Blue Cluster presented its Blue Innovation Awards for the second time. These awards highlight innovative and inspiring projects within the Blue Economy. MPVAqua won the BLUE Innovation Swell award. The project targets the development of large-scale offshore solar farms combined with oyster aquaculture. It is a joint initiative of Ghent University (Industrial Research Fund consortium BLUEGent, the Laboratory of Aquaculture & ARC, the Maritime Technology Division and GhEnToxLab), Jan De Nul, DEME and Soltech, and is coordinated by Tractebel.
Friday, November 5, 2021
Billions of cubic meters of material are dredged each year to keep ports and rivers accessible. This material is usually considered a waste product with no value, but could potentially play a role in restoring our eroded tidal areas and help improve our local ecosystem services. The VLAIO ICON project Bankbusters addresses this issue. By integrating biological and technological aspects, Ghent University’s Industrial Research Fund consortium BLUEGent and its Hydraulics Laboratory, together with a consortium of research and industry partners, is developing innovative... Learn more
Thursday, November 4, 2021
The 1 September 2021 the Enzymares project kicked off. This project is a collaboration between Ghent University, VIB, KU Leuven, VITO and Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, and is supported by three Flemish spearhead clusters: Catalisti, Blauwe Cluster and Flanders’ FOOD. Enzymares will develop an enzyme prediction toolbox to speed up enzyme discovery and reduce the time-to-market for new enzymes. The innovative toolbox will contribute to the success of enzymes as sustainable bio-catalysts and thus support companies in making their processes and products more sustainable. The... Learn more
Wednesday, November 3, 2021
Ulrike Braeckman is a post-doctoral researcher in the Marine Biology Research Group at UGent. She coordinates the research on the effects of offshore windfarms (OWFs) on the seafloor and its inhabitants. We asked her a couple of questions on the state of offshore windfarms in the Belgian part of the North Sea and their effects on marine biodiversity.
Thursday, October 28, 2021
From 30th August until 10th September, Marine@UGent and partners organised the 5th edition of the Blue Science & Technology Summer Training in Ostend, Belgium. This 2-week training course brought together more than 20 participants from 14 different nationalities to Ostend Science Park. On the last day, a public networking event ‘Sea Your Future’ closed the Summer School proving opportunity to engage with supply side and other important actors in the Blue Economy. A huge thank you to all partners and participants for making this event a success! Relive the BlueS&T... Learn more
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
On 30th September 2021, Technopolis opened Sea Force, a brand-new exhibition where one moment you imagine yourself to be on the coast, but the next moment you are at the bottom of the sea and not much later in the harbor of the future. All of that is possible thanks to fine examples of technology. Sea Force is the first exhibition in Technopolis where, in an immersive digital environment, you are truly immersed in a future where science and technology are central. Marine@UGent is a partner of the new expo, providing expertise on the vast possibilities for offshore and... Learn more
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
A storm surge in 1134 created a large tidal inlet, known as the Zwin. It linked Bruges to the rest of Europe and beyond and was dotted with a series of outports at its banks. Natural, political and economic factors all resulted in the eventual downfall of Bruges and the Zwin in the 16th century. The outports shrunk from cities into hamlets or even disappeared entirely from the landscape. After years of interdisciplinary study combining archaeological, geological and historical research, an immersive exhibition and cycle route with VR viewers now bring this maritime system... Learn more
Wednesday, March 31, 2021
Seaweeds – the announced superfood of 2021 – are packed with healthy antioxidants, minerals and vitamins. They have been a typical part of Asian cuisine for a long time and are steadily gaining popularity as a food source in Europe. To meet rising demands, seaweed aquaculture is a rapidly emerging sector in Europe. A multidisciplinary team from Ghent University, Belgium, along with industrial partners is investigating the possibility of offshore cultivation within wind parks and aims to tackle bottlenecks to advance land-based cultivation of high-value seaweeds.

Pages