ANNUAL REPORTS2016
KoninKlijKe Vlaamse academie Van België Voor Wetenschappen en Kunsten
académie royale des sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-arts de Belgique
Belgian national scientiFic committeesrasaB vzw/asbl
TheRoyalAcademiesforScienceandtheArtsofBelgium-RASABvzw/asbl
BELGIANNATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEES
ANNUALREPORTS2016
www.rasab.be
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
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TABLEOFCONTENTS
Introduction 3
NationalCommitteeforAntarcticResearch 4
NationalCommitteeforAstronomy 7
NationalCommitteeBELQUA(QuaternaryResearch) 12
NationalCommitteeforBiochemistryandMolecularBiology 15
NationalCommitteeforBiologicalSciences 17
NationalCommitteeforBiomedicalEngineering 19
NationalCommitteeforBiophysics 23
NationalCommitteeforChemistry 24
NationalCommitteeforCrystallography 27
NationalCommitteeforGeodesyandGeophysics 30
NationalCommitteeforGeography 33
NationalCommitteeforGeologicalSciences 41
NationalCommitteeforLogic,HistoryandPhilosophyofSciences 46
NationalCommitteeforMathematics 60
NationalCommitteeforMechanics 62
NationalCommitteeforMicrobiology 66
NationalCommitteeforPhysics 68
NationalCommitteeforPhysiologyandPharmacology 69
NationalCommitteeforPsychologicalSciences 71
NationalCommitteeforRadio-Electricity 72
NationalCommitteeforSoilSciences 73
InternationalUnions 75
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INTRODUCTION
TheNational Scientific Committees’missions are thepromotionand coordinationof various
scientific disciplines in Belgium, mainly seen in an international context. The creation of a
nationalcommitteeissubjecttotheexistenceofaninternationalscientificunionaffiliatedto
ICSUora scientificbodyof ICSU (scientificcommittees, special committees,etc.) concerning
thesamescientificdiscipline.
The National Scientific Committees work under the patronage of the Académie royale des
Sciences,desLettresetdesBeaux-ArtsdeBelgique1andtheKoninklijkeVlaamseAcademievan
BelgiëvoorWetenschappenenKunsten2,gatheredinRASAB.
ThecommitteesaresubjecttoregulationsadoptedbytheBelgianAcademiesofSciencesand
Arts.
The list of themembers of the Belgian Scientific Committees can be found on the RASAB’s
website:www.rasab.be.
1www.academieroyale.be2www.kvab.be
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NATIONALCOMMITTEEFORANTARCTICRESEARCH
1.Introduction,mission,goals
The BNCAR is the official representing body of Belgium within SCAR (Scientific Committee on
Antarctic Research). This implies that BNCARmembers participate, when appointed, to the bi-
annualmeetings of SCAR as national delegate(s) ormember(s) of one of the 3 SCAR Standing
Scientific Groups (Geosciences, Life Sciences and Physical Sciences) or of other SCAR Standing
Committees (e.g. AntarcticGeographic Information). They also contribute to the inter-sessional
activitiesof theseScientificStandingGroups.BNCARcontributestoestablishtheBelgianannual
reporttoSCARandrespondstoparticularinformationrequestsfromSCAR.Italsogivesadviceor
responds on matters raised within international bodies such as the ATCM (Antarctic Treaty
Consultative Meeting) and its CEP (Committee for Environmental Protection), CCAMLR
(Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Resources), CCAS (Convention for the
Conservation of Antarctic Seals), EPB (European Polar Board). Finally, BNCAR has asmission to
promote(Belgian)PolarScienceataninternationallevel.
2.MeetingsoftheCommittee
[a]Meetingof29April2016(PalaceoftheAcademies)
During the Symposium that was jointly organized with BNCGG (see below), we held a lunch
meetingofBNCAR.Thisshortmeetingwasmainlyanupdateofthe lastmeetingof2015where
onlytheappointmentsforattendanceoftheupcomingSCARmeetingwerediscussed.Giventhe
participationofseveralscientistsattheconference,wealsoreviewedtheassociatememberlist,
andproposalsweremade(suchaspotentialAPCESmembership).
[b]Meetingof28November2016(PalaceoftheAcademies)
Membership:Theboardhasundergonesomechanges.Anewsecretarywasappointedand the
positionofvice-chairwasfilledin.Inordertobeabletojointheboard,Dr.A.VandePuttewas
made fullmember.We also appointed twoAPECS (Association of Early Career Polar Scientists)
delegates as associatemember. APECS is deeply involved in SCAR on all levels and having are
presentationofthatcommunitywillhelpinkeepingBNCARasanactiveadvisorybody.Reports:A
fullreportontheSCARbiannualmeetingheldinMalaysiainAugust2016wasgivenbymembers
of BNCAR that attended themeeting andwere representing different bodies, i.e., F. Pattyn, A.
VandePutteandN.Bergeot.
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Commissions: A BelgianAntarctic place name commissionwas established. The need for this a
risesfromthetheincreasedBelgianactivitiesintheregion.
3.GeneralAssemblyoftheScientificUnion
SCAROSCanddelegatemeeting,KualaLumpur,Malaysia,20-30August2016.TheOpenScience
ConferencewasattendedbyseveralBNCARmembers,F.Pattyn(delegate),A.Wilmotte,A.Van
dePutte,andN.Bergeot.F.Pattynalsoattendedthedelegatesmeeting.
Vande Putte was observer in this meeting. New associate memberships came from Colombia,
Austria,ThailandandTurkey,whileCzechRepublicandPortugalexpressedthedesiretobecome
fullmember.Asfortheelectionsoftheboard,S.ChownwaselectednewSCARpresidentforthe
nextfouryears.
SeveralresearchprogrammescurrentlyrunningunderSCARwerevrypositivelyreviewedandall
programmes were conducted for the next term. A wiki bomb was organized at the beginning
of2016 inorder topromoteAntarcticwomen scientists.Anewstrategicplanwasendorsed for
thenextcomingyears(2017-22).ThemainpointsofthisSCARmissionare:
§ Toamplify its leadership inAntarcticresearchbyfurtherstrengtheningandexpandinghigh-
qualitycollaborativeandvisionaryAntarcticresearch;
§ To offer independent scientific advice to Antarctic Treaty ConsultativeMeetings and other
bodiesdealingwithAntarcticandSouthernOceanmatters;
§ ToenhanceandgrowresearchcapacityinSCARmembercountries;
§ ToenhancepublicawarenessandunderstandingofAntarctic issuesthroughcommunication
ofAntarcticresearchresultsinatimelyandaccessiblemanner;
§ TofacilitateunrestrictedandfreeaccesstoAntarcticresearchdata.
BNCARwillmakesuretoadheretothisnewstrategicupdate.
4.Otheractivities
Together with BNCGG (Belgian National Committee on Geodesy and Geophysics), BNCAR
organizedanAntarcticSymposiumon29April2016at thePalaceof theAcademies.This is the
first joint effort between both committees andwas extremely valued. It showed the synergies
between both committees,where severalmembers serve both. The subject of the symposium
was"Unlockingacontinent:scientificresearchattheBelgianPrincessElisabethStation,Antarctica
2008-2016" and presentations covered the wide range of scientific endeavours and results
obtainedatandaroundthePrincessElisabethStationinAntarcticasinceitsopeningin2008-09.
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ThesymposiumwasopenedbytheFederalSecretaryofStateforSciencePolicy,Ms.ElkeSleurs
and attended by about 100 people. The symposium started with a keynote by prof. Martin
Siegert, a distinguished Antarctic researcher from the Imperial College London. In total, 45
presentations were given, of which more than half were poster presentations. The massive
attendanceandthewiderangeofpresentationswitnessedoftheimportanceoforganizingsuch
events.Thesymposiumwasco-sponsoredbyBELSPO.
F.PattynrepresentedSCARatCOP-21inPariswithabriefingfollowedbyapressconferenceon
Antarctictippingpointsinawarmerworld.
5.Futureperspectives
Thenext SCARBiologymeetingwill behostedbyBelgium in July 2017.A.VandePutte andB.
Danis (members/associate members of BNCAR) are the co-chairs of the local organizing
committeeofthisinternationalandhighlyvaluedsymposium.
Thenext SCAROpenScienceConferencewill beheld inDavos (Switzerland) in2018.Given the
proximityoftheevent,BNCARhasurgedmemberstomakeattendanceaslargeaspossible.
OrganizationofaBelgianPolarSymposium(co-organizedBNCAR)in2018
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NATIONALCOMMITTEEFORASTRONOMY
1.Introduction,mission,goals
TheformalbasicgoalofthecommitteeistocoordinatetheparticipationofBelgianastronomers
in the activities of the InternationalAstronomicalUnion (IAU), and in the triennial IAUGeneral
Assemblyinparticular.ThecommitteealsoservesaroleinthedisseminationwithintheBelgian
community of developments within other international organisations to which our country
participates,suchasESA,ESO,andthejournalAstronomyandAstrophysics.Finally,themeetings
alsoofferopportunities to react togetheronmattersaffectingvariousastronomicalactivities in
Belgiumamongwhichaccesstonewresearchfacilitiesandpublicoutreach.
2.MeetingsoftheCommittee
The Committee gathered three times in 2016: on 11 January, 27 June, and 30 November. In
addition, it alsohada jointmeetingwith theBNEC (NationalESOCommittee)on11March.All
these meetings took place at the Palace of the Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of
BelgiuminBrussels.RecurrenttopicsofdiscussionduringthesemeetingswereESOmatters,ESA
matters, the Astronomy& Astrophysics Board, and the ARIES telescopes under construction in
India,whichareaddressedinthesectionsbelow.
3.GeneralAssemblyoftheScientificUnion
NoGeneralAssemblyin2016.
4.Otheractivities
[a]AstronomyandAstrophysics(A&A)
MattersrelatedtoA&AwerereportedbyR.VanderLinden,ourBelgiandelegateinthe
A&ABoard. The lastboardmeetingwasheld inPragueat theendofApril. From the
maintopicsthatwereaddresseditcomesoutthat:
§ TheimpactfactorofA&Acameabove.
§ The new agreement with ESO was validated by all participating countries.
Belgiumwasthesecondlastcountrytosign.
§ Twonewmembers joinedA&A:Norwayand, for2yearswithout fee,Ukraine.
EDPreceivedanextensionof itscontract,whichwillgivetimetolaunchanew
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callfortendertofindanewpublisher.
§ ThenextA&ABoardmeetingwilltakeplaceon21April2017.
[b]ESOmatters
ESO matters were reported to the BNCA by J. Surdej (Chairman of the Belgian National ESO
Committee, BNEC), S. Van Eck (secretary of BNEC), C.Waelkens (Scientificmember of the ESO
council), S. Pireaux (Belspo, ESO council member), and R. Alvarez (ROB Planetarium, Belgian
representativeattheESOoutreachcommittee).MeetingsoftheBNECwereheldon11March,21
June and 21 November 2016, while ESO council meetings took place on from 7 to 8 June, on
7October (extraordinary meeting), 3 November (extraordinary meeting), and from 7 to 8
December,2016.
§ Duringa jointBNCA/BNECmeetingheldon11March,anupdateof the listof ruleshas
been discussed. At its meeting in November the BNEC office was finally renewed. M.
GroenewegenwaselectedPresident,whileH.SanawaschosenasSecretary.C.Waelkens
wasrenewedinhisroleofBelgianrepresentativeatESOcouncil.
§ TheLaSillaParanalObservatoryinChilewillnotclose.The3.6mtelescopeandtheNew
Technology Telescope (NTT) will be upgraded and adapted to the search and study of
exoplanetsandoftransitphenomena(e.g.supernovae).ThemaininstrumentattheNTT
will be a low resolution spectrograph. In the future, the consortium that will build an
instrument will also operate it (lower costs for ESO). In return, it will be granted
guaranteedobservingtime.
§ The Paranal site has been chosen as the southern site for the Cherenkov Telescope
Array(CTA).CTAwillbeconsideredinthesamewayasthenationalinstrumentswhichare
currently operational on the ESO sites. ESO will receive 10% of the observing time;
management costs incurred by ESO will be fully covered by the CTA consortium.
ImplementationofCTAwillstartonce60%oftheconstructioncostsareguaranteed.
§ EuropeanExtremelyLargeTelescope:ItisbecominglessandlesslikelythatBrazilwilljoin
ESO.Sofar,80%oftheconstructioncontractshavealreadybeenawarded.Thespending
profile is such that it is expected that money will have to be borrowed during some
phasesoftheproject.
§ On1stofJuly,ESOlaunchedacallforanewDirectorGeneral(5yearsmandate,starting
in2017). Meanwhile, the ESO Council has appointed Xavier Barcons, 57, as the next
DirectorGeneralofESO.Hewilltakeuphispositionon1September2017,whenTimde
Zeeuw, the currentDirectorGeneral, completes hismandate. Press release and impact
statistics are similar to previous years. The building and preparation of the Supernova
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
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Planetariumisgoingwell.Itsinaugurationshouldhappenattheendof2017.
[c]ESAmatters
ESAmatterswere reported to theBNCAbyW.Verschueren (Belgian representative at the ESA
ScienceProgrammeCommittee,BELSPO).
§ ThreemissionsareinphaseApreparation:
o Ariel(AtmosphericRemote-SensingInfraredExoplanetLarge-survey)inwhichULg
andKULareinvolved;
o Thor (Turbulence Heating ObserveR) to which the Royal Belgian Institute for
SpaceAeronomyiscontributing;
o Xipe(X-rayImagingPolarimetryExplorer).
§ LISA Path finder mission: launched and first results are successful. ESA plans now to
proceedwiththepreparationofthelargegravitationalwaveobservatorymission.Belgian
involvementisbeingpreparedandledbyKUL.
§ Thelast"M5"call(deadline5October)formedium-sizemissionsresultedin25proposals
(for36 LoIs initially received). There is a considerable Belgian participation in a great
numberoftheseproposals.
§ The ESA Ministerial Council took place on 1st and 2nd December and decided on the
budgettodedicatetotheScienceProgrammefrom2017to2021.Thebudgetessentially
remainsat508MEURperyearwithout inflationcompensation.Acumulativetotalof16
MEURisaddedtothebudgetoverthefiveyears.Thisincreaserepresentsmuchlessthan
theinflationcompensation,andthereforetheScienceProgrammelosesbuyingpowerin
the next 5 years. The reason for not increasingmore substantially the budget is that a
transferwasdecidedof97MEUR,outofthetotalLevelofResources(ScienceProgramme
plus Basic Activities), to the EXOMARS Programme in order to cover shortages. A new
"EuropeanExplorationEnvelopeProgramme"wassubscribedby1444MEUR(2017-2019),
it comprisesall the ISSactivities,exploration technologydevelopmentactivitiesand the
EXOMARS programme. Finally, it was decided not to fund the AIM mission (Asteroid
ImpactMission).
§ ESAreleaseda"Callfornewscienceideas"and26proposalswerereceived.Weareaware
ofthreeBelgianparticipations:ROB(anin-situmissiontoVenus),CSL(amissiontostudy
theSun), and ULg (an interferometric mission aimed at characterizing habitable rocky
planetatmospheresandsearchforbio-signatures).Oneortwoproposalswillbeselected
for a study phase funded by ESA. The purpose is to facilitate the involvement of new
communitiesintheESAScienceProgramme.Thestudyphaseshouldenabletheteamto
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laterwriteacompetitiveproposalwhencallsformissionsarereleased.
[d]ARIEStelescopes
J.SurdejregularlyreportedontheconstructionoftheARIEStelescopes.
§ Statusofthe3.6mDOTand4mILMTfacilitiesattheendof2016:themirrorofthe3.6m
needs to be re-coated. This will very likely happen at the end of February 2017.ARIES
astronomers should thenstart the scienceverificationprogramwith that telescopeand
writemanuals reportingon theperformancesof thedifferent instrumentsaccessibleat
the Cassegrain focus of the 3.6m DOT. The ILMT building is now ready and the
construction of the telescopewill begin inMarch 2017, with the help of AMOS, ARIES
engineersandtechniciansandULgastronomers.
§ ARIEShostedameetingonJune7betweenDrsM.Gopinathan,B.Kumar,andJ.Surdej.J.
Surdej was informed that the Indian astronomers have already set up their TAC (no
Belgian member). BNCA therefore sent a mail to several representative institutes to
definetheBelgianARIESTimeAllocationCommittee(TAC).Itresultsinacommitteethat
willbeformedby:
o ULB:A.Jorissen,S.VanEck(substitute);
o ROB:P.deCat,P.Lampens(substitute);
o UGent:S.DeRijcke,M.Baes(substitute);
o ULg:J.Surdej,M.DeBecker(substitute);
o UAntwerp:K.Kolenberg.
§ The firstBINAworkshop tookplace in India from15 to18November. Itwasa success.
Amongtheparticipants,10wereBelgian,80wereIndianscientists(halffromARIES),and
10foreigners.
§ During2016severalconcernswereraisedabouttheavailabilityoftheinstrumentationat
the3.6mDOTtelescope.ItwasdecidedatourlastmeetingtosendajointBNCAletterto
sharetheseconcernswiththeheadofARIES.
[d]A&AFNRScontactgroupmeeting
R. Alvarez organized at the Planetarium of the ROB the FNRS A&A contact group meeting on
October 11, 2016. 57 participants attended the meeting, 11 talks and 3 posters have been
presented.
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[e]Miscellaneousmatters
COSPAR:ForsavingreasonsRASABhasdecidedtonotrenewitsfinancialcontributiontoCOSPAR.
D.FonteynandP.SimonfromBIRAproposedtorevivethenationalcommitteeforspaceresearch
(CNRS/NCRO),asitwasinactiveforseveralyears.TwomembersoftheBNCA,C.WaelkensandV.
Dehant,arenowmembersofthecommitteewhosefirstactionwillbetounderstanditsposition
relatively to the future Inter-federalSpaceAgencyofBelgium(ISAB).Therefore,during the first
(public)meetingof theCNRS/NCROheldon7 June, E. Bekapresented a rapid overviewof the
goalsandaimsofISAB.
5.Futureperspectives
Progress was achieved during 2016 towards the creation of the Interfederal Space Agency of
Belgium(ISAB). The first legal texts were approved by the federal Council of Ministers in
November. ISAB should become operational during 2017 and will take over (and extend) the
responsibilitiesofthecurrentSpaceDepartmentofBELSPOwhichwillceasetoexist.
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NATIONALCOMMITTEEBELQUA(QUATERNARYRESEARCH)
1.Introduction,missions,goals
BELQUA is the Belgian contact for INQUA, the InternationalUnion forQuaternary Science. The
purposeofBELQUAistosupportandincreasethevisibilityofBelgianresearchonvariousaspects
of theQuaternaryperiod,either conducted inBelgiumorbyBelgian scientistsabroad.BELQUA
alsoaimstoencourageyoungresearchersandtopromotescientificcommunication.Itcoversall
researchfieldsrelatedtoQuaternaryscience.
2.MeetingsoftheCommittee
(a)Meetingof4/03/2016,inBrussels
BELQUAmeetinginMarch2016wasopentoallattendeesoftheBELQUAworkshop(seebelow).
G.VerstraetengaveapresentationofBELQUA,itsactivities(e.g.,fieldtripandworkshop)andits
embedmentinINQUA.Mainachievementsandconclusions:
§ An unanimous vote in favour of Veerle Vanacker (UCL) to become a member of the
BELQUANC;
§ A discussion and brainstorming session was organised to further encourage more
scientiststoattendtheworkshopandtheyearlyfieldtrip(seebelow);
§ PreparationtopublishabookprovidinganoverviewofQuaternaryscienceinBelgium
(b)Meetingof28/11/2016,inBrussels
Mainconclusions:
§ Evaluationofthefieldtripand2016workshop;
§ Discussion concerning the forthcoming BELQUA activities. It was decided to organise a
BELQUAworkshop following the concept of theprevious years (see also below). Itwas
alsodecidedtoorganiseaone-daytrainingeventin2017foryoungscientistsworkingon
the Quaternary or MSc students following courses relevant to Quaternary science in
general. The idea was raised to focus the first training day on dating techniques. The
session would start with a number of general lectures by keynote speakers aimed at
giving a state-of-the-art of somedating techniques.During the afternoonmore specific
lectureswithsomecasestudieswouldfollow.Thisonedaytrainingeventwillreplacethe
fieldexcursionin2017.
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3.GeneralAssemblyoftheScientificUnion
TherewasnoGeneralAssemblyofINQUAin2016.Thenextgeneralassemblywillbeorganisedin
Dublin(Ireland)in2019.InformationfromINQUA(e.g.theNewsletter,andthetableofcontents
ofitsjournalQuaternaryInternational)aredistributedviatheBELQUAe-maillist.
4.Otheractivities
[a]BELQUAannualworkshop
TheBELQUA2016workshopwasaone-dayeventinBrusselsandcoincidedwiththeBELQUANC
meeting.Theworkshop isanopportunity tomeetcolleaguesworking inQuaternarySciences in
Belgiumandabroad.ItisalsoanopportunityforstudentstopresenttheirPhDresearchandpost-
doc projects. Vanessa Heyvaert (RBINS) and Gert Verstraeten (KU Leuven) organized and
convened theworkshop. Prof. KimCohen (UUtrecht)was invited as a keynote speaker on the
topicof“PalaeogeographyandSedimentBudgetsoftheLowCountries:2.7ka,27ka,270ka”.In
additiontothekeynotelecture,abstractsweresubmittedfor9oralpresentations,coveringavery
widerangeoftopicsanddisciplines.Theworkshopwasattendedby30-35scientists.
[b]AnnualBELQUAfieldtrip
Thefieldtripwasco-organisedwithBLUG/UBLGandGeologicaBelgicaonthe10thofSeptember
2016.TheexcursionincludedavisittotheKikbeekQuarryandtheNationaalPark‘HogeKempen’.
Duringthefieldtripsomeexposeddepositswerediscussed includingsilversand,Kikbeek lignite,
pedogeneticquartzite,cryoturbationsandpolygonalsoils,andUsseloandBollingsoils,aswellas
some surrounding geosites. The field trip was attended by c. 12 scientists of which 3 were
affiliatedtoBELQUA.
(c)Participationininternationalmeetingsandconference
BELQUAmemberstookpartandconvenedsessionsinseveralinternationalmeetings
§ Co-convenersofsymposium‘Quaternarycontinentalclimatearchives:trackingspatial
andtemporalchangesthroughrobustmulti-proxyrecords’(N.Fagel,M.F.Loutre,S.
Verheyden),‘Stochasticandscalingfluctuationsinmarine,freshwaterandatmospheric
sciences:physical,chemicalandbiogeochemicalstudies’(N.Fagel),Ice-sheetandclimate
interactions(PhilippeHuybrechts)and‘Limnogeology-readingthegeologicalrecordof
lakes’(MarcDeBatist)attheEGUGeneralassembly,Vienna,April2016.
§ M.F.Loutreismemberofthescientificcommitteeof‘CentralandEasternEurope
PaleoscienceSymposium:FromLocaltoGlobal’,Cluj-Napoca,Romania,May2016.
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§ M.F.Loutrewasco-convenerofPAGESTownHallmeetingduringtheCLIVAROpen
ScienceMeeting,Qingdao,China,September2016.
5.Futureperspectives
[a]BELQUAannualworkshop
TheBELQUA2017workshopwillbeorganisedbyNathalieFagelandElieVerleyenonthe10thof
March. The workshop will be open to all scientists interested in Quaternary research and will
provideyoungscientists,includingadvancedMScstudents,PhDs,andpost-docs,theopportunity
topresenttheirwork.
[b]BELQUAannualFieldtrip
Aone-daytrainingeventwillbeorganisedinthefallof2017regardingdatingtechniques.TheNC
willdecideontheexactdateandprogramduringtheBELQUANCmeetinginMarch.
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NATIONALCOMMITTEEFORBIOCHEMISTRYANDMOLECULARBIOLOGY
1.Introduction,mission,goals
The goal of the National Committee is to promote research in the field of Biochemistry and
Molecular Biology, by organizing meetings and inviting outstanding internationally renowned
scientists. Because of the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of the biological sciences, often
symposiaareorganizedtogetherwithothersocietiesandotherNationalCommittees.
Because of the common goals, the members of the National Committee on Biochemistry and
Molecular Biology are also member of the board of the Belgian Society of Biochemistry and
MolecularBiologyandassuchareactivelyinvolvedinthepreparationandorganizationofallthe
activitiesofthisSocietyandoftheNationalCommittee.
2.Meetingsofthecommittee
TheNationalCommitteeorganizesitsmeetingstogetherwiththeboardoftheBelgianSocietyfor
BiochemistryandMolecularBiology.In2016theboardmetonthe23rdofJanuaryinthePalais
desAcademiesinBrussels.Inthismeetingtheoverallorganization,financialstatus,membership
listofthesocietyarereviewedaswellasdiscussionoftheorganizationofmeetingsinthecoming
year.Furtherorganizationandexchangeofinformationandideaswasdonebyemail.
3.GeneralAssemblyoftheScientificUnion
NoGeneralAssemblyin2016.
4.Otheractivities
TheSociety/NationalCommitteehasorganizedin2016thefollowingtwoscientificmeetings:
[a]213thmeetingoftheSociety.
The213thBSBMBmeeting tookplaceonMonday June20,2016at ErasmeCampusAnderlecht
(ULB) (local organizer Jason Perret). The theme of themeeting was New insights inmolecular
mechanisms of neurodegeneration. Originally thismeetingwas planned in the fall of 2015 but
becauseofthelockdownsituationinBrusselsduringthattime,themeetinghadtobepostponed.
The Society’s 65th general assembly was held at this meeting during the lunch break, and
confirmedthecompositionofthecurrentboard.Also,YvesEngelborghsremainstreasurerbuthe
indicated that the society needs to find someonewho can takeover his task, after serving the
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societyforsomanyyears.JanGettemans(secretary)presentedanoverviewofthenewwebsite
www.biochemistry.com,hostedbyone.com.
[b]Otheractivities
Mostmembers of theNational Committee participated inmany international scientific events,
either as participant or as an invited speaker. However it would be impossible to provide an
extensivelistofalltheseactivities.
All members of the National Committee participated in many international scientific events,
either as participant or as an invited speaker. However, it would be impossible to provide an
extensive listof all theseactivities. ‘TheNationalCommittee forMicrobiologyand theNational
Committee for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology co-organized a meeting on the 28th of
October2016inthePalaceoftheAcademiesinBrussels.Onseveraloccasions,inMarchandApril
2016,representativesoftheBSBMB(CarineMichiels,JasonPeret,JanGettemans)heldameeting
with representatives of the Belgian society forMicrobiology to arrange all the practical details
(invitedspeakers,posterssession,attendancefee,abstractboor,sponsors,posterawards).This
meetingwas further supportedbyFNRS, FWOandBelspo. Therewasa general consensus that
themeetingwasagreatsuccess.
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NATIONALCOMMITTEEFORBIOLOGICALSCIENCES
1.Introduction,mission,goals
The national Committee of Biological Sciences is representing the Royal Academies (RASAB)
towards the InternationalUnion of Biological Sciences (IUBS) and brings representatives of the
Belgianbiologicalresearchandresearchgroupstogether.TheCommitteeorganizescontactfora
and develops in collaboration with other organisations research projects towards the larger
public.
2.MeetingsoftheCommittee
Non-specified.
3.GeneralAssemblyoftheScientificUnion
NoGeneralAssembmyin2016.
4.OtherActivities
Itwasplanned toorganiseanactivitybringingcitizens to sciencebydevelopingaprojectonair
quality through studying the distribution of some easy recognisable lichen species. The project
portfolio(alreadyexistinginDutch)hasbeentranslatedtoFrench.Howeveritturnedoutthatthe
administrative load and follow up needed in manpower was not available to develop the
programmeasitshouldbe.Theprogrammehasbeenputonhold.
Thisyearanumberofdirectdiscussionstookplacebetweenthepresidentandmembersornon-
membersoftheCommittee.ThetopicofthesediscussionsarethefutureoftheCommittee.The
mainconclusionsfromthediscussionsare:
§ The actual composition of the committee does not reflect the evolution of biological
sciencesofthelastdecades.E.g.genomicsarenotrepresentedatall.
§ In order to get an active committee it is advised that the actual members should step
down, making place for younger partners, better representing what is going on in the
biologicalresearchworld.
§ ThequestionhasbeenposedastotheactualsignificanceofaNationalcommitteeandits
activities,giventheevolutionofscientificcollaborationsduringthelastdecadeswiththe
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
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developmentoftheanywherepresenceofinternetandeasycontactpossibilitiesthrough
different media.It has been suggested to have an activity in 2017, dealing with the
implication and contribution of research institutes not linked to a university and their
possiblecontributiontouniversitystudent’scurricula.
5.Futureperspectives
§ InformthewordofbiologicalacademiaontheexistenceofaNationalcommitteeandits
possiblerole.
§ DiscussthefutureoftheCommitteetocometooranactiveCommitteeortostopthe
Committee’sactivity.
§ Investthesupportforasymposium(lasttrimester2017)onthepossibleroleofscientific
institutes’(notuniversitybound)inthecurriculumdevelopmentofbiologystudents.
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NATIONALCOMMITTEEFORBIOMEDICALENGINEERING
1.Introduction,missions,goals
Biomedical Engineering is the multidisciplinary field concerning Engineering research,
developmentsandapplicationsin(bio)medicine.
The BelgianNational Committee on Biomedical Engineering aims to bring together the Belgian
academics, students, researchers and professionals, active in the broad field of biomedical
Engineering.
TheaimsoftheNationalCommitteeare:
§ Stimulatingscientificandeducationalinteractions
§ Linkingwithinternationalorganizationsandsocieties
§ RepresentationoftheBelgianacademicpointofview
§ Settingupaforumforinterestedstudentsandprofessionals.
2.Meetingsofthecommittee
Dates:TheCommitteemeton:March3rd,August22nd,November7th,November25th.
Mainconclusions:
§ ContinuingeffortsforayearlyContactForum.
§ Involvingyoungscientistsandprofessionals,alumniofourmasterprograms.
§ Streamliningcommunications(updatedinformativewebsite).
§ Contactswithindustry:mostlyviatheassociationUNAMEC.
§ ContinuingliaisoneffortswithEuropean,worldwideassociations.
§ Needforcontinuingeffortsinpromotingresearchanddevelopmentandanawarenessof
thecommunity.
3.GeneralAssemblyoftheScientificUnion
NoGeneralAssemblyin2016.
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
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4.Otheractivities
[a]BelgianDayonBiomedicalEngineering(March4th,2016)
Contact Forum with 5 invited speakers, a poster session presenting new research results and
prizes for 3 posters by young researchers; This year's theme: “Nanotechnology” had to be
postponedtoMarch4th2016duetotheterror-menacelevel4inBrussels.
Goals:
§ BringBelgianresearchers incontactwith internationallyrecognizedspeakers(thisyear's
theme:BridgingthegapbetweenEngineeringandMedicine)andallowthemtopresent
theirworkinashortpresentationandposter(BelgianDay).
§ EvaluatethefutureactivitiesofEAMBES.
Attendance:
§ 270personsattendedthe“ContactForum”:14thNationalDayonBiomedicalEngineering.
[b]BelgianDayonBiomedicalEngineering(November25th,2016)
Contact Forum with 5 invited speakers, a poster session presenting new research results and
prizesfor3postersbyyoungresearchers;Thisyear'stheme:“AdvancesinMedicalImaging”
Goals:
§ BringBelgianresearchers incontactwith internationallyrecognizedspeakers(thisyear's
theme:BridgingthegapbetweenEngineeringandMedicine)andallowthemtopresent
theirworkinashortpresentationandposter(BelgianDay)
Attendance:
§ 195personsattendedthe“ContactForum”:15thNationalDayonBiomedicalEngineering
on November 25th 2016, of which 128 students, 45 Phd students, 6 post-docs, 16
professors,others:professionalsinthefield.
[b]CollaborationwithUNAMEC
ThankstothecollaborationwithUNAMEC,anevaluationifthecompletebiomedicalengineering
sectorialpresence:ineducation,inresearch,andintheprofessionalcontexthasbeenrealizedin
2013.MajorcontributionsweremadetotheUNAMECreportconcerningmedicaldevices(infinal
stage):MedicaltechnologyinBelgiumandMedTechFlanderswasfoundedinjuly2015.
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
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[c]Liaisonwithworldwidesocieties/activities
§ Contacts between the National Committee, the World Federation IFMBE, the Union
(IUPESM)andICSUviaMarcNyssen.
§ Contacts between the National Committee and EAMBES (European Level umbrella
organisation)viaJosVanderSloten.
§ ContactsbetweentheNationalCommitteeandESEM(theEuropeanScientificSociety)via
PascalVerdonck.
§ Contacts between the National Committee and UNAMEC (the professional umbrella
association),withindustrymembersofbiomedicalsectorviaPascalVerdonck.
§ Contact between the National Committee and IEEE-EMBS (the IEEE Engineering in
MedicineandBiologySociety)anditsBeneluxchapterviaSabineVanHuffel.
[D]YoungstersBoard
A “Youngsters Board” was set up successfully in 2010 and was fully operational in 2011 and
renewedin2015andagainin2016.
[E]EAMBES/IFMBE
AEuropeanmeetingwiththeEAMBES/IFMBEmemberswasheldattheEuropeanParliament31st
May2016.
5.Clarificationofabbreviations
§ IFMBE:InternationalFederationforBiomedicalEngineering:the“WorldFederation”
§ IUPESM “International Union for Physics and Engineering Sciences in Medicine”, the
UNIONofwhichtheIFMBEis1ofthe2components.
§ EAMBES: European umbrella association, regrouping societies and teaching/research
departments
§ ESEM:EuropeanSocietyforBiomedicalEngineering
§ EAMBES:EuropeanAllianceforMedicalandBiologicalEngineeringandScience
§ ICSU:Internationalcouncilofscientificunions(linkswithnationalAcademies)
§ IEEE:InstituteofElectricalandElectronicEngineers
§ EMBS:EngineeringinMedicineandBiologySociety
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NATIONALCOMMITTEEFORBIOPHYSICS
1.Introduction,mission,goals
The goal of the National Committee is to promote research in the field of Biophysics, by
organizingmeetingsandinvitingoutstandinginternationallyrenownedscientists.Becauseofthe
increasingly interdisciplinary nature of the biological sciences, often symposia are organized
together with other societies and National Committees. Because of the common goals, the
membersoftheNationalCommitteeonBiophysicsarealsomemberoftheboardoftheBelgian
Biophysical Society and as such are involved in the preparation and organisation of all the
activitiesofthisSociety.
2.MeetingsoftheCommitteeandtheBelgianSociety
§ 20th of December 2016: finalization of the 2017’s Belgian Biophysical Society program(meetings,workshops,…).
§ 2ndofSeptember2016:presentationandapprovalofthecommittee’sactivitiesandofthefinancialbalancebytheGeneralAssembly.
3.GeneralAssemblyoftheScientificUnion
NoGeneralAssemblyin2016.
4.Otheractivities
§ SeminarSerieson“ProteinPurification”,10-12May2016,UniversityofLiège
§ SeminarSerieson“ProteinFoldingandProteinStability”,29&30August2016,UniversityofLiège
§ Thirteen one-day symposium on “Protein Folding and Stability”, 2 September 2016,UniversityofLiège
§ Mini-Symposium on “Microcalorimetry of Biological Macromolecules”, 22 November2016,UniversityofLiège
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
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NATIONALCOMMITTEEFORCHEMISTRY
InMemoriam
ThePastPresidentoftheNationalCommitteeChemistryBelgium,PaulDeBièvrepassedawayon
April14th,2016attheageof83.Hewasrecognizedinternationallyforhisexpertiseinmetrology
andanalyticalchemistry.HewasextremelymotivatedbytheNationalCommitteeroleinBelgium
andtheimageofBelgianChemistryintheworld.HewasafigureasaseniormemberoftheIUPAC
and as familyman, a proud father and grandfather.Wewill rememberhimas a colleague and
friendandcertainlymentionhisnamequiteofteninthefuture.
1. Introduction,mission,goals
Asreportedin2015and2014,ourgoalsremainunchangedandinlinewithourstrategy
guidelines:reconcicliatethePublicandChemistryby
§ Federate the messages of chemistry (Universities, Technical Colleges, Essenscia, CEFIC,
SRC,KVCV,JSC,Teachers,etc.).
§ Inform the public, improve and develop the image of chemistry in Belgium in all the
aspects.BethebridgeheadofIUPACinBelgium(inputandoutput).
§ Makethepromotionofchemistryandsciencestotheyounggenerationsattheearlyage,
highschools.Encouragethemtostudysciencesandtechnologies.
It is obvious that these issues and concerns are shared by many ones (all) in the network of
organization inBelgium.
Soourwish is tobe specific, andbringanefficient contribution to the commoneffort andour
actionsmustbecomplementarytoothersconsideringour limitedbudgets.TheComitéNational
deChimie/NationaalComitéScheikundeteamisparticularlywellconnectedwiththe“chemical”
networkinBelgium,canimpactandspreadourideasandprojects.
2.Meetingsofthecommittee
a. Regularmeetings:February25,2016;October26,2016b. ProjectMeetingsFeb2nd,2016(withTheOlympiadsandJeunessesScientifiques);March
2nd,2016(Leuven)
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
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3.GeneralAssemblyoftheScientificUnion3
NoGeneralAssemblyin2016.
3.Othersactivities
[a]InBelgium
Inordertoillustratemanyaspectsofchemistryinthedevelopmentof“highTech”applications,
andSciencesandmoreparticularlyChemistry isanessentialtool inourmodernlife,a“oneday
event”dedicatedtotheyouthwasorganizedonSaturdayApril16th.
In order to stimulate their interest for Science and Technology, The" National Committee
Chemistry, the Science Olympiads, the" Scientists Youth of Belgium"invited the Science
Olympiads /Belgium (age 17/18) young finalists (250) to a one-day event: “Science and
Technology, the Future,My Future”. Since the Auditorium at the Academywas reserved, the
EventtookplaceonSaturday16thApril2016,attheSolvayCampus,withthecourtesyofSolvay
SA,310ruedeRansbeekNeder-over-Heembeek,1120Brusselsfrom10amto4pm.
It isanopportunitytothankSolvayS.A.fortheirsupport,organization,exhibition,cateringand
theirfinancialsupportat100%(about15000€).
§ 210students(highSchools)selectedinthefinalistsoftheOlympiads(Physics,Chemistry,
Biology) fromthethreeregionsattendedand listenedwithenthusiasmthespeakersof
theday.
§ tostimulatethestudents,theprogramme(inFrandNDL)wasfocusedontechnologies
where all the sciences and technologies can contribute. Two lectures by “senior”
scientistsandtwopresentationsbyPhD’sstudentsfromULBandVUB.
o ClaudeMichelandMichelDubois:“SolareImpulse”
o SeppeTerryn(VUB)Self-HealingRobotsnolongerScienceFiction
o ProfPhilippeClaes:Meteoritesin,DinosOut
o SophieBauduin:SoundingAirPollutionfromSpace
This “ScienceDay”wasunanimouslyappreciatedby theparticipants. Thequality, and subjects
coveredbythelecturerswereverystimulating.
3Seefullreportonpage98.
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[b]International
§ COCI (Committee for Chemistry and Industry/ IUPAC). Participation at the meeting
(Montreal/April2016)-PaulBaekelmansasTitularMember-withtwomainitemstobe
reported:
o Growinginterestforthehealthandsafetytrainingprogramme(seebelow)o PreparationofaRegionalworkshopinBeijing
§ COCI (Committee for Chemistry and Industry/IUPAC). Participation at the meeting
(Beijing/September 2016) - Paul Baekelmans as Titular Member - with items to be
reported
o Seminar organized by SINOPEC. The IUPAC Regional workshop with the theme“Chemical Industry of Sustainable Development” featured 12 technicalpresentationsondevelopmentofgreenchemicaltechnology,biomassenergyandchemicals,andResponsibleCare.
o IUPAC is starting a new interdivisional committee on Green Chemistry andSustainabledevelopment.
ThisseminaremphasizesarealmoveintheChineseIndustrytowards“clean”products
andenvironmentalconcerns.
§ Attendance at IUPAC Division VII meeting, Chemistry and Human Health, in
CopenhagenfromSeptember3rdtill6th,2016–byRitaCornelisasVice-Presidentofthe
Division.
§ All through the year participation with Tom Perun, President, and Mike Schwenk,
secretary, inallmattersconcerning themanagementofDivisionVII -RitaCornelisasa
member of the Interdivisional Committee on Terminology, Nomenclature and symbols
reviewingpaperssubmittedforpublicationintheIUPACJournalPAC(PureandApplied
Chemistry).
§ In 2016, the “Safety Training Programme” dedicated to the training of developing
countriestechniciansintheChemicalIndustryinlaboratoriesandproductionplantswas
introducedtoSolvay.Theprogrammewillbeimplementedin2017(May)
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NATIONALCOMMITTEEFORCRYSTALLOGRAPHY
1.Introduction,mission,goals
Crystallography is the study of the atomic andmolecular structure of diverse substances using
microscopy and diffraction techniques in order to understand the relationship between atomic
structureandpropertiesofthesematerials.
The objectives of the National Committee of Crystallography are to promote cooperation in
crystallography,tocontributetoallaspectsofcrystallographicresearch,tocatalyzetherelations
of crystallography to other sciences, to promote crystallography for the general public, and to
representBelgiancrystallographersininternationalassociations.
Thecommitteehasitsownwebsite4,whichareadministeredbyJohanWouters,andorganizesa
annual crystal growing competition for pupils at secondary schools and biannual Belgian
CrystallographySymposiumBCS.
2.MeetingsoftheCommittee
[a] The first meeting took place on 16 March 2016 in Brussels (Academy Palace). During this
meeting the program of the Ninth Belgian Crystallography Symposium BCS-9 organized by the
NationalCommitteeofCrystallographyintheAcademyPalaceinBrusselson26October2016was
discussed(listofspeakers,postersession,exhibitionandflashpresentations).Thecommitteehas
decidedtomaintainthenewinitiative'Inviteacrystallographer'duringthenextschoolyearand
togivevouchersforthiseventasprizefortheBelgianCrystalGrowingCompetition.Anoverview
oftheinscriptionsandpreparationsoftheBelgianCrystalGrowingCompetitionwasgivenandthe
dateoftheprizeawardingceremonyintheAcademyPalacewasfixedat18May2016.Proposed
speakerswere Frank DeWinne and Philippe Claeys. Finally, the Belgian representation for the
CouncilMeetingoftheEuropeanCrystallographicAssociation(ECA)andnominationsfortheIUCr
ExecutiveCommitteeandCommissionshavebeendiscussed.
SomemembersoftheCommitteewerepresentatthejudging(Namur,23April2016)andprize
awardingceremony(Brussels,18May2016)oftheCrystalGrowingCompetition.
4sites.google.com/site/xallobeandwww.iycr2014.be
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[b]ThesecondmeetingintheAcademyPalaceinBrusselson25October2016wasopenedwith
thereportsoftheECACouncilMeetinginBaselbytheBelgianrepresentatives(Y.FilinchukandF.
Hatert). The final preparations for the Belgian Crystallography SymposiumBCS-9 in 26October
2016andthepreliminarytimingofthe2017editionoftheBelgianCrystalGrowingCompetition
weremade.
The status of the initiatives 'Invite a crystallographer' was discussed further. Finally, the
Committee has discussed and approved in the presence of T. Leyssens (UCL, invited for this
agenda item) the possibility to install a sub-committee on crystal growth in order to become
memberoftheInternationalOrganizationforCrystalGrowth.
3.GeneralAssemblyoftheScientificUnion
The next General Assemblies will be held during the IUCr Meetings in Hyderabad (2017) and
Prague(2020).
4.Otheractivities
[a] The National Committee of Crystallography has organized in 2016 with support of both
academies and sponsor Acros Organics a successful sixteenth edition of the Crystal Growing
Competition for pupils of the secondary schools (see web site
http://www.chem.kuleuven.be/bcc/). For this edition sodium thiosulphate has been chosen as
crystallizing compound. The judging of the submitted crystals took place on 23 April 2016 in
Namur. During the proclamation on 18May 2016 in the Academy Palace in Brussels also the
geodesgrownforthenewitemofthecompetitionhavebeenexposedandevaluated.
[b] Yaroslav Filinchuk and Frederic Hatert have represented the Committee at the Council
Meetings of the European Crystallographic Association ECA in Basel (28 August - 1 September
2016).
[c] Frederic Hatert is co-chair of the Special Interest Group on Mineral and Inorganic
Crystallography. Yaroslav Filinchuk is secretary of the Special InterestGrouponCrystallography
under Extreme Conditions.Frederic Hatert and Joke Hadermann are active members of
respectively the IUCr Commission Inorganic andMineral Structures and the IUCr Commissions
Aperiodic crystals and Electron Crystallography. L. Van Meervelt has participated as General
Secretary and Treasurer to the meetings of the IUCr Finance Committee in Leuven and IUCr
ExecutiveCommitteeinDenver.
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
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[d]AscouncillorD.Maeshasparticipated to themeetingsof the InternationalOrganization for
Crystal Growth. As a continuation of the IYCr 2014 activity 'Invite a crystallographer' several
(honorary)membershavedeliveredlecturesinsecondaryschools.
5.Futureperspectives
§ Organisation of the seventeenth Belgian Crystal Growing Competition in 2017 (seechem.kuleuven.be/bcc).
§ participationbyBelgianschoolsattheInternationalCrystalGrowingCompetition.
§ Organisationofthe10thBelgianCrystallographySymposiumBCS-10inBrussels(October2018).
§ BelgianmembershipofInternationalOrganizationforCrystalGrowth.
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NATIONALCOMMITTEEFORGEODESYANDGEOPHYSICS
1.Introduction,mission,goals
The BNCGG serves as a link between IUGG and the Belgian scientists working in the fields of
Geodesy and Geophysics. This activity reaches a climax every four years at the IUGG general
assembly.TheBNCGGisthenchargedtoproposetotheAcademythenationaldelegatestoIUGG
andtoitseightAssociations:
§ InternationalAssociationofCryosphericSciences(IACS);
§ InternationalAssociationofGeodesy(IAG);
§ InternationalAssociationofGeomagnetismandAeronomy(IAGA);
§ InternationalAssociationofMeteorologyandAtmosphericSciences(IAMAS);
§ InternationalAssociationofHydrologicalSciences(IAHS);
§ InternationalAssociationofthePhysicalSciencesoftheOcean(IAPSO);
§ InternationalAssociationofSeismologyandPhysicsoftheEarthInterior(IASPEI);
§ InternationalAssociationofVolcanologyandChemistryoftheEarthInterior(IAVCEI).
In the meantime, the BNCGG organizes regularly conferences by known Belgian or foreign
scientists.
The BNCGG tries also to encourage the participation of young scientists to the IUGG General
Assembliesbyattributinggrants.
Belgium was among the 9 countries that established the International Union of Geodesy and
Geophysics(IUGG)onJuly28,1919inBrussels.TheBelgianNationalCommitteeforGeodesyand
Geophysics(BNCGG)wascreatedshortlyafterin1921.Therunningexpenseswerecovereduntil
1950bytheNationalCartographicInstituteandlateronbyRoyalAcademyofBelgium,nowsplit
into the "Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voorWetenschappen en Kunsten" and the
"AcadémieroyaledesSciences,desLettresetdesBeaux-ArtsdeBelgique".
Inparallelwith theBNCGG,exists since1955an"Associationsansbuts lucratifsdedroitbelge"
called "Comité National Belge de Géodésie et de Géophysique, Bruxelles". It is charged to
administratethefinancesoftheCommittee.
2.MeetingsoftheCommittee
ThetraditionalannualBNCGGGeneralAssemblyhasbeenheldonJanuary21intheNicoletroom
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
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of the Royal Observatory of Belgium. The introductory conferencewas given by Dr. Véronique
Dehant,RoyalObservatoryofBelgium.
“Study of the rotation of the Earth and application to Mars”, by Véronique Dehant, Royal
ObservatoryofBelgium-January21,2016
Our fundamental understanding of the interior of the Earth comes from geophysics, geodesy,
geochemistry,andgeomagnetism.Measurementsinthesefieldshaverevealedthebasicinternal
layeringoftheEarth,itsthermalstructure,itsgrosscompositionalstratification.Inparticular,the
rotation and orientation of the Earth (precession and nutation) are used to obtain essential
informationonthedeepEarthinterior.Theyaresubjecttoirregularitiesinducedbyglobalmass
redistributionswith time and external forcing such as the gravitational pull of the Sun and the
Moon.Theterm‘precession’describesthelong-termtrendoftheorientationoftheaxisofspin,
while ‘nutation’ is the name given to shorter-term periodic variations. The rotation axis of the
Earth ismoving in spaceat the levelof1.5km/yeardue toprecession (as seen fromspace ina
plane tangent to the pole) and has periodic variations at the level of 600 meters. With the
advanceofobservationprecision,thecausesofEarthorientationchangesareprogressivelybeing
identifiedbygeodesistsandgeophysicists.Thepresentobservationsallowscientiststomeasure
theseatthesub-centimeterlevelenablingthemtoidentifyfurtherphysicsoftheEarth’sinterior
tobetakenintoaccountintheEarthorientationmodelssuchasthecouplingmechanismsatthe
boundary between the liquid core and the viscoelastic mantle, as well as many other factors
(sometimesnotyetdefinitelyidentified).TheexistenceofaliquidcoreinsidetheEarthandallthe
coupling mechanisms at the core-mantle boundary play indeed an important role in nutation
amplitudes.Aneverydayexampleof the11influenceof thephysical stateof the interioron the
rotationisthatraw(liquid)andcooked(solid)eggsrotatedifferently.
Thisbringsustothe ideaofusingobservationofrotationandorientationofMarsforobtaining
information on its core, and in particular on its dimension, composition, and physical state. In
2016 and 2018, there will be two missions, the NASA InSIGHT mission and the ESA ExoMars
mission involving landersat thesurfaceofMars thatcontainadirect-to-Earthradiosystemand
thiswillallowus toperformedradioscience.These futureobservationswillallowus toperform
measurementsofMarsdeformation,rotationandorientationwithanunprecedentedaccuracy.
3.GeneralAssemblyoftheScientificUnion
NoGeneralAssemblyin2016.
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4.Futureperspectives
[a]ThenextBNCGGGeneralAssemblyisplannedonThursdayJanuary19,2017.
[b]AtaTBDdateprobablyinthebeginningofMayanumberofgroupedconferencesisplanned
onthethemeofclimatechangeinthepolarregions.
[c]AtaTBDdateintheautumnof2017aninternationalworkshopisplannedontheclimateof
tropicalregions.
[d]ThenextEuropeanGeophysicalUnion(EGU)conferencewillbeheldfrom23to28April2017
inVienna,Austria.
[e]NextScientificAssembliesoftheIUGGAssociationsare
o IACS,13-17February2017Wellington,NewZealand
o IAG/IASPEI,30July-4August2017,Kobe,Japan
o IAGA/IAMAS/IAPSO,27August-1September2017CapeTown,SouthAfrica
o IAHS,dateondiscussion,PortElizabeth,SouthAfrica
o IAVCEI,14-18August2017,Portland,USA
[f]ThenextAmericanGeophysicalUnion (AGU)meeting isplanned from11 to15December in
NewOrleans,USA.
[g]ThenextIUGGGeneralAssemblywillbeheldinMontreal,Canadain2019.
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NATIONALCOMMITTEEFORGEOGRAPHY
1.Introduction,mission,goals
The National Committee for Geography represents Belgian scientists working in the field of
GeographyintheworkofIGU(InternationalGeographicalUnion).ThisCommitteeisaforumfor
exchangingviewsonthelandscapeofGeographyinBelgium.
2.Meetingsofthecommittee
TheNational Committee forGeographymet four times in 2016: 19March, 3 September, 1260
November. Thethemesdiscussedwereatthemeetings:
[a]PromotionofGeography
ThepromotionofgeographyhasevolvedintooneofthetasksoftheCommittee.Therefore,the
CommitteeshallincludethetaskofdrawingupanemailaddresslistofBelgianscientiststobetter
distributeinformationinthisway.
AdedicatedwebsitewhichpromotesBelgianscientificgeographyalsoseemessential.
Severalcausesareidentifiedforthelownumberofstudentsingeography,eveniftheevolution
fromuniversitytouniversitymaydiffer.There isalsoaplethoraofnewprogramsthatcompete
withthegeography.
The Committee notes that a pressure prevails in some universities and researchers van FWO /
FNRS to unite physical geography with geology and human geography social sciences, which
undermines theholisticnatureofgeography.Thisvision is forcedongeographyand iscertainly
notthepositionofthegeographers.
TheCommitteewill takemeasures tomake theotherplayers in the secondaryeducationmore
closelyintherecruitmentforundergraduateprograms.
Thereare tools in the choiceof studywhere thegeographyapparentlynotwell-positioned / is
defined.Here,theCommitteewillinterveneinthreeareaswherenecessary:students,education
andsociety.Theseinitiativesareeligible:theorganizationofaGeo-week;thecreationoftraining
modules for teachers in secondary education, geo-dating, movies on Youtube, a geotamtam
(mailinglist),lessonsinsecondaryeducationandaleafletontheposter.
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
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Thecontentoftheinitiativeswillbepreparedaquestionnaireforformerstudentstoknowtheir
exactgeographyworkingareasandtoexplain the lowunemployment rate. Inaddition,existing
datawillbecollected,forexampleonthebasisoftheresultsofevaluationcommittees.
Anothersuccessfulinitiativemaybebeneficialforthepromotionofgeography,theInternational
Map Year. The site could be acquired by the site of the Committee. Finally, there is the site
GeographyBelgiumfundedbyGhentUniversity.
[b]ParticipationtotheFestivalInternationaledeGéographie(Saint-Dié)
ThefestivalisorganizedinSaint-Die(France)on29,September30andOctober1,2016withthe
themeBelgium.
There was a large delegation of Belgian geographers who participated in the exhibitions and
debates. There are also exchanges between geographically secondary education in France and
French-speakingBelgium.
OneoftheroundtableswasdevotedtothefutureofBelgium.Thisincludedfourpeopleincluding
two Belgian and two French. BELGEO 2017/1 on the contributions of Belgium would issue a
special number associated with the FIG. There were more than 30 communications proposals
related to Belgium. The brochure 'A concise geography of Belgium "was distributed to the
speakers.
[c]BeGeo
Theinitiativewasasuccess.Infuturetheywillhavetoprovidebettercommunicationandinvolve
theCNGinthepreparationoftheeventalongwiththeIGNandAgoria.
[d]Geo-Olympiade
OnDecember12ameetingwasheldwiththeFrenchNationalCommittee,FégéproandtheVLA
totheactivities - includingdiscussGeo-Olympiades - inanticipationof thenext IGUcongress in
Paris.
[e]DoctoralschoolofGeography
TheCommitteewouldliketostartthedoctoralschoolofgeographyinFrench-speakingBelgium.
Tothisend,theChairmanoftheCommitteecontactthechairmenofthejuryofanyfrancophone
universitytoevaluatethepossibilities.
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[d]BelgianGeographyDays
GeographyTheBelgianDaysareorganizedinLiègeandtakeplaceon17and18November2017.
3.GeneralAssemblyoftheScientificUnion
NoGeneralAssemblyin2016.
4.Otheractivities
[a]SubcommitteeNationalAtlas
RegardingthethirdatlasofBelgium,thesituationunchanged.Thesixthsectiondedicatedtothe
cityisstillnotissuedascoordinatorstheirtextsandcardshavestillnotpassedtotheeditor.
OnthedigitalatlasofBelgium, it issupplemented inthecourseof2016,recent figures/maps.
321ticketsarenowonline,spreadoverthefivemainthemesoftheThirdAtlas.Theatlasandits
possibilitieswerepresentedatthe'FestivalinternationaldelaGéographie'atSaintDiéinFrance
onSeptember29,2016
[b]SubcommitteeforCartography-SIG
o InternationalMapYear: Theperiodbetween the International Cartographic Conference
(ICC2015),heldinRioinAugust2015andtheendofDecember2016wasdeclaredbythe
InternationalCartographicAssociation'InternationalMapYear(IMY).Theactivitiesofthe
subcommitteeinthesecondhalfof2015and2016werethereforelargelylinkedtoit.As
alreadymentionedawebsiteontheInternationalMapYearwasestablishedinlastyear's
report, which a announcement and additional information on all activities of the
subcommitteewasrecorded,andthisinthetwonationallanguagesandinEnglish.Also,
activities of other organizations that are announced on the sitewere placed under the
headingofIMY.
SinceJanuary2017theweblinktotheIMYsiteisnolongeractive.Theinformationonthe
site about the IMY however, was transferred to a sub-page of the new website being
underconstructionbytheNationalCommittee(http://ncgeografie.be/imy/)andcanstill
beconsulted.
o BeGeo Day: On March 3, 2016 was the first time the event BeGeo place, with a
geocongres fair, organized by the Belgian geo-sector. The event took place at The Egg
(Brussels).BeGeoisameetingplaceforgovernment,businessandresearchcommunityto
transfer knowledge and share experiences with geo-experts, users of geo-information,
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
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andprovidersofservicesandproducts.DuringthiseventKristienOomskeptonbehalfof
thesubcommitteeCartographyandGISpresentationinwhichtheInternationalMapYear
andtheplannedinitiativeswereexplained.
o NationaleMapathon 2016: On Saturday, April 16th organized by the Subcommittee on
Cartography and GIS, in collaboration with the Departments of Geography 7 Belgian
universities (VUB, ULB, KULeuven, UCL, Ghent University, Ulg and Unamur)
OpenStreetMap andBelgium, a nationalMapathon. This eventwas part of theMissing
Maps initiative,which aims to provide cartographic basics for crisis-prone areaswith a
viewtoamoreefficientorganizationofhumanitarianmissions.Morethan200volunteers
participatedinoneofsevenlocationsto identifyareas inKivuandSwaziland.Perhapsit
was the largest operation of this type ever - all involved were very pleased with the
turnout.Thecallfordo-it-yourselfhumanitarianattractednotonlystudents,researchers
andprofessorsfromtheparticipatinguniversities,butalsomanyotherenthusiastsofall
ages. Technical knowledge in the field of cartography and computer usewas therefore
notrequiredtoparticipate.
During the event was created a short video conference on the afternoon when Pete
MastersofMSFUKclarifiedthatthenewcardsKivuwouldbedeployedimmediatelyon
the ground, within the framework of organizing a vaccination campaign to combat a
measles epidemic had just broken out in the region. Thanks to the work of the many
volunteerswhoparticipatedintheMapathononepossessionaftertheeventona
datasetofmorethan23244buildingsintheregion,whilevirtuallynothingwaspreviously
mapped.Intheafternoon,another25,000buildingsweremappedinSwaziland.Thisisto
help the Global Health Group at the University of California with the support of local
governmentintheeradicationofmalariainthecountry.
Thankstoawell-organizedpromotionalcampaignpriortotheevent,theMapathonwas
broad recognition behalf of the media, in addition to mentioning the event in some
regionaleditionsofnewspapersandaninterviewwithF.CantersinBonusonRadio1on
Saturday, justbeforethestartoftheevent,anentry inthe12hnewsonStudioBrussel,
andextensivereportsintheJournalofoneandtheVTMNews.
o BarbaraPetchenikexhibition"Myplace intoday'sworld":Aspartofthe2015editionof
theBarbaraPetchenik children's drawing contest,which tookplace at the International
CartographicConference inRio,with the theme"Myplace in today'sworld" theendof
2015 were 30 drawings selected by the jury, including the six Belgian laureates,
incorporatedintoamobileexhibition,whichopenedattheuniversityduringtheBelgian
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
36
GeographersDay2015.fromlatenovember2015tolateJanuary2016wereadmiringthe
drawingsOefenpleinCampusoftheuniversity.InMayandJune2016,thedrawingswere
exhibitedattheMercatorMuseuminSint-Niklaas.
o BarbaraPetchenikdrawingcompetition2017edition:Thesubcommitteeiscurrentlybusy
with the preparations for the Belgian participation in the new edition of the Barbara
Petchenik international drawing competition for children, which takes place at the
InternationalCartographicConferenceinWashingtoninJuly2017.Forthiseditionwere,
afteranappealbytheSubcommitteeschoolsandacademiesmarktheendof2016,senta
totalof 154drawings. The jury selectedhere fivedrawingsbyagegroup,whichwill be
postedonthenewwebsiteoftheSubcommittee(seebelow).Thegeneralpublicwillbe
here in spring 2017 through voting by category to choose a winning design. These
drawingswill,togetherwithadrawingbyagegroupselectedbythejurytoparticipatein
theinternationalcompetitioninWashingtoninJuly2017.
o Activitiesplanned:
• Given the success of the first edition, affects the subcommittee Cartography and
GIScurrentlyalreadypreparationsfortheorganizationofanewnationalMarathon
event,whichwill take place on Saturday,March 25, 2017. Through collaboration
withMSFisdevelopedapromotionalcampaignatthistimeaneventplacethanin
thespotlight.
• During spring 2017, the subcommittee will take on the coordination from the
entries for the International Cartographic Exhibition,whichwill take place at the
second-annualICAconference,thisyearheldinWashington(2-7July).
• Recently, also started the development of a new website for the subcommittee
Cartography and GIS, which organized all the events will be announced by the
subcommittee,whichalsowill includeareportofpastevents.Thiswillbefurther
developed in the comingmonths, so that the website can be placed as soon as
possible online. The build-in web pages will be part of the new website of the
NationalCommittee,whichisalsounderconstruction.Thepageswillbeavailablein
Dutch, French and English, so that the website can also be used to report an
overview of the activities of the subcommittee to the International Cartographic
Association.
[c]SubcommitteeforGeomorphology-BAG
BAGistheBelgianchapteroftheIAG(InternationalAssociationofGeomorphologists).
ReportontheBAGAdministrativeSession,10June2016.
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a. BAGistheBelgianchapteroftheIAG
MorganDeDapper(UGent)isTreasureroftheIAG(2013-2017),AlainDemoulin(ULg)ispresident
(2013to2017;tobereplacedbythevicepresidentin2017atthetimeoftheIAGconferencein
NewDelhi).JanNyssen(UGent)isvice-president2013-2017(inprinciple,hewillbecomethenew
presidentin2017).Hence,in2017wehavetoappointanewvice-president(fromWallonia,asJan
NyssenisfromUGent).OlivierDewitte(RMCA)isBAGsecretaryandtreasurer.
b. BAGactivitiesin2015-2016
o Last year's BAG excursion was co-organised by B. Notebaert (KU Leuven) and G.
Houbrecht (ULg), who proposed an interesting review of fluvial geomorphology
problemsintheAmblèvecatchment,withpointpresentationsbyJ.Poesen(workofH.
DeBrue),F.Petit,B.Notebaert,J.VanCampenhout,andG.Houbrechts.
o InAugust2015,theBarnaulregionalconferenceoftheIAGwasattendedbysomeofus,
and notably our vice-president and our secretary, M. De Dapper, O. Dewitte and H.
HanneHendrickx.AdditionalinformationcanbefoundintheIAGNewsletterpublished
inGeomorphologyandGéomorphologie.
o I'm also really happy to recall something that probably most of you already know,
namely that in lastApril,during theannualEGUGeneralassembly,ourcolleague Jean
Poesen,fromtheKULeuven,wasawardedoneofthehighestUnionMedals(ifnotthe
highest) of the Eur. Geophys. Union, the Alexander von Humboldt Medal 2016 for
exceptionally significant work in developing regions in providing superb scientific
expertise inmanaging pressures on land originating fromproducing food and fuel for
growingpopulations.
c. Springerbookon"LandscapesandlandformsinBelgiumandLuxemburg"Iremindyouthat,
inSeptember2014, IwascontactedbyP.Migon,memberof the IAGexecutivecommittee
and scientific coordinator for Springer of their new book series about "World
geomorphological landscapes", with a proposal for editing a book devoted to the
"LandscapesandlandformsofBelgiumandLuxemburg".Asthiswasawonderfulopportunity
tobringamodernreferenceworkonthegeomorphologyofBelgiumtoaverylargenational
and international audience, I accepted this taskwithpleasureas soonas Iwas sureof the
participation of our community. Currently,most of the 26 chapters of the book, involving
about 40 main authors plus many other coauthors are approaching completion. The
completebookmanuscriptshouldbesenttoP.MigonandSpringer induetime, i.e.before
mid-December,andwecanhopepublicationofthebook(inelectronicandprintedforms)in
2017.Iwouldliketoexpressheremywarmestthankstoallofyouwhoparticipatedtothis
project,I'mnotsurethattherearemanyothercountrieswheresuchalargeteamofauthors
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
38
could haveworked so friendly and efficiently towards this goal. I alsowant to stress how
happyI'mthatmanychapterswereoccasionstojointwritingbetweengeomorphologistsand
geologists(F.Boulvain,N.Vandenberghe,J.Yans,V.Hallet,K.Beerten,etc).
d. Activitiestocomesoon
o 18th JointGeomorphologicalMeeting,Chambéry, June27 - July1, 2016. “SOURCETO
SINKFROMEROSIONTOSEDIMENTARYARCHIVES”:ourcolleagueVeerleVanackerwill
give the Belgian invited talk about "Anthropogenic Disturbances to Geomorphic
Processes. New insights from cultural landscapes in the Western Mediterranean". In
addition, 2 of the 7 oral communications will be given by 2 young Belgian
geomorphologists:LiesbetJacobs(RMCAandVUB)andJeanVanCampenhoutULg.The
Belgiancontributiontothisjointmeetingisthussatisfying.
o August23,2016: invitationtoapossibleextraexcursionunderBAGAuspices.Vastsite
of archeological research at Kerkhove, along the middle Scheldt not far south of
Oudenaarde–PrecisionsbyOlivier.NodirectBAGinvolvement,butIsuggestwegather
the names of people interested in this field visit and transmit this BAG list to the
responsibles.
o November 6-11, 2017: 9th International Conference on Geomorphology, New Delhi,
India. This event also determines the time for renewing the BAG board. We will
especially try to agree in the meantime on a new vice-president from the French-
speakingsideofourcommunitytobsubmittedtoyourvotesduringourfieldtripdayof
nextyear.
e. Amaury Frankl and his team of co-organisers are thanked for having organized this year's
BAG-excursionon“GeomorphologyandfloodingintheAabasin(N.France)”andguidingus
aroundinthisregionforthefirstinternationalBAGfieldtrip.Indeed,notonlyarewetoday
outside Belgium, in northern France, but the excursion has also been coorganized by
geomorphologistsof theUniversitiesofGhent and Lille1 andpeopleof the SyndicatMixte
pour l’Aménagement et laGestiondes Eauxde l’Aa. They showus thediversity of studies
thatcanbecarriedoutaboutthemanagementofasmallcatchment,dealingwithrunoffand
erosion control andmonitoring, gully evolution, or still floodmitigation. So, I proposewe
thankthemallwarmlyforthisniceday.
f. The next excursion of the BAG. You know the usual alternation between Flanders and
Walloniatowhichwestickfortheorganizationofourannualfieldtripday.Thiswouldimply
that,nextyear,theexcursionwillbeorganizedbyateamoftheFrench-speakingcommunity.
Nothinghasbeendecidedsofarbuttwosuggestionsarecurrentlyevaluated,bothproposed
bytheUniversityofLiege.Thefirstoneisconcernedwithnewdataandnewapproachesto
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
39
the understanding of theMiddle Pleistocene incision of the Ardennian drainage network,
with the relative disadvantage that we would go again in the Amblève valley where we
already were last year, the second is interested in the geomorphological monitoring
associatedtoriverhydro-morphologicalrestorationprojects,whichmightbecoordinatedby
AlexandrePeeters.Moredetailsaboutthedefinitivechoicewillfollowinduetime.Asforthe
date, as the traditionalmid-June date seems to be an ideal time for this JaarverslagNCG-
2016excursion, I suggest thatyoualready tick inyourdiaries June9as themostprobable
dateforthe2017BAGfieldtrip.Ofcourse,thiswillalsobeconfirmedlater.
g. Administrativenews.Wehavebeen informedbyS.Temmermanthathehaschosennotto
renew the BAG membership of his Department of the University of Antwerp from 2016
onwards.Thereremainthus8institutionsamongwhichtheannualBAGcontributiontothe
IAGwillbedistributed.
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
40
NATIONALCOMMITTEEFORGEOLOGICALSCIENCES
1.Introduction,mission,goals
The National Committee of Geological Sciences forms part of the "Classe des Sciences de
l'AcadémieroyaledeBelgique"andthe"KlassederWetenschappenvandeKoninklijkeAcademie
vanBelgië".Themissionofthecommitteeistopromotegeologyandtoco-ordinateatanational
and international level, the activities of the geological departments that are present in the
different Belgian academic and scientific institutions. Members of the committee also act as
representativesofBelgiumintheInternationalCouncilofScientificUnions(ICSU).Atpresent,the
national committee co-ordinates the activity of a number of commissions and working groups
suchas theNationalCommissiononStratigraphy (sub-divided in specific sub commissions) and
the Working group on Structural Geology. The National Committee of Geological Sciences of
BelgiumhascloserelationshipswiththeInternationalUnionofGeologicalSciences(IUGS),which
is also a member of ICSU. The IUGS is a non-governmental organization that promotes and
encouragesthestudyofgeologicalproblems,especiallythoseofworldwidesignificance.
2.Meetingsofthecommittee
In 2016 the National Committee of Geological Sciences met in two sessions: onMay 12th and
December8th.DuringthefirstmeetingtheNationalCommitteehasappointedthedelegateofthe
National Committee of Geological Science to the coming general assembly of the International
UnionofGeologicalSciencewhichwillbeheldinCapeTown,SouthAfrica,from28thAugusttill
2nd September2016. Thediscussionon the internal roles and their applicationwas continued.
ThesignificanceofGeologyintheBelgiansecondaryeducationwasdiscussed.
During thesecondmeeting the reportof theNationalCommitteeofStratigrapgywasdiscussed
(see further point 5). The two proposals for IGCP projects with Belgian participation were
presented.ThestructureofthenewlyestablishedIUGSfulHeritagecommissionswasdiscussed.
Under this commission two subcommissions wil be errected: the subcommission ‘Sites and
Collections’andthesubcommisson‘Heritagestones’.TheBelgiancandidatesforparticipation in
eachofthesesubcommissionswereproposed.ThereportoftheBelgiandelegatetotheGeneral
AssemblyoftheInternationalUnionofGeologicalScienceswastreated(seefurtherpoint4)and
thediscussionontheinternalrolesandtheirimplementationwascontinued.
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41
3.GeneralAssemblyoftheScientificUnion
In 2016 the 35th International Geological Conference, organized by the IUGS,was held in Cape
Town South Africa from 28th August till 2nd September 2016. This conference is the 4 yearly
international scientific and business meeting of all committees affiliated to IUGS. The fourth
ordinarysessionoftheIUGS-IGCwasheldon31thAugustand1stSeptember2016.Thereportof
themeetingwaswrittenbythenationalrepresentativeNoëlVandenberghe.
ThereportoftheIUGSofficersforthe2012-2016period.
ThefirstpartoftheCouncilmeetingwasdevotedtothereportsbythepresident,vice-presidents,
secretary-generalandthetreasurer.
IUGS faced a major administrative challenge by changing the secretariat and the finances to
China. Regarding membership, objective factors can explain the diminishing decline in
contributingaffiliatedmembersandconsequentlyinthefinancialcapacityofIUGS.Howeveritis
also recognized that IUGSwasnot successful in clarifying theadvantagesof IUGSMembership.
Attempts to remediate this situation, have been the involvement of young earth scientists to
bring IUGS to the social media such as Facebook, to develop apps, the modernizing of the
electronicIUGSbulletin,newbrochuresandthepublishingofannualreportsofallsubdivisionsof
theuniononthewebsite.
A flyerwith the listof27Geostandardsalreadypreparedand inpreparationundersponsorship
from IUGS has been distributed (Geostandards Inventory). Setting standards is one of IUGS’s
highesttasks.AlsotheIUGSjournalEpisodeshasbeenupgradedandfurthereffortsaredoneto
installanon-linesubmissionandeditorialsystem.Themaindriverduringthepast4yearsofthe
executivecouncilhasbeentheguidingfromtheeraoftherecognitionofSystemEarthtotheera
of Future Earth studies focusing on energy and resources, understanding ecosystems, waste
management,hazardsandclimaticchangesandgeo-governance.
Changes in the organizational structuring of the IUGS have been reviewed while all other
traditional subdivisions of the union (ICS, INHIGEO, TECTASK, CGI, COGE, GEM) had no major
changesandcanbefoundatthewebsite.IUGScreatedaNewActivitiesStrategicImplementation
Committee(NASIC)thatstartedwiththeResourcingFutureGenerations(RFG)programbasedon
the legacyofthepast InternationalyearofPlanetEarth(IYPE); IUGSparticipatedactively inthe
ThirdUNWorldConferencein2015leadingtotheSendaiFrameworkforDisasterRiskReduction
and a new IUGS Task Group on Risk and Hazard has been set up. The Geoscience and the
Environmental Management Commission ended at the IGC Cape Town but the next Executive
Councilwilldealwiththefurtherfollow-upfocusonthehighsocialrelevanceofhumanactivityon
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
42
theplanet.TheTaskGrouponGlobalGeoscienceProfessionalismhaswelcomedtheassociation
of the International Associations for Geoethics and for PromotingGeoethics. TheOneGeology
program of the European Geological Surveys has been endorsed. Two new affiliatedmembers
joined IUGS: Earth ScienceMatters (ESM) and theGeological Associationof Canada (CAG). The
HeritageStoneTaskGroupandtheTaskGrouponGeoheritagehavebeenmerged intoasingle
newcommission.
TheResourcingFutureGenerations (RFG)programstartedat the initiativeof theNewActivities
Strategic Implementation Committee (NASIC) illustrates the challenge to bring evident societal
impactsofgeosciencestointernationalorganizations.Talksweregivenatmanyconferences.ICSU
has financially supported a workshop on RFG in Namibia and IUGS was invited to talk at the
economicmeetinginDavos.Atpresentalargerinvolvementofgeoscientistissoughtbyanopen
callforproposalsthatcanbeprovidedbyseedingmoney.Atpresentasoundfinancialgroundis
soughtbylobbyingwithAcademiesandotherpotentialsponsors.Afirstinter-IGCconferencewill
bedevotedonRFGEnergy-Minerals-Waterin2018inVancouver,Canadaundertheauspicesof
IUGSandsupportedbythedifferentCanadianearthscience,mineralogy,mining,metallurgyand
petroleumorientedorganizations(www.rfg2018.org).
Another example of the challenge to maintaining the visibility of geosciences in inter-
governmental organizations is the down rating of geosciences at UNESCO. After initially a
UNESCO draft was unacceptably downgrading the role of IUGS, finally UNESCO presented a
structurewith statutes andbylaws for thenew InternationalGeopark andGeoscienceProgram
(IGGP). Also the Risk and Hazard group of UNESCO is now inserted in the new Geoscience
DepartmentatUNESCO.ThismeansthatIUGSisnowanequalpartnerwithUNESCOintheIGCP
science program and provides the scientific board and the reviewers of the proposals coming
fromthegeologicalcommunity.ThetaskofprovidinghighrankexpertiseforIGCP,GeoParksand
WorldHeritagefitstheroleofIUGSinsettingstandards.
Like IUGS and IGCP are now joint initiatives, other joint initiatives are the International
LithosphereProgramwithIUGGandtheIsotopesandGeochronologygroupwithIUPAC.IUGShas
alsoaMemorandumofUnderstandingwiththeInternationalConsortiumonLandslidesandwith
the UNESCO Centre on Geochemistry in Linjang, China. It was suggested by the chairman that
IUGSshouldappointliaisonofficersinothergeo-relatedunionsliketheIUGGtoavoidtheissueof
thelimitedterminofficeofIUGSofficers.
Finally, the difficult relationship with ICSU was discussed. IUGS is part of the GeoUnion. The
publishedscienceplaniswrittenwithout inputofgeoscienceaspectsat largeandunfortunately
no reactionwas given to the improved input delivered by geosciences. Also the Future Earth
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
43
initiativeremainsvague.ApparentlyICSUisnowdroppingtheUandcallsitselftheInternational
CouncilofScience(ICS).
Votingmatters
Thesecondpartofthemeetingwasmainlydevotedtotheproceduresforvotingforthedifferent
newofficersandfortheselectionofthehostcityofthe37thIGCin2024.The2020hostcityfor
the36th IGCwasalreadydecidedand isNewDelhi in India. In2024 the37th IGCwillbeheld in
Busan,SouthKorea.BusanwasselectedbyalandslidemajorityoverBerlin,SaintPetersburgand
Istanbul.
The newly elected chairperson IUGS President (2016-2020)is Prof. Dr. Qiuming CHENG,
Department of Earth and Space Science and Engineering, Department of Geography, York
University. Toronto,Ontario,Canada. ThenewlyelectedSecretaryGeneral (2016-2020) isProf.
Dr.StanleyC.nFINNEY,DepartmentofGeologicalSciences,CaliforniaStateUniversity,LongBeach
CA90840,USA.HewasthepreviousChairmanoftheinternationalCommissionforStratigraphy.
Otherofficerselectedcanbefoundatthewebsite.
4.NationalCommissionforStratigraphy(NCS)
SincethepreviousNCGSmeetingofMay2016oneNCSmeetingwasheldon29/6/2016.
ApresentationwasgivenbyY.Vanbrabantof theSGB-GSBon ‘StratiSankey:a tool toease the
stratigraphicreading’whichwasproposedasastrategicactionoftheBelgianGeologicalSurvey.
All sub-commissions of NCS have their own activities leading to discussion and proposal texts
postedonthencswebsite.(ncs.naturalsciences.be).Thewebsiteiscurrentlyatcruisingspeedfor
the lithostratigraphy. Efforts are still needed to insert the state of the chronostratigraphy. In
addition to the traditional subcommissions, two sub entries are added: RegWal andAlteration.
RegWalcontainsalistofallstratigraphicunitsusedduringthemappingRégionWallonneandnot
reportedintheGeologicaBelgica2001volume.Alterationisnewlyaddedtoformalizeextensive
lithologicalbodiesrepresentingthealterationofolderunits.Atpresentproposal/discussiontexts
are posted in the subcommissionsCarboniferous (Hempinne Fm), Cretaceous (VertGalant Fm),
Paleogene-Neogene (several discussion texts and a proposal for the complete Ieper Group),
Quaternary(ArenbergFm),Alteration(Clay-with-flintFm).Thelistofactualdiscussions/proposals
isnowsystematicallyreportedintheMiscellanea.Allrepresentativesofuniversitiesandinstitutes
atNCShavebeenaskedtobringtheexistenceofthewebsitetotheattentionoftheirstudents
andtoencourageitsuseintheircoursesandpractices.
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
44
ReflectionisneededonthechangingoftheNCSboard.Theimportantcoreandsamplematerial
forstratigraphicresearchisnowcompletelytransferredtoPeronnes-lez-Binche.Thenextmeeting
isscheduledfor11/1/2017.
5.Futureperspectives
[a]NationalCommissionforStratigraphy
Next year thediscussionon the formulationof internal rules of theNCGS and a timelineof its
implementationwillbecontinued.
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NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR LOGIC, HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF
SCIENCES
1.Introduction,mission,goals
AccordingtothemissionoftheNationalCommittees,asstipulatedintheRoyalDecreeof2April
1979, the National Committee aims to promote and coordinate research activities on Logic,
History and Philosophy of Science in Belgium, primarily with regard to the international
representationofBelgianscholarshipintheInternationalCouncilofScientificUnions.
The National Committee is the Belgian member of the International Union of History and
PhilosophyofScience(IUHPS),bothof itsDivisionforHistoryofScienceandTechnology(DHST)
anditsDivisionofLogic,MethodologyandPhilosophyofScience(DLMPS).
Inpractice,themaingoalsoftheNationalCommitteeinclude:
1. TorepresentBelgianscholarshipontheinternationallevelbybeingpresentasamember
orspokespersonwith internationalorganisations (IUHPS,EuropeanSocietyofHistoryof
Science).
2. To coordinate Belgian scholarship by setting up collaborations and joint projects with
otherinstitutions(NationalCentrefortheHistoryofScience[KBR],Gewina[BelgianDutch
Society for theHistoryofUniversitiesandScience],BSLPS [BelgianSociety forLogicand
PhilosophyofScience]).
3. Topromotetheintegrationofhistoricalandphilosophicalstudiesofscience.
Inaddition to thesegoals, theNationalCommitteealsoacts topromotegeneral interest in the
historyof(Belgian)science,andtodisseminatetheresultsofcontemporaryscholarshiptoawider
audience.
2.MeetingsoftheCommittee
TheCommitteemeton22April2016andon22December2016.
Mainpointsontheagendaofthefirstmeetingincluded:variousadministrativeissueswhichcame
up in the course of preparing for the (successful) application for a subvention for 2016 from
BELSPO;preparationofourtwomaineventsinNovember2016.Mainpointsontheagendaofthe
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
46
second meeting included: preparing the Committee’s activities for 2017; evaluation of our
activitiesintheFallof2016.
The main conclusions of 2016 were threefold: (1) The precise administrative relations and
overheadmodalities between BESTOR and RASABwould benefit from further explicit dialogue
andagreement;(2)BESTORisasuccessstory,innosmallpartthankstoGeertVanpaemel,Lyvia
Diser andAlixBadot; (3) theCommittee still has a salutary role toplay inproviding services to
nationaland internationalPhDstudents insciencestudies (broadlydefined) throughworkshops
andyoungresearcher’sdays.Attendanceandlivelinessof2016’sworkshoponthehistoriography
ofscienceandYoungResearcher’sDays5offeredampletestimonytothis.
3.GeneralAssemblyoftheScientificUnion
GeertVanpaemelwaspresentattheannualconferenceoftheEuropeanSocietyfortheHistoryof
Science(Prague,22-24September2016;cf.http://www.7eshs2016.cz/).
4.Otheractivities
[a]Bestor:
Bestor5isanonlinedatabaseonBelgianscienceandtechnologydevelopedbothforconsultation
bythegeneralpublicandasaresearchinstrumentforthespecialistscholar.Itaimstoprovidea
forumforhistoricalresearchon(recent)Belgianscience,toupdatehistoriographicalsourceswith
newerpublications,andtopromotetheinterestinthe(historyof)Belgianscience.
BestorcontainsrecordsonBelgianscientists,scientific institutionsandscientificsocietiesof the
lastthreecenturies,bothinFrenchandinDutch.Thedifferentitemsareinterconnectedthrough
links, which enable the visitor to follow up on the network of relations between people and
institutions. Inmanycases,historical information issupportedbydirect linkstoonlineavailable
sources.Therecordsalsoprovidereferencestosecondarysourcesandrecentpublications.
The information presented in Bestor is supplied and assessed by a small teamof collaborators
(NationalCentreforHistoryofScience,membersofNationalCommittee,individualcollaborators,
etc.),underthedirectionoftheNationalCommitteeofLogic,HistoryandPhilosophyofScience.
Administrative support and housing facilities are provided by RASAB. The Bestor database is
physically locatedontheserverof theFacultyofArtsofKULeuven,wheremattersoftechnical
maintenancearetakencareof.
5www.bestor.be
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
47
Bestor issupportedbyanannualsubsidyofBelspo,whichhasbeengenerouslyaccordedtothe
Committeesince2008.
Staffandmanagement
Duringmostof2016Bestoremployedonescientificcollaborator.AsmanageroftheprojectLyvia
Diser(1FTE)divideshertimebetweenwritingnewrecords,coordinatingcollaborators,updating
andmaintainingthewebsitecontent,developingpublicrelationsandpromotingtheproject.On
April1,2016Diser’sfixed-termcontract(01/04/‘15-31/03/‘16)wasconvertedintoanindefinite-
term contract, in line with the Belgian legislation on the renewal of fixed-term contracts. To
maintain contactwith the academicalworld,which is essential for Bestor, Diserwas voluntary
research fellow at the University of Ghent. She alsomakes use of the Ugent resources at its
MuseumforHistoryofScienceanditsacademiclibraries.
Asenvisagedin2015andthankstocarefulbudgetmanaging,anextracollaborator(0,5FTE,one
year fixed-term contract) was recruited in October 2016 to translate records andmanage the
Frenchsideofthewebsite.AlixBadotisnotastrangertotheBestorproject.Shewasemployed
from its start in2009up to2012.Badot isalsoworkingonaPhD-dissertationon thehistoryof
scienceandenvironmentat theUniversityofNamur. Itwasagreedthatshewilldrawfromher
expertiseonthistopicaswellashermanycontactsintheFrench-speakingscholarlycommunity
intheBestorprojects.
The National Centre for the History of Science (KBR) contributed to Bestor by translating the
quarterlynewsletteranditslinkedrecords,untilOctoberwhenBadottookover.Apartfromthis,
membersoftheNationalCommitteehavewritten,readandcorrectedrecords.
Last year a User Portal was added to the website. It invites Bestor readers to assist in the
expansionofthedatabase.TheBestornewsletteralsooccasionallyreachesouttothepublic.Asa
result of these efforts, in 2016 18 new records were produced by readers, mostly amateur
historians,undersupervisionoftheBestorteam,whileexistingrecordswereextendedwithdata,
sourcesandimages(oftenfrompersonalarchives).
Supervisor of the project is Professor Geert Vanpaemel (KU Leuven), secretary/member of the
NationalCommittee.
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Figure1:Overviewcreatorsofnewrecords2016
Outcome2016
During 2016, several existing records have been revised or extended. Furthermore, 181 new
recordshavebeenproduced,66inFrenchand115inDutch.AsofJanuary2017,Bestorcontains
1070 French and 1113 Dutch records. For the first time there are more Dutch than French
records. There is no equality in quantity between French and Dutch records at all times, it
neverthelessremainsBestor’sambitiontohavetwoequivalentsetsofrecordsinbothlanguages.
Thegraphsbelowshowhowthequickriseinrecordsbetween2010and2014sloweddownfrom
2014onward.Thisisexplainedbyapriorityshiftin2014fromlargescaletranslationeffortstothe
moretime-consumingcreationofnewrecords(inDutch).In2016Bestordecidedtomakethese
newDutch recordsavailable in French,while continuing toproducenew records inDutch. This
explains the larger increase of records in 2016: 40 % of the total amount (66 records) are
translations into French, ofwhich44were carriedoutbyBadot sinceOctober. The increaseof
readercollaborationisasecondexplanation.
Figure2:Evolutioninnumberofrecords
NationalCommittee
Individualreaders
Collaboratornewrecords
Collaboratortranslations
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
Frenchrecords Dutchrecords
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
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Asinpreviousyears,mostoftherecordsarebiographical:607Frenchand651Dutchscientists’
biographies(versus598and610in2015).However,biographiesproducedin2016representless
than 30% of the total amount of records produced in 2016.6 In 2015 and 2014 50 % of new
recordswerebiographies.
Furthermore,thereare131(F)and87(D)recordsonscientificsocieties,80(D)and42(F)records
onprizesandawardsinscience,15(F)and39(D)onscientificjournals.Therearerecordsonmost
oftheFederalresearchinstitutionsandtheirstaff,suchastheRoyalObservatory(98records,D
andF),theBotanicalGarden42records(D),theMeteorologicalInstitute(17records,DandF),the
RoyalMuseum for Art andHistory (23 records, D and F) and the Royal Academy. In 2016 the
numberof‘Sciencestories’7rosefrom21to28(DandF).
Figure3:Chronologicaloverviewofbiographicalrecords(bydateofbirth)
Figure4:Biographicalrecords(bydateofbirth)aspercentagesoftotal
6Moreover,aboutthreethirdofthosebiographieswerecontributionsofreadersandmembersoftheNationalCommittee.7‘Sciencestories’areattractiveandrichlyillustratedshortstoriesonkeyeventsinthehistoryofBelgianscience.Becauseoftheirmany
links,thesepagesfunctionasasteppingstonetowardsotherrecordsinBestor.
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
1500
-170
0 17
01-172
5 17
26-175
0 17
51-177
5 17
76-180
0 18
01-182
5 18
26-185
0 1851-1875
1876-1900
1901
-192
5 19
26-195
0 19
51-197
5 French
Dutch
1501-1600
1601-1700
1701-1800
1801-1900
1901-1975
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
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Thisyear’snewrecordswerecreatedintheframeworkoftwothematicalinventoryprojects,as
recordedinthe2015’sreport.Onefocusedonsciencemonumentsinthepublicspace,theother
onimportantsites,buildingsandplacesinBelgianhistoryofscience.
The project on ‘lieux de mémoire’ related to science and scientists in the public space was
launched at the end of 2015. The goal was to offer a portal where visitors can explore the
scientific background of public statues, busts and commemoration monuments in their own
surroundings. For this reason a new categorywas created on Bestor where readers can easily
browsemonumentsbycityorprovince.Atthebeginningoftheproject,thenewsletterlaunched
anappeal to readers to tip-off statues in theirneighbourhood. In thiswaya listof recordswas
composed,whichcontinuestogrowstill.Theprojectwasroundedoff inNovember2016.Asof
now46 sciencemonuments related to science and scientists, aswell as one Science story, are
accessible online on the Dutch part of the database. Although almost all of these Belgian
monumentsoriginated inthevastpatrioticcampaign launchedbytheGovernmentshortlyafter
theBelgianRevolution,theyhaveneverbeforebeencompiledinoneplace,forreaderstobrowse
and compare. Some results were already presented to the public through the newsletter. The
presentationoftheprojectasawholewillfollowafterthetranslationstoFrencharecompleted.
The second project, Plaatsen van Wetenschap/Sites et Sciences, took a start in November. It
documents places that are orwere of interest in the history of Belgian sciences. The list of 45
records contains university buildings, campuses, laboratories, national, regional or communal
research institutions, observatories, museums, gardens and less traditional places, that are
meaningful in the history of Belgian scientific activity or discovery. Some results were already
presented in thenewsletter, for exampleon theNeolithic cavesof Spiennesor theexploration
shipBelgica.Sofar16recordsand2ScienceStoriesareaccessibleonline.
Asinpreviousyears,aquarterlyBestornewsletterwaspublished.Newslettersgenerallypresent
topicsrelatedtothehistoryofBelgiansciencesortoday’sBelgianscienceworld.Thesetopicsare
linkedasmuchaspossibletoongoinginventorywork.ThisyearhoweverBestorconsciouslychose
toinvestmoretimeinthecreationofrecordsontrendingtopicsforthenewsletter(FandD).This
resulted in numerous new records, for example on theworld famous particle physicist Robert
Brout, whose birth was commemorated in the April bulletin, or on scientist-refugees and
immigrants onBelgian soil.On twooccasionsextra inventory projectswere set up: TheNobel
prizeelectioninDecember2016calledforthecreationof15newrecordsinDutchandFrenchon
theQuinquennialandDecennialSciencePrizesoftheGovernment–‘BelgianNobelprizesavantla
lettre’.AndtheJanuary2017topicontheUniversities’goldenjubileeyear2017wasprecededby
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
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thecreationofoneSciencestoryand8biographiesofprofessorsoftheearlysciencefacultiesin
DutchandFrench.
N°1(jan-febr-ma)
Publicationdate:
18|01|2016
⋅ 100jaarrelativiteitstheorie|Lecentenairedelathéoriedelarelativité
⋅ Vluchtenisvanalletijden|Lesréfugiés:unphénomèneintemporel
⋅ LezingenreeksUCL2016rondsymbolenensymbolisme|SériedeconférencesUCL2016autourdessymbolesetdusymbolisme
N°2(apr-may-june)
Publicationdate:
11|04|2016
⋅ RobertBroutoverleedvijfjaargeleden|RobertBroutdécédéilyacinqans
⋅ AlbertToilliez,demanvanSpiennes|AlbertToilliez,l'hommedeSpiennes
⋅ Tipsentoolsrondwetenschapsgeschiedenis|Trucsetastucesautourdel'histoiredessciences
N°.3(july-aug-sept)
Publicationdate:
04|07|2016
⋅ Deschoonheidvanpriemgetallen|Labeautédesnombres-premiers(ontheoccasionof150thbirthdayCharles-JeandeLaValléePoussin)
⋅ MetQueteletopcitytrip|AvecQueteletencitytrip
⋅ Aankondigingen|AnnoncesN°.4(oct-nov-dec)
Publicationdate:
12|10|2016
⋅ NobelaandeNoordzee|UnNobelauPlatpays
⋅ Laboinhetpakijs|Unlaboratoiresurlabanquise
⋅ Aankondigingen|AnnoncesFigure5:Newslettertopicsthroughout2016
The Bestor homepage is a dynamic environment where the reader gets a regular update on
significant dates and events in the history of Belgian science or the Belgian science today.
Alternatingfocustextsshed lightontopicssuchastheNobelPrizeceremonies inDecember,or
NationalWomen’sdayinMarch.Theagendaannouncesupcomingeventsconcerningthehistory
of science, such as conferences, exhibitions or call for papers. The homepage displays on the
newestpublicationsonhistoryofscience.
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
52
From January to October, the only translationsmade were the newsletters and their linked
records(DtoF),bytheNationalCentre.InOctoberalargescaletranslationproject(DtoF)was
started.Prioritywasgiventotheprojectsof thepreviousyears. In201666Dutchrecordswere
translatedinFrench.
InMaywehavestartedup thephasedprocedureofupdating theBestorsoftware, tocreatea
more professional, user friendly and safe web environment. The ICT-team at Faculty of Arts
KULeuvenwillexecutetheproject.Inalongfirstphase(May-December2016)theupgradewas
successfully tested in a safe environment, back-upsweremade and an application for a server
subscriptionwassubmitted.Thesecondphaseconsistedoftheupgradeofthewebsite’ssoftware
Mediawiki version 1.15.1, which is no longer supported by Mediawiki, to version 1.28.0. This
versionismorestable,saferandmoreuser-friendly.Atthesametimeamigrationofthewebsite
toanexternalserver(ICTSserver)wasexecutedandsecurityprotocolforencryptingthewebsite
was installed, so as to make it more resistant to cyber crime and in line with search engines
current requirements of internet safety (https-address). One more phase is to follow (see
Projectedactivitiesin2017-8).
Dueto lackof time ithasnotbeenpossible to followupon theprojectArtandscienceaswas
planned.
Promotionandvisibility
Asinpreviousyears,thequarterlyBestoremailNewslettercontinuedtoappear.Eleveneditions
in French and in Dutch have come out since its take-off in July 2014. The Dutch newsletter is
edited by Diser. The translation has been taken care of by the National Centre for History of
ScienceuntilOctober,whenBadottookover.Theletterdrawstheattentiontocuriousstoriesor
significantdatesinthehistoryofBelgianscienceandpresentshistoricalbackgroundinformation
toBelgiansciencetoday.ItalsopresentsupdatesonBestorprojectsandbringsimportantrecent
publicationsandinterestingeventsrelatedtohistoryofscienceintofocus.Linksinvitereadersto
continuereadingandbrowsingontheBestorwebsite.
The number of views of the hyperlinked records increases significantly in the days and weeks
followingtheappearanceofthenewsletters.Thisyearthe22featuredhyperlinksreceivedatotal
of 774 clicks. This brings the clicking rate on 9 %, meaning that each hyperlink on average is
clickedby9%ofthereaders.Current(andprevious)newsletterscanalsobereadonthewebsite.
Thisyear thiswebspotgrewout tobeoneof themostviewedpagesonBestorDutch (10.612
views)andFrench(8.216views).
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
53
The newsletter is sent out to contacts by email. The list of subscribers contains most science
historysocietiesaswellasindividualscholars,amateurs,teachersandstudents.Subscriptioncan
bedonethroughthewebsite.Apartfromthesteadyflowofspontaneoussubscriptionsandonline
viewers,specialeffortshavebeenmadetoreachouttonewgroupsofsubscribers.Promotionfor
the newsletter was done through the Bestor publicity leaflet, on the website and through
publications, newsletters of congenial organisations, mailing lists of other organisations,
conferences, etc. Furthermore, Badot has made a start to reach out to the French speaking
community, startingwith scholars and students in her own contact networks. Thanks to these
efforts,asofFebruary2016,themailinglistcontains390subscribers(DandF).
Justasinpreviousyears,theBestorpublicityleafletwasdistributedatscholarlyconferencesand
seminars. Bestor was present at important events related to history of science, science
communicationandscientificheritage:JournéeModerNum-Penserlestempsmodernesavecles
Digital Humanities (Mai 13), De wereld van de zuidelijke geleerden tijdens het Koninkrijk der
Nederlanden (1815-1830) (November 18, 2016), Science in the past, science in the present.
Reflections on a historiography of science for the 21st century (November 24), Fifth Young
Researchers Days in Logic, Philosophy and History of Science (November 25-26) and Sismicité
historique,histoiredupaysageetrésilienceenvironnementale(December21).
Advertising for Bestorwas also done through the selectivepublishing of articles based on the
Bestordatabase. IntheNationaalBiografischWoordenboek (2016),astandardworkforBelgian
historians– scholars andamateurs - Diserpublished twoarticleswith reference toBestor for
further reading (“Massart, Jean”, 714-722 and “Libert, Marie-Anne”, 668-674). On the blog
Cultuurgeschiedenis.be, Diser’s article “Hoe vluchtelingen de Belgische wetenschap verrijkten”
withBestoradvertisingwassharedand(re)tweeted.TheSciencestory“DeNooduniversiteitvan
Amersfoort 1915”was picked up by theDutch societyDigitaalWetenschapshistorisch Centrum
(Knaw) and shared and (re)tweeted amongst its reader audience - Dutch history societies and
scholars.
Bestor has significantly gained invisibility. The visitors’ statistics tool now lists over 3.3million
visits for theFrenchsiteandover2million for theDutch site. Apart fromthehomepage, the
pagemostoftenviewedremainstheCategoryofScientists:73.527(F)and31.290(D).Therestof
thetopfive,thatusedtobequitestableforyears,nowundergoeschangeseverythreemonths.
Eachof the tenmostviewedpages (DandF) is consultedonadailybasis.With some notable
exceptions (e.g. Quetelet, Lemaître), all biographies in the top ten are twentieth century born
scientists,probablybecauseofthefactthattherearenoothereasilyavailablesourcesonthem.
However,whereasinpreviousyearsbiographieswerepopular,wenowseereaders’interestshift
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
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towards records on societies and on national or federal institutions. The RoyalMeteorological
InstitutionandtheBelgianInstituteforSpaceAeronomywerehighrankedthroughouttheyear.
Shooting star of this yearwas a record that lists digitally consultable records on the history of
sciencesinBelgium(F).ItenteredthetoptenonlyinOctober,butisnowthethirdmostpopular
page.Ingeneral,astronomy,meteorologyandhorticulturewerepopulartopics.Themostpopular
Sciencestoryis“Vluchtenisvanalletijden”ontheDutchsite,withaspeedyclimbton°13onthe
ranklist(8.457views)sinceitscreationinJanuary,and“L’universitéD’Amersfoort”ontheFrench
site (3.384views).Bothstoriesdealwithaspectsofwar, inparticular theGreatWar. Ingeneral
thesciencestoriesontheGreatWardowell.OntheFrenchsite1.037pageshadmorethan100
views, and 858 pages have even receivedmore than 1.000 views (respectively 1.068 and 546
pagesfortheDutchsite).BestorpagesarewellrepresentedinGooglequeries.
[b]Workshop“ScienceinthePast,ScienceinthePresent:Reflectionsonahistoriographyof
scienceforthe21stcentury”(KVAB,24/11/2016)
OneofthemostexcitingtrendstocomeoutofthefieldofScienceandTechnologyStudies,has
been thearticulationofa completelynewunderstandingof science. Insteadofusinganarrow,
technicalemphasisonthetheoreticalorganizationofknowledge,confinedwithininstitutionalor
disciplinary boundaries, scholars, reflecting the concerns of science policy makers, now frame
science within a much broader view of e.g. ‘knowledge production’ or the ‘national science
system’. Within the science system, many stakeholders, including teachers and journalists,
contribute topublic formsofknowledgethatareconstantlybeing (re)configured,appropriated,
negotiatedand circulated. It isunderstood that science isbeing co-producedwith socialpower
systems,and that it isalways tangledupwitheconomic,political, industrialand legalpractices.
Theseapproacheschallengethetraditionalnarrativeofthehistoryofscienceasahistoryofideas,
andcreatenewopportunitiesformakinghistoryofsciencerelevanttocontemporarydebates.
In this workshop, the focus has been laid on themultifaceted challenges faced yesterday and
today in the writing process of the history of science. Obviously, the scope of historiography
includes awider range of stakeholders thatmake up for an effective science system. Enriched
with various intellectual and academic traditions (Belgium, France, Netherlands, Germany), the
workshophasprovidedenlightingroutesoftelling/writingthehistoryofscience.Notableguests
includeDominiquePestre(EHESS)andBartKarstens(Leiden).
Attendance:23(including7speakers)
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[c] Fifth Young Researchers Days in History, Philosophy, and Logic of Science (KVAB, 25 &
26/11/2016)
Already in its fifth installment, theNational Committee’s “YoungResearchersDays” provide an
idealopportunity foryoungresearchers (PhDstudents,youngpostdocs)working inthefieldsof
Logic,PhilosophyofScienceandHistoryofScienceinBelgianUniversities,topresenttheirwork
toalargercommunityofemergingandestablishedscholarsinthesefields.
Papers were accepted in English, Dutch, and French. However, the lingua franca of YRD5 is
English,andapplicantswereencouragedtopresentpapersinthislanguage.Paperpresentations
wereabout20minutesinlength,followedby10minutesfordiscussion.
Attendance:35(including3keynotespeakersand21youngresearchers)
5.Futureperspectives
[a]Bestor
In2017-18translationsandinventoryprojectsremainimportantinordertoallowthecreationof
newrecords.However,nowwewillmakeaspecialeffort to focusalsoonthedisclosureof the
availableinformationtoreaders.
o Projectforthecreationofnewrecords
New records as part of 3 thematical inventory projects will be made. The first, Plaatsen van
Wetenschap/SitesetSciences,haditstake-offinNovember2016.Theprojectdocumentssites
andplaces that areof interest for thehistoryofBelgian scientific activityordiscovery, suchas
universitybuildings,campuses,laboratories,national,regionalorcommunalresearchinstitutions,
observatories,museums,gardensandotherlesstraditionalplaces.Inthejubileeyear2017(1817-
2017) special attention will be paid to the start-up of the Belgian scientific infrastructure,
includinguniversitysciencefaculties.TheaimoftheprojectistointroducethehistoryofBelgian
science into the local communities. Bestor can thus serve as a guide and stimulus for local
teachers, journalistsorsimplytourists tovisitplacesof interestconcerningBelgianscience.The
outputoftheprojectwillconsistof45newrecords,createdbyDiser.
Thesecondprojectwilldealwiththecontemporarytopicofscience,environmentandexpertise.
Thisprojectwillbeacollaborationproject:itwillaimatencouragingscholarsandotherexperts
to participate in further extending and perfecting Bestor, bywriting new records on their own
field of expertise. The chosen topic is very much alive in present-day scholarly (historical)
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
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research.InparticularinattheuniversitiesofNamurandLiège,severalscholarsaredealingwith
these subjects. Badot, who has studied questions of science and environment as a PhD-
researcher,willcoordinatethevolunteersandscoutforinterestingnewcandidatesandstories.
Colonialsciencewillbethetopicofthethirdinventoryproject.Bestorwillseekcollaborationwith
theRoyalMuseumforCentralAfrica(Tervuren),thatwillreopenforthepublicinJune2018–in
particularwithPatriciaSchuylenbergh,headofSectionHistoryandPolitics.Theoutputwillconsist
ofrecordsonknownandlessknownscientists,explorers,(agricultural)engineers,scholarsinthe
medicalfield,institutions,expeditionsandstrikingeventsetc.
Bestorrecordsarealwaysanonymousandsubjecttoadaptations.Inordetomakepublishinginto
theBestordatabaseattractiveforscholars,a linkwillbeaddedtotheBestorrecord,wherethe
original,inadaptable,signedtextofthescholarwillbeuploaded.Inthisway,scholarscanreferto
thesepublications.
o Projectstoincreaseuserfriendlinessanddisclosewebsitecontent
In2017-8Bestorwillworktowardsincreasingtheuserfriendlinessofitsdatabase.Thecreationof
portalsisthewaytomoveforwardinthis.Portalsarevisuallyattractive‘startpages’onaspecific
topic. They function as startingpoints andentry gates for this topic. TheBestor portalswill be
webspots,richinimages,whereall linkstorecordsonpersons,events,institutionsetc.,related
tooneparticulartopicwillbesummedup,thuscreatinganoverviewforthereader.Recordsof
special interest,newarticlesandrelatedSciencestorieswillbeputondisplaythere.Inthisway
theportalswillhelpreadersnavigatethroughBestorrecords.
Twoportalswillbecreated.ThefirstwillbeaboutScienceandWar.Allrecordsconcerningwar,
e.g.onscientists-refugees,scholarsthatwereactiveinbattle,warinstitutionsetc.willbelistedon
theportal.ThereaderwillalsobeabletobrowsethroughacompilationofSciencestoriesonthe
FirstWorldWar.Theportalwillbeupandrunninginthecourseof2017.StartingfromJuly2017,
Bestorwillstartpreparingthejubileeyear1918-2018withaseriesoftrendingstorieson‘science
intheaftermathoftheGreatWar’(restaurationofthelandscape,thenewlyacquiredex-German
coloniesetc.)Thenewstorieswillbepresentedthroughout2018.
The second portal will deal with the very topical subject ofBelgian scientists andDarwinism.
Amongstotherthings,thereaderwillhaveanoverviewofthe‘Who’swho’inBelgianevolutionist,
fixistor(neo-)lamarckianresearch,ofinstitutionsdealingwiththesequestions,ofzoologicaland
othercollections,oftracesofCharlesDarwinintheBelgianpublicspaceetc.Theportalwillbeup
andrunninginthecourseof2018.
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
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Apart from portals, our focus will be on digitally improving website interface facilities. In
cooperationwiththeICTteamatKULeuven,wewillstrivetoincreasetheuserfriendlinessofthe
website.Ahighperformancesearchboxwithpredictionmode,“soundas”mode and frequent
patternrecognitionwillbecrucialinthis.Alsotagcloudswillhelpreadersbyconjuringaneasyand
visuallyattractiveoverviewonthenetworkoftherecordoftheirchoice(Tagcloudapp).Polyglot
extensionsforeasierhandlingofmultilingualismwithinonesite,alanguagechoiceportaletc.are
to be installed. At the same time Search Engine Optimisation will ensure a higher-ranking
placementintheresultspageofsearchenginessuchasGoogle,toincreasethevisibilityofBestor
on the net, while Google Web Analytics tool will improve our understanding of how readers
interactwiththeBestorsite,withthegoalof improvingreaderexperienceandreactingtotheir
preferences.
o Translations
In the past, the French and Dutch record lists were very unequal. Bestor convinced of the
importanceofofferingarticlestoreadersofbothlanguages.Thereforein2017-8itwillcontinue
ourtranslationefforts,asithasdoneinpreviousyears.InOctober2016Badotwashired,inthe
first place to execute the most urgent translations into French. The translation of one record
equalsaworkloadofaboutoneday/week.Prioritywillbegiventorecent inventoryprojects,so
thattheycanbeintroducedtothenewsletterreadership:
1) Vrouwelijkewetenschappers/Femmesscientifiques:Foremostattentionwillbegiven
to the translationof this project, since the Frenchdatabase containsonly 6 entries in
thiscategory.41recordsincluding1Sciencestory.Deadline:endofSeptember2017.
2) Publieke Wetenschapsmonumenten/Monuments et Sciences: 40 records. Deadline:
endofJune2017.
3) Newsletters2017: includingtheBestor records that theyrefer to if there isnoFrench
version.
4) Extra:ScienceStories:Iftimeallows,effortswillbemadetoprovideallScienceStories
inbothlanguages.
o Promotionanddissemination
In the following years Bestor will continue its newsletter. Extending the mailing list of the
newsletterwillbeaprimarygoal.In2017ourfocuswillbetoincreasereadershipintheFrench
speakingcommunity,withaspecialattentiontoFrenchteachers(ofscienceandhistory)whoso
farhavenotbeenaddressed.
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Bestor will remain active on websites, magazines, newsletters of related organisations,
institutionsetc. Itwillalsobepresentat importanteventsrelatedtohistoryofscience,science
communicationandscientificheritage,aswellasscientificconferences.TheBestorcollaborators
will invite science societies to suscribe to the newsletter or to add a link to Bestor on their
website, e.g. to their own Bestor record. Promotion of Bestor will also be done through the
presentationofresearchpapersbasedontheBestordatabase.
In 2017-18 Bestor will also increase its visibility on socialmedia. There will be a try-out of a
Bestor Facebookpage, thatwill beupdatedwith regularpostswith links to thewebsite. These
posts will deal with information on ongoing projects, curious facts, new records or
announcements of newsletters or important events. The Facebook pagewill also interactwith
other socially active history/science organizations (sharing posts, liking). The aim is to create a
socialnetworkofpeopleandorganisations.Attheendoftheyear,anevaluationoftheeffortsvs.
benefitswillmakeclearifthiscommitmentistobecontinued.
[b] Workshop “Faculties of Science at 200: A Transnational Perspective on Belgium and the
Netherlands”
ThisworkshopseekstopoolscholarlyresourcesinBelgiumandtheNetherlandssoastoprovide
better insight in the circumstances and effects of the erection of academic faculties of science
(1817) in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. A collaboration with GEWINA and possible
French partners is currently being explored, perhaps to coincide with Belgium as a host for
Gewina’sannualautumnmeeting.
[c]WorkshoponthehistoriographyofthehistoryofBelgianmedicine
OntheimmediateoccasionofthepublicationofthesurveyofthehistoryofBelgianmedicinein
the19thand20thcenturiesbyKaatWils&JorisVandendriessche.
[d]WorkshoponthehistoriographyofscienceintheSouthernNetherlands
On the immediate occasion of the publication ofEmbattled territories, eds. Sven Dupré, Geert
Vanpaemeletal.
[e]Participationatthe25thInternationalCongressofHistoryofScience,andTechnology(ICHST)
(RiodeJaneiro,Brazil,23–29July2017).
BrigitteVanTiggelenandDenisDiagrewillbothattend.TheNationalCommitteehastwovotesin
theCouncilofDSMT.
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NATIONALCOMMITTEEFORMATHEMATICS
1.Introduction,mission,goals
The National Committee aims at stimulating and coordinating in Belgium research in
mathematics, both in pure mathematics and applied mathematics, including education in
mathematics.Infact,thedistinctioninpureandappliedmathematicsisnotalwayseasytomake.
Inpuremathematicswethinkofalgebra,geometryandanalysis,butalsotheseareasoverlapand
donotcoverthewholedomain.Onecanthinkoflogic,combinatorics,topology,settheory,etc.
Applied mathematics, consisting among others of numerical analysis, statistics, mathematics
related to physics, is currently expanding and covers areas such as econometry and finance,
informatics,biomathematics,etc.
One of the main goals of the committee is to form a bridge between the International
MathematicalUnion (IMU)and theBelgian scientistswhowork in theareaofMathematics.As
suchwechoosethedelegatesthatcouldrepresentBelgiumattheGeneralAssembliesoftheIMU
andproposetheirnamestobothAcademies.TogetherwiththeBelgianMathematicalSocietywe
takecareof informing theBelgianmathematical communitybymeansof theNewsletterof the
BelgianMathematicalSocietyandtheNationalCommitteeforMathematics.
We aim at having 16 members, respecting linguistic parity, taking care of a good gender
representation and having a well-balanced participation of the different universities and
importantmathematicaldomains.
2.MeetingsoftheCommittee
TheNational Committee forMathematicsmet onMarch 24 andOctober 24, 2016, both
timesat thePalaceof theAcademies. InMarch, Joel Fine (ULB)delivereda talk,untitled
“ThegeometryoftheEinsteinequation”.
ThemeetinginOctoberwasparticularlydevotedtotherelationsbetweentheNCMandthe
ICMIBelgium.Weelectedasnewpresident for the ICMIBelgium:Paul Igodt, the former
president,MaggySchneider (fromtheUlg)having resigned.Paul Igodt isProfessorat the
KULandbecomesanassociatedmemberoftheNCM.
WeelectedanewmemberfortheNCM:Pierre-EmmanuelCapracefromtheUCL.
ThemembersoftheCommitteehavebeenregularlyinformed,bye-mail,aboutinitiatives
of the IMU or about the proposals of the IMU for which the opinion of the NCM was
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
60
requested.Allmembersandhonorarymembersof theNCMreceivedtheElectronic IMU-
NewsletterandtheIMU-Bulletin.
3.GeneralAssemblyoftheScientificUnion
NoAssemblyoftheScientificUnionin2016.
4.Otheractivities
[a]TheNewsletterappearedfivetimesin2016andwasdistributedbothelectronicallyand
inapaperversion.
[b]ThenextmeetingofthegeneralassemblyoftheInternationalMathematicalUnionwill
happenin2018inRio.In2016,therewasameetingoftheEuropeanMathematicalUnion
inBerlin.ManyBelgianmathematiciansattendedthemeetingandsomegaveinvitedtalks.
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NATIONALCOMMITTEEFORMECHANICS
1.Introduction,missiongoals
TheCommitteeaimsatpromotingtheMechanicalEngineeringthroughinter-universityStudents
and Staff exchanges, organization of a bi-annual National Congress of Theoretical and Applied
Mechanics, organization of a Doctoral School (GrasMech), development of relationships with
European and International Mechanical Engineering non-profit associations or initiatives
(ECCOMAS, EURASEM, IUTAM, IACM…) and awarding the (Belgian) “best thesis” inMechanical
Engineeringonanannualbasis.
2.MeetingsoftheCommittee
Threeadministrativemeetingswereorganizedin2016on:5February,12Marchand22October.
[a]January26,2016.Maindiscussions:
ReplacementofI.DoghribyO.VerlindenastherepresentativewithFNRS.Establishingashortlist
of6candidatesfortheBestThesisAward.
[b]February25,2016.Maindiscussions:
BestThesisAward,2015isgrantedtoKatrienvanNiemen(KUL)andEmmanuelTrommewillbe
theBelgiancandidatefortheECCOMASbestthesisaward.
[c]October27,2016.Maindiscussions:
Duetorepeatednoshow, ithasbeendecidedthatE.Marchandisewasno longeramemberof
ourcommittee.CandidatesfortherenewaloftheCommittee(October2017):
o PierreLambert(ULB)forGérardDegrez(ULB)
o ThierryMassartULB)forChristinedeMol(ULB)
o GeertLombaert(KUL)forGeertDegrande(KUL)
o PatrickGuillaume(VUB)forDirkLefeber(VUB)
o TineTysmans(VUB)forDannyVanHemelrijck(VUB)
o Anne-MarieHabraken(ULg)forEmilieMarchandise(UCL)
o EricColon(ERM/KMS)forWalterBosschaert(ERM/KMS)
o VéroniqueFeldheim(UMons)forO.Verlinden(UMons)
o V.Legat(UCL)-tobeproposed
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o W.Desmet(KUL)-tobeproposed
Allcandidatesunanimouslyaccepted.Formermemberswillbecome“Honorarymembers”,except
E.Marchandise.
3.GeneralAssemblyoftheScientificUnion
NoAssemblyoftheScientificUnionin2016.
4.Futureperspectives
§ Election for the “Best (Belgian) Thesis in Mechanical Engineering” for 2016 (January andFebruary2017).
§ Proposal of an ECCOMAS price winner Belgian candidate from the NCTAM for 2016(scheduledMarch2017).
§ Organisation and improvement of the doctoral school for Mechanical Engineers(GRASMECH).
§ OrganisationoftheNationalConferenceforTheoreticalandAppliedMechanics(Liège2017-2018).
§ Settingupofthenewcommittee(October2017).
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NATIONALCOMMITTEEFORMICROBIOLOGY
1.Introduction,missiongoals
TheCommitteeforMicrobiologyrepresentsBelgianscientistsconductingresearchinthefieldof
biologicalsciencesintheworkoftheInternationalUnionofMicrobiologicalSocieties(IUMS).
2.MeetingsoftheCommittee
The meetings of the NCM were joint meetings with the board of the Belgian Society for
Microbiology(BSM),ofwhichsomemembersarealsomemberofNCMandallmembersofNCM
are involved in the advisory board of BSM. The following joint meetings were organised to
preparetheyearlysymposiumofBSMunderauspicesoftheNaCoMiandtheRoyalAcademies:
15/1/2016and17/6/2016.
TheCommitteemetalsoon9/05/2016,27/09/2016
[a]NaCoMimeeting:9May2016
Agenda:
o Situation of the membership and compliance with the regulation of the National
Committees
o Evolution of themembership in the future – newmembers, confirmation/election of
Chair(Co-Chair)SecretaryandCo-Secretary.
o RelationshipofNaCoMiwiththeBoardoftheBelgianSocietyofMicrobiology
o PossibleactivitiesoftheNaCoMi
o AOB
[B]BSM/NCMBoardmeeting:27September2016
Agenda:
o Discussionofthe‘internalrules’document
o Proposalofneweffectivemembers:N.BoonandE.Peeters
o Proposalofhonorarymembers
o InternationalrepresentationoftheNaCoMiinIUMSmeeting
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o ReportofthemeetingoftheBSMandthediscussiononthepracticalorganizationofthe
relationshipbetweenBSMandNaCoMi
o AOB
3.GeneralAssemblyoftheScientificUnion
NoAssemblyoftheScientificUnionin2016.
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NATIONALCOMMITTEEFORPHYSICS
1.Introduction,mission,goals
The Belgian National Committee on Pure and Applied Physics has been created by the Royal
Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium (RASAB). It contributes to the promotion and
coordinationofBelgianactivitiesconcerningPureandAppliedPhysics.Attheinternationallevelit
ensuresBelgium’srepresentationinIUPAP,theInternationalUnionforPureandAppliedPhysics.
Itsactivitiescanbefollowedonitswebsite8.
2.MeetingsoftheCommittee
Meetingswere held onMarch 2 and October 13. Themain interest points of thesemeetings
were:
§ PreparationoftheColloquium2017
§ UpdatingofthepublicationResearchinPhysicsinBelgium
§ Preparationof2017GeneralAssemblyofIUPAP
3.GeneralAssemblyoftheScientificUnion
NoAssemblyoftheScientificUnionin2016.
4.Otheractivities
[a]2017colloquiumoftheNCPAP
The NCPAP will organise its next bi-annual colloquium on April 22, 2017 in the Palace of the
Academieson“ThePhysicsofLivingSystems“.
Biophysics has seen a tremendous growth in the last decennia. It is the motor of spectacular
progressinBiologyandasourceofinnovationinthehigh-techeconomy.Theextensivenessofthe
subjectimposeshoweverthatthemorespecificphysicsaspectsofthedomainwillbestressedat
the expense of the equally essential chemical and biological contributions. The program will
thereforebestructuredalongtwolines:
8https://sites.google.com/site/physbel/
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o Theapplicationoftheknow-howandthemodellisationtechniquesofPhysicstoBiophysics
(structural characterisation, manipulation and modification of biological systems, the
physicist’sperspectiveontheorganisingprinciplesoflivingmatter).
o TheapplicationofmodelsfromNatureinPhysicsandTechnology.
A Scientific Committee, composed of David Alsteens (UCLouvain), Marcel Ameloot (UHasselt),
SophieDeBuyl (VUB), JoëlDeConinck (UMons,chairman),AlbertGoldbeter (ULB),TomKrekels
(Umicore), Stephane Lucas (UNamur), Alexander Panfilov (UGent), and Pierre Defrance, Robert
Sporken and Roger Weynants (all from NCPAP), proposed a program around the following
speakersandtopics:
Prof.DanielMÜLLER,ETHZürich:“ImagingbiologicalstructureandfunctioningwithafocusonAtomicForceMicroscopy”.
Dr. François NÉDÉLEC, EMBL Heidelberg: “Probing the organisation principles of livingmatterthroughsimulations”.
Prof.Hans-JürgenBUTT,MPIPMainz:“Biomimetics:fromnaturetophysicalapplications”.
Prof.AntoniTOMSIA.BerkeleyLab:“Biomaterialsandbonereconstruction”.
Prof. Liesbet LAGAE, IMEC: “Bio-electronic tools for life science research,diagnosis andtreatment”.
Ir.YvesJONGEN,IBA:“Diagnosticandtreatmentbyparticlebeamapplications”.
Ascustomary,apostersessionbytheBelgianresearchgroupsworkinginthedomainwillbeheld
duringtheLunchbreak.ThebestpresentationwillbehonouredwiththeIBABestPosterAward.
[b]UpdateofResearchinPhysicsinBelgium:
The NCPAP initiated for the first time in 2005 the compilation of short reports on the main
physical research topics in Belgium, both theoretical and experimental. Fifteen of these were
writtenbyprominentBelgianresearchers,activelyinvolvedintheIUPAPCommissions,andwere
published in2006 inPhysicaliaMagazine andpostedon thewebsitesof theNCPAPandof the
BelgianPhysicalSociety9.
The NCPAP considered that a regular updating is in order and has, between 2011 and 2015,
revisedtheoriginalcontributions.Thesewerepublishedon-lineinBPhyMagazine,thesuccessor
ofPhysicaliaMagazine,andaretobefoundonourwebsite10.
9http://sites.google.com/site/belgianphysicalsociety/10https://sites.google.com/site/physbel/Physics-in-Belgium
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[c]ThenextGeneralAssemblyofIUPAPwilltakeplaceinOctober2017inSaoPaolo(Brazil).The
NCPAPhasstartedtheprocessoffindingBelgiancandidatestobeproposedtotheGAaspossible
memberstooneofthe18 IUPAPScientificCommissionsfortheperiod2018-2020.TheBelgian
shareintheIUPAPfinancinginprincipleentitlesto4Commissionmembers.
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NATIONALCOMMITTEEFORPHYSIOLOGYANDPHARMACOLOGY
1.Introduction,mission,goals
Thegoalof theCommittee is toorganizenationaland internationalscientificmeetings inwhich
BelgianPhysiologistsandPharmacologists(andeventuallytheirguests)canpresentandbringup
fordiscussiontheresultsoftheirrecentresearchinthefieldsofPhysiologyandPharmacology.
Because of the common goals, the members of the National Committee for Physiology and
PharmacologyarealsomemberofPhysiologyandPharmacologyandassuchareinvolvedinthe
preparationandorganizationofalltheactivitiesofthisSociety.
2.MeetingsoftheCommittee
6thNovember,heldinBrussels(PalaceoftheAcademies).
3.GeneralAssemblyoftheScientificUnion
ThecommitteeorganizestwiceayearascientificsessionandonceayeartheGeneralAssembly.
TheGeneralAssemblytookplaceonOctober22thinBrussels.
4.OtherActivities
[a]TheNationalSpringmeetingoftheBelgianSocietyofPhysiologyandPharmacology,April22th
in Brussels (Palace of the Academies), aiming to bring together the physiologists and
pharmacologistsfromBelgianlaboratories.About50scientistsattendedthemeeting.Prof.David
Gall (ULBruxelles) hosted the meeting. Programme and abstracts are included in this
correspondence11.
[B]TheNationalAutumnmeetingoftheBelgianSocietyofPhysiologyandPharmacology,October
21th in Brussels (Palace of the Academies), aiming to bring together the physiologists and
pharmacologists from Belgian laboratories. About 55 scientists attended the meeting.
Prof.Nathalie Caron (University of Namur) hosted the meeting. Programme and abstracts are
includedinthiscorrespondence12.
11http://users.ugent.be/~jvdvoord/physiology&pharmacology12http://users.ugent.be/~jvdvoord/physiology&pharmacology
NATIONALSCIENTIFICCOMMITTEESANNUALREPORTS2016
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5.Futureperspectives
2017ScientificMeetings
o April21th Brussels(host:Prof.Dr.PhilippeGailly,UCLouvain)
o October20th Brussels(host:Prof.Dr.WimMartinet,UAntwerpen)
2018ScientificMeetings
Spring 2018: 3rd PhysPhar Benelux Congress – Third Benelux Congress of the National
SocietiesofPhysiology,PharmacologyofBelgium,TheNetherlandsandLuxembourg.
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NATIONALCOMMITTEEFORPSYCHOLOGICALSCIENCES
1.Introduction,mission,goals
Thegoalof theCommitteebeing toundertake,promoteandcoordinatepsychologicalscientific
research, focusing inparticular on long term, intercollegiateor interdisciplinaryprojects and to
servepsychologicalscientificinterestsinBelgiumfromanationalaswellasaninternationalpoint
ofview.
2.MeetingsoftheCommittee
The Committee held two meetings in 2016: The first took place on April 23rd; the second on
November19th.
3.GeneralAssemblyoftheScientificUnion
TheScientificUnionheldameeting in 2016, inYokohama, Japan. TheNationalCommitteewas
representedby Pr. RégineKolinsky (ULB) andby Pr.GinaRossi (VUB). Pr. Kolinsky composed a
report about the event itself and about the proceedings of the General Assembly of the
InternationalUnionofPsychologicalScience(IUPsyS),towhichshetookpartasavotingmember.
4.Otheractivities
[a]Thecommitteeorganizesbi-annualsymposia.Thenextsymposiumwilltakeplacein2017and
iscurrentlyintheplanningstages.
[b] The committee also assists, every year, the Belgian Association for Psychological Science in
selectingtherecipientofits“BestThesisAward”.The2016competitioniscurrentlyunderway.A
jury composed of committeemembers and presided by A. Vandierendonckwillmake the final
selectionduringthemonthofMarch.
5.Futureperspectives
Nonewinitiativesarecurrentlyplannedbeyondthecontinuedinvolvementofthecommitteein
itscurrentactivities,namely(1)communicatingwiththeIUPsySandwiththeBelgianAssociation
for Psychological Science (BAPS), (2) organizing the next symposium, and (3) handling the final
stageoftheBAPSBestThesisAward.
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NATIONALCOMMITTEEFORRADIO-ELECTRICITY(URSI)
1.Introduction,mission,goals
The activities of the Belgian URSI Committee pertain to radio-electricity. Themain goal of the
committee is to promote and to help coordinating for Belgium the scientific activities of its
members in this field. The committeemeets regularly at theAcademy and organizes yearly, in
collaboration with the Netherlands URSI committee, a ‘URSI Benelux Forum’ where young
doctorandi have the opportunity to present their research and to exchange their scientific and
technical experience.Members of the committee represent Belgium in different instances and
scientificcommissionsoftheinternationalURSIunion,ofwhichthesecretariatishostedinGhent
withPaulLagasseasSecretary-GeneralandPeterVanDaeleasAssistantSecretary-General.
2.MeetingsoftheCommittee
The URSI Asia-Pacific Radio Science Conference (AP-RASC 2016) took place in Seoul, Korea, in
August 2016. Viviane Pierrard co-organized a Special Session entitled "Radio Science for Space
Weather"forCommissionHandco-authoredtwopaperspresentedthere.EmmanuelVanLilhad
aposterpaperpresentationforCommissionFandattendedtheBusinessMeetingofCommission
A.
ThenexttriennialURSIGeneralAssemblywilltakeplaceinMontrealinAugust2017.
3.GeneralAssemblyoftheScientificUnion
NoGeneralAssemblyin2016.
4.Otheractivities
Due to difficulties in finding a room free of charge for themeeting, the BENELUXURSI Forum
couldnottakeplaceinDecember2016andhadtobepostponedto2017.
5.Futureperspectives
ThetenthBENELUXURSIForumwillbeorganizedbyXavierNeytonFebruary16inBrusselsatthe
RoyalMilitaryAcademy.
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NATIONALCOMMITTEEFORSOILSCIENCES
1.Introduction,mission,goals
TheNCSSwassetupin2002,followinglonglastingactivitiesoftheSoilScienceSocietyofBelgium
(startedin1924)andwiththepurposetobringsoilsciencetotheattentionofthebroaderpublic
with particular focus on the youngpeople. This originalmission of SSSB/NCSS ismore relevant
now than it hasevenbeen - soil and soil suitability comesdaily in themedia and in thepublic
debate: trade-offs between food production versus agro-fuels, the preservation of our pristine
soils, the conservation of our soil heritage, the rehabilitation of marginal lands and the
remediation of polluted soils. The NCSS is the representative organization for all soil scientists
active in Belgium and is the official Belgian representative into the International Union of Soil
Sciences(IUSS).
Special editions of our activities were launched in thewake the UNESCO International Year ofSoils,andinviewoftheInternationalDecadeoftheSoilundertheIUSS:
Continuationoftheprestigious“AfricainProfile”exhibition,throughtotheendofJanuary2016
DayoftheYoungSoilScientist:KeynotebythePresidentBrunoDelvaux.
InternationalcongressonsoilscienceatUCL,Louvain-La-Neuve
CongressexcursiontoBertemForestandtotheZonienForest
ThematicDay(ontheWorldSoilDayon5December):Soilprocessesandbiogeochemicalcyclingofelements.
Moreover,thesocietymadespecialeffortstoreachouttothegeneralpublic:
Establishment of a virtual tour through the “Africa in Profile” exhibition:http://ees.kuleuven.be/africa-in-profile/virtuele-tentoonstelling/virtual-tour.html
SoilonCanvasExhibitionattheCultureHouse“TheWarande”atTurnhoutalongwithitsthematicsymposiumonsoilheritage
JointexcursionwithBelgianAssociationofGeomorphologists(BAG)
Asfollow-upofthe“AfricainProfile”exhibitionbyKULeuven,ISRIC,EU-JRCandAfricaMuseum(5/12/2015 – 29/01/2016), a permanent soil hub will be established in the Africa MuseumMuseumofTervuren
WecontributedtoaroundtablediscussionintheEU-DGDevelopmentwithfocusonsoilcare
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2.Meetingsofthecommittee
§ 16/03/2016:NCSSboardmeeting,RoyalAcademy,Brussels
§ 16/03/2016:GeneralAssemblyandDayoftheYoungSoilScientistsatRASAB,withsome45
participants
§ 10/06/2016:ContributiontotheexcursionoftheBelgianAssociationofGeomorphologistsin
thecatchmentof theAAriver:some50participants.Organization: JanNyssenandAmaury
Frankl(UGent)
§ From 5 – 8 July, 2016: Joint International Congress (YES) of the Soil Science Society of
BelgiumwiththeFrenchSoilScienceSociety(AFES),organizedbyUCL(BasVanwesemaeland
BrunoDelvaux):150participants
§ 8/07/2016: Annual excursion in the margin of the YES congress to Bertembos (Seppe
Deckers, Karen Vancampenhout and Bruno Delvaux) and to the Zonienforest (Roger
Langohr),150participants
§ 25/10/2016: Soil on Canvas exhibition in the Cultural Centre at Turnhout (Karen
Vancampenhout):135participants
§ 25/10/2016: Symposium in the margin of “Soil on Canvas” on “Soil awareness – Bodem
bewust”:25participants
§ 25/10/2016: Post-symposium excursion to visit the “Soil drawer – bodemschuif” in the
naturereserve“DeLiereman”,12participants
§ 06/12/2016: Soil processes and biogeochemical cycling of elements: J.T. Cornelis, ULiege,
Gembloux:45participants
§ 14/12/2016: Thematic Day on the numerical soilmap ofWallonia: Xavier Legrain, ULiege,
Gembloux:over100participants
Mainconclusions:theNCSSnormallyorganizes5activitiesperyear:1)DayoftheYoungScientists
inFebruary,2)afieldexcursioninMay/JuneorSeptemberand3)aThematicDayinNovember-
December&4)twoboards(oneinFebruary,togetherwiththeDayoftheYoungScientists,onein
December, together with the Thematic Day). This year, special and additional activities were
organizedintheaftermathoftheInternationalYearofthesoilandalsotomarktheInternational
decenniumoftheSoil.
3.GeneralAssemblyoftheScientificUnion
TheplannedEurosoilmeetingoftheEuropeanConfederationofSoilSciencesinIstanbul(17-22th
ofJuly2016)wascancelledduetothecoupattemptinTurkey.ThenextEurosoilmeetingwillbe
organizedinGeneva,Switzerlandin2018.
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Mainconclusions:K.VancampenhoutismemberoftheIUSSBoard.StefaanDondeyneandSeppe
Deckers are in the Board of the IUSS Working Group WRB on international soil classification,
which organized an international meeting and excursion on Soil Classification in South Africa.
SeppeDeckers isalsochairingtheAd-HocSelectionCommitteeofthebi-annual IUSS-GuySmith
Medal Award, the latest Medal Award (2016) was bestowed to Dr. Juan Comerma from
Venezuela.
4.Otheractivities
§ ParticipationtotheEGUatVienna,AustriainApril2016.
§ Seppe Deckers received the status of “Honorary Membership of the International Soil
Reference and Information Centre (ISRIC), Wageningen University, The Netherlands on
8/09/2016forhislife-longworkonsoilclassification,moreparticularlytheWorldReference
BaseforSoilResources(WRB).
§ 11/07/2016:InternationalSoilMonolithCampaign(SSSBandISRIC)onLuvisolsandStagnosol
atAnderlecht(KarenVancampenhout).
§ 23/08/2016:ad-hocexcursiontoanexcavationsiteintheriverbenchoftheSchelde,Westof
Gent(JariNickelsen).
5.Futureperspectives
NCSSwillorganize5coreactivitiesin2017:
§ 2boardmeetings(February15,2017&December5,2017)atRASAB;
§ AgeneralassemblyandDayoftheYoungSoilScientistonFebruary15,2017atRASAB;
§ An annual excursion on The Orneau: a fertile valley for soil research, organization Patrick
Engels,ULiege,on23/5/2017;
§ Thematic Day – December 5, 2017: Soil Mapping in Belgium: past, present and future,
organizationSeppeDeckers(KULeuven);
§ In addition, other activities will be under the NCSS umbrella: IUSS, Working GroupWRB:
InternationalSoilClassificationexcursiontoRiga,LetlandinJuly2017.
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INTERNATIONALUNIONS
The existence of a national committee is subject to the existence or an International Scientific
Union or scientific body affiliated to International Council for Science — ICSU13 (scientific
committees,specialcommittees,etc.)concerningthesamescientificsubject.
§ InternationalAstronomicalUnion(IAU) www.iau.org
§ InternationalGeographicalUnion(IGU) www.igu-net.org
§ InternationalFederationforMedicalandBiological
Engineering(IFMBE) www.ifmbe.org
§ InternationalMathematicalUnion(IMU) www.mathunion.org
§ InternationalUnionforPhysicalandEngineeringSciences
inMedicine(IUPESM) www.iupesm.org
§ InternationalUnionforQuaternaryResearch(INQUA) www.inqua.org
§ InternationalUnionofBiochemistryandMolecular
Biology(IUBMB) www.iubmb.org
§ InternationalUnionofBiologicalSciences(IUBS) www.iubs.org
§ InternationalUnionofCrystallography(IUCr) www.iucr.org
§ InternationalUnionofGeodesyandGeophysics(IUGG) www.iugg.org
§ InternationalUnionofGeologicalSciences(IUGS) www.iugs.org
§ InternationalUnionofHistoryandPhilosophyofScience(IUHPS),
o DivisionofHistoryofScienceandTechnology(IUHPS-DHST)
o DivisionofLogic,MethodologyandPhilosophyof
Science(IUHPS-DLMPS) www.dlmps.org
§ InternationalUnionofMicrobiologicalSocieties(IUMS) www.iums.org
§ InternationalUnionofPharmacology(IUPHAR) www.iuphar.org
§ InternationalUnionofPhysiologicalSciences(IUPS) www.iups.org
§ InternationalUnionofPsychologicalScience(IUPsyS) www.iupsys.net
§ InternationalUnionofPureandAppliedBiophysics(IUPAB) www.iupab.org
§ InternationalUnionofPureandAppliedChemistry(IUPAC) www.iupac.org
§ InternationalUnionofPureandAppliedPhysics(IUPAP) www.iupap.org
§ InternationalUnionofRadioScience(URSI) www.ursi.org
§ InternationalUnionofSoilSciences(IUSS) www.iuss.org
§ InternationalUnionofTheoreticalandAppliedMechanics(IUTAM) www.iutam.net
13www.icsu.org