Projects

The Coastbusters project tests the capacity and added value of certain biological organisms for coastal defense. A stronger and more resilient coast will also have a positive impact on nature and biodiversity in the North Sea.

Natural solutions are playing an increasingly important role in sustainable coastal management, but a sound scientifically based financing framework is still lacking. Coastbusters FINESSE wants to change this.

The partners in the Coastbusters project LANICE strive for sustainable systems to manage the Belgian coast. Within this scope, they investigate to what extent the sand mason worm can play a role in stabilising sediment and increasing biodiversity at the Belgian coast.

In the GAME project, experts from Ghent University and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) combine their knowledge in a wide range of fields to unveil the potential of Porphyra, an edible red seaweed.

The partners in the Reefcovery project are developing various methods for the restoration of oyster reefs in the North Sea. These oyster reefs can then be used to arrive at a nature-inclusive design for infrastructure at sea and along the coast.

Offshore renewable energy and its impact on the marine environment constitute a cross-border challenge. However, there is not a single organisation in North-West Europe that specialises in all aspects of offshore sustainability. ORESA aims to tackle this issue.

The partners in the CORE project are developing various models and methods to optimise the yield of new and existing wind farms. Specific relevant challenges at the Belgian and European level are taken into account.

The aim of the three-year WETCOAST project is to gain more insight into carbon storage in salt marshes and mangroves. In this way, the partners are taking an important step towards natural solutions that can be financed with carbon credits.

Offshore wind farms provide us with large amounts of clean renewable energy, but also have a certain effect on the environment. The ANEMOI project studies possible chemical emissions from these wind farms (OWFs) and their impact on ecosystems and aquaculture.

All living organisms leave DNA traces in the environment. These traces can be used to map the presence of biological species. Nevertheless, there are some obstacles to applying this method in a complex marine environment such as the Belgian part of the North Sea.

Wind and waves cause structural vibrations in offshore structures. The dampener system that deals with this brings about forced active power oscillations, which can lead to grid instability. The partners in the FOOS project investigate this phenomenon.

SeaChem focuses on the training of a new generatation of researchers involved in the production and valorisation of seaweed biomass. The project aims to increase support for this in the EU by tackling current problems in offshore seaweed cultivation.