In this event, ARES and VLIRUOS want to showcase how international cooperation can meaningfully connect with local-level realities through policy dialogue. ‘Inclusive policy dialogue’ refers to the political and coordination processes that structure interactions between local populations, public authorities, and international actors. It focuses on how the Belgian cooperation can better mobilise local expertise, avoid top‑down interventions, […]
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Event on 05/02/2026 – Decolonising Higher Education and Science Institutions of Global Health
Practical Date and time: Thursday 5 February 2026, 14:00–18:00 (CET) Location: Aula Janssens, Campus Rochus,Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp (Sint-Rochusstraat 43, 2000 Antwerpen) Format: In-person and online Language: English Registration: This event has passed. Introduction The thematic Joint Strategic Framework on Higher Education and Science for Sustainable Development, in collaboration with Be-cause health present: Decolonising Education […]
Decolonising Research and Higher Education : for Marie-Annick Gournet, ‘the African Charter rebalances the exchange and production of knowledge, wherever it comes from.’
Promoting equity in research partnerships is one of the main challenges of decolonising research. It is also the main purpose of the African Charter, which, in line with pan-African intellectual engagement, is committed to supporting and strengthening the continent’s contribution to scientific knowledge production. The African Charter for Transformative Research Collaborations was launched in 2023 […]
Decolonising Research and Higher Education : the need to develop collaborations based on mutual recognition
An increasing number of voices are calling for truly equitable academic collaboration between the Global South and the Global North. Even today, partnerships remain marked by imbalances inherited from the colonial past, with academic institutions in the Global North retaining control over project management and leaving little room for partners from the Global South to […]
Two Congolese researchers publish a Study on urban gullies in Nature
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the deep erosion gullies carved by intense rainfall scar urban landscapes, destroy roads and homes, and directly threaten hundreds of thousands of people. Long underestimated, this phenomenon is now receiving international scientific recognition: a study conducted by Congolese researchers has just been published in the journal Nature, accompanied […]
Event on 27/11/2025 – CLEAR Café
CLEAR – one of the three PSP projects focused on climate change and the environment – is organising its first café event to present key insights from its policy support programme. Brussels-based policymakers and civil society representatives are invited to join an open discussion on Climate-Smart Agriculture: Top-Down Solutions versus Knowledge from the Ground. […]
Event on 30/10/2025 – Public Sector Human Resources in the DRC: The Health Sector Case
SPRING, one of the three PSP projects focused on Social Protection and inclusive Growth, is organising a roundtable on “Public Sector Human Resources in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” with a particular focus on the health sector. The performance of the health sector—one of the cornerstones of social protection in the DRC—is closely linked to the […]
Cutting back on development cooperation today, is not cutting back on expenses, but on our future
Budgets for development cooperation are under severe pressure, including in Belgium. Now that Flanders is discontinuing its support, it is crucial that Belgium maintains its commitment. Cutting back today will undermine our strategic position and influence tomorrow. Knowledge as strategic capital Belgium has no oil or gas, but it does have world-class higher education institutions. […]
Strengthening Belgium’s role in the world
Belgian politicians, renowned scientists, ambassadors and alumni of VLIRUOS, ARES and ITM, all believe in the diplomatic value of global academic cooperation. We asked them to share their story in a video. Conflicts, climate change and global health challenges affect us all. What happens elsewhere in the world has a direct impact on our country. […]
Preparing megacities for exponential growth
The world’s population is growing at lightning speed, and nowhere is this more visible than in the megacities of Africa and Asia. Dar es Salaam, the economic capital of Tanzania is among the fastest-growing cities in the world. How can we prepare a city for exponential growth? Currently, Dar es Salaam has a population of […]