Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences

The Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS) is a Belgian federal scientific institute. It is part of the federal Public Planning Service “Science Policy” (Belspo). It conducts important scientific research activities and carries out public service missions. It is open to the public through the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels.

Its official missions involve:

1. Basic scientific research: scientific research in the area of the natural sciences mainly concerned with the study of evolution, diversity, and ecosystems.

2. Scientific service: scientific support provided to public and private institutions and bodies involved in the management of the natural heritage, in particular in the application of conventions and regional, federal, European, and international legislation.

3. Heritage: the management and development, in the areas already referred to, of collections, databases, libraries, and specialised archives, constituting a resource at national and international level.

4. Museum: the development and promotion of the Museum of Natural Sciences with its permanent and temporary exhibitions and various other educational activities as key instruments for the spreading of scientific knowledge.

The institute has a staff of more than 450 people. Its annual budget reaches 30 million euros, 60% of which is provided by the Belgian federal level and 40% from external sources. The RBINS is a designated reference centre or focal point in many scientific and science policy fields: Belgian Marine Data Centre (BMDC), Biodiversity convention focal point, Antarctic biodiversity information facility, Belgian marine atlas to name a few. Its marine activities are concentrated in the operational directorate “Natural Environment” and develop along four axes: Data acquisition, data banking and reporting, Monitoring and surveillance of the marine environment, Development of mathematical models to simulate marine processes, Participation in the decision-making process at national and international level. The OD manages the Belgian oceanographic vessel BELGICA and co-ordinates the use of this vessel by several Belgian and European scientific teams for a total of about 200 effective workdays at sea per year. Its marine data centre, BMDC is the ‘National Oceanographic Data Centre’ designated by the Belgian federal government. It works as data management partner for several scientific programmes and projects. Its multi- disciplinary team deploys an integrated approach of the data management, from the data originators to the data users. Data bases and interfaces are developed internally, in order to address the various constraints, bound to the high variety of data types it handles and the various needs expressed by the different categories of users.

RBINS will be Work Package Leader of WP7 Innovation Management and Exploitation.

RBINS are also involved in WP2 Transnational Access.
Access to Research Vessels and related infrastructure: RV Belgica/Replacement (2021) [Regional/Ocean (2021)]

RBINS will also undertake activities in WP1 Project Management, WP3 Joint Research Activities, WP4 Call Management and Proposal Evaluation, WP6 Education and Training, WP8 Foresight legacy and roadmap and WP9 Dissemination and Communication.

Modality of access: The Eurofleets+ users will follow the RV Belgica/New RV guidelines for requests of diplomatic clearances, setup of the cruise planning, cruise reports, etc.

• Diviacco, P, Sorribas, J, De Cauwer, K, Sinquin, J, Casas, R, Busato, A, Stojanov, Y, and Scory, S (2016). “Repositioning Data Management Near Data Acquisition”. Chapter in Book: Oceanographic and Marine Cross-Domain Data Management for Sustainable Development, Publisher: IGI GLOBAL, Editors: Paolo Diviacco, Adam Leadbetter, Helen Glaves, pp. 178-199

• Naudts, L.; Cox, D.; Roose, P.; Monteny, F. (2014). RV Belgica II: The new Belgian research vessel to replace the existing RV A962 Belgica, in: Van Rooij, D. et al. (Ed.) Book of Abstracts. 2nd Deep-Water Circulation Congress: The Contourite Log-book. Ghent, Belgium, 10-12 September 2014. VLIZ Special Publication, 69: pp. 137-138.