The Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO; ) is a Belgian

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

research council, based in Brussels. The Flemish research council aims to sponsor ground-breaking research and innovation. Much of this work involves supporting researchers and undertakings in association with the universities and institutes of

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

, including

Ghent University Ghent University (, abbreviated as UGent) is a Public university, public research university located in Ghent, in the East Flanders province of Belgium. Located in Flanders, Ghent University is the second largest Belgian university, consisting o ...

, University of Leuven,

University of Antwerp The University of Antwerp () is a major Belgian university located in the city of Antwerp. The official abbreviation is ''UAntwerp''. The University of Antwerp has about 20,000 students, which makes it the third-largest university in Flanders. ...

and Free University of Brussels, among others.

History

The FWO is a successor to the Belgian

National Fund for Scientific Research The National Fund for Scientific Research (NFSR) (Dutch: ''Nationaal Fonds voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek'' (NFWO), French: ''Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique'' (FNRS)) was once a government institution in Belgium for supporting scienti ...

(NFWO / FNRS), which had been founded in 1928, after the call from King Albert I of Belgium for the promotion of research and innovation. In 2006, the National Fund for Scientific Research (NFWO / FNRS) divided into two organisations: the FWO, for the

Flemish community The Flemish Community (, ) is one of the three institutional communities of Belgium, established by the Belgian constitution and having legal responsibilities only within the precise geographical boundaries of the Dutch-language area and of the ...

, and the F.R.S.-FNRS () for the

French-speaking French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-Romance, a descendant of the Latin spoken in ...

region. A self-governing organization, the Research Foundation – Flanders is located in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

and financed by the

Flemish government The Flemish Government ( ) is the executive branch of the Flemish Community and the Flemish Region of Belgium. It consists of a government cabinet, headed by the Minister-President of Flanders, Minister-President and accountable to the Flemish Par ...

, the

federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

, and the national lottery, with further support coming from partner institutes and companies.

Function

The FWO supports research in

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

, and the

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

through a variety of frameworks. It offers competitive funding for doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships as well as for research grants, specific projects, and infrastructure. Moreover, the FWO funds international mobility and collaboration. Together with a number of partners, it also bestows scientific prizes.

Organisation

Regular funding

The FWO organises a total of 31 expert panels, 30 specialist and one interdisciplinary. These panels advise the Senate and the Board of Trustees on matters of funding. * Biological sciences *# Molecular and cellular biology *# Functional biology *# Biodiversity and ecology *# Applied biological sciences * Humanities *# Languages *# Art, art history, and literature *# History and archaeology *# Theology and religious studies *# Philosophy and ethics * Social sciences *# Sciences of law and criminology *# Economics, business economics and management *# Psychology, pedagogy, didactics, and social work *# Social, political, and communication sciences * Medical sciences *# Pharmaceutical sciences and medical biochemistry *# Genetics, functional genome research, bio-informatics science, developmental biology *# Microbiology and immunology *# Cancer research *# Neuroscience, clinical neurology, psychiatry, musculoskeletal research, rheumatology, orthopaedics, and dermatology *# Gastroenterology, hepatology, endocrinology, metabolism and nutrition, reproduction, and urogenital system *# Health sciences * Science and technology *# Mathematical sciences *# Physics *# Condensed matter and physical chemistry *# Chemistry *# Informatics and knowledge technology *# Chemical engineering, material sciences *# Energy, electrical engineering, electronics, and mechanics *# Sciences of the earth and space *# Science and technology of construction and the build environment * Interdisciplinary

Special committees

The FWO also organises special committees to advise on support for international collaboration, research infrastructure, and other special mandates.

International profile

The FWO is a member of

Science Europe Science Europe is an association of major research funding organisations (RFOs) and research organisation, research performing organisations (RPOs). It was established in October 2011 and is based in Brussels. The association facilitates co-opera ...

and collaborates in many European research organisations. In addition, it has created partnerships with numerous counterparts across the globe, such as the French Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), Dutch Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO),

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science The is an Independent Administrative Institution in Japan, established for the purpose of contributing to the advancement of science in all fields of the natural and social sciences and the humanities.JSPSweb page History The Japan Society f ...

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences (, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of distinguished scholars a ...

, and

National Natural Science Foundation of China The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC; ) is an organization directly affiliated to China's State Council for the management of the National Natural Science Fund. History NSFC was founded in February 1986 by theoretical chemist ...

Examples of projects supported

File:Sagalassos - Agora.jpg, Excavations in

Sagalassos Sagalassos (), also known as Selgessos () and Sagallesos (), is an archaeological site in southwestern Turkey, about 100 km north of Antalya (ancient Attaleia) and 30 km from Burdur and Isparta. The ancient ruins of Sagalassos are 7&n ...

, started in 1990 File:RMM PIccard gondola 1934 01.JPG, The 1931 FNRS-1, a balloon that set an altitude record, designed by

Auguste Piccard Auguste Antoine Piccard (28 January 1884 – 24 March 1962) was a Swiss physicist, inventor and explorer known for his record-breaking hydrogen balloon flights, with which he studied the Earth's upper atmosphere and became the first person to ...

File:IceCube drill camp 2009.jpg, Participation in the

IceCube Neutrino Observatory The IceCube Neutrino Observatory (or simply IceCube) is a neutrino observatory developed by the University of Wisconsin–Madison and constructed at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica. The project is a recognized CERN experime ...

, starting in 2000

References

External links

*
History of the FWO
{{DEFAULTSORT:Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) Research and development organizations Science and technology in Belgium Research institutes in Belgium Research and development in Europe Research funding agencies