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Scientific Awards

2023: GIFEW – Global Institute for Evolutionary Women Award awarded to T.W.G.F. Mafaziya Nijamdeen for her academic achievements.

2023: Lorenzo Borella Memorial Award awarded to Elissa Pelsmaekers for her TROPIMUNDO MSc. thesis entitled Assessment of macro- and microplastics in the mangrove bay of Gazi (Kenya): identity, quantity, distribution and sources.

2022: Marie-Soleil Frère Prize for Academic Development Cooperation by the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium (prestigious award / prix prestigieux).

            Lorenzo Borella Memorial Award awarded to Alvise Dabalà for his TROPIMUNDO MSc. thesis entitled Priority areas to protect mangroves and maximise ecosystem services.

2021: Student Prize awarded to Meenakshi Poti by West Indian Ocean Governance & Exchange Network’s (WIOGEN) Ocean Governance Conference for her presentation Learning from small islands in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO): a systematic review of adaptive responses to environmental change, authored by Meenakshi Poti, Jean Hugé, Kartik Shanker, Nico Koedam & Farid Dahdouh-Guebas

2020: Prix Adolphe Wetrems in Natural Sciences by the Belgian Royal Academy of Sciences, Letters and Fine-Arts  (Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique).

2019: VLIZ Marine Sciences Award to Meenakshi Shankar Poti for MSc. Biology Thesis entitled Conservation and consumption of sea turtle eggs in Redang Island, Peninsular Malaysia.

            Lorenzo Borella Memorial Award awarded to Giovanna Wolswijk for her TROPIMUNDO MSc. thesis entitled Distribution of mercury in sediments, plant and animal tissues in Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve, Malaysia.

2016: Best Oral Presentation Award to Jani Sleutel by Belgian Royal Zoological Society on the 23^rd Benelux Congress of Zoology, Anvers, Belgium, for best oral presentation entitled Impact of forest management on mangrove birds: field assessment and reflections on ecological functionality, authored by Sleutel, J., J. Hugé, B. Satyanarayana & F. Dahdouh-Guebas.

2015: Maria Sibylla Merian Award to Tom Van der Stocken on the Annual Meeting of the Society for Tropical Ecology for the best oral presentation entitled Interaction between water and wind as a driver of passive dispersal in mangroves, authored by Van der Stocken, T., B. Vanschoenwinkel, D. De Ryck, T. Bouma, F. Dahdouh-Guebas & N. Koedam.

2014: Millenium Development Goals Award to Melissa Quispe Zúñiga by the Bureau for Development Cooperation of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel for her MSc. Biology thesis entitled Mangroves fuelling livelihoods : a socio-ecological assessment and stakeholder analysis of fuelwood production and trade in Matang Mangrove Forest Reserve, Peninsular Malaysia.

 2013: Higher Education and Research Awards for Future Generations (HERA) to Jean Hugé by Fondation pour les Générations Futures for his PhD Thesis entitled Are we doing the right things the right way? Discourse and Practice of Sustainability Assessment in North and South. (prestigious prize / prix prestigieux).

            Best Student Oral Presentation (1^st runner up) to Tom Van der Stocken on the Young Marine Scientists’    Day, Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee (VLIZ), Brugge, Belgium for the oral presentation entitled The role of wind in hydrochorous mangrove propagule dispersal, authored by Van der Stocken, T., D. De Ryck, T. Balke, T. Bouma, F. Dahdouh-Guebas & N. Koedam.

2012: Best Student Oral Presentation (2^nd runner up) to Tom Van der Stocken on the Hexennial International Conference ‘Meeting on Mangrove ecology, functioning and Management – MMM3’, Galle, Sri Lanka for the oral presentation entitled Biological and environmental drivers in mangrove propagule dispersal and recruitment: a field and modelling approach, authored by Van der Stocken, T., D.J.R. De Ryck, D. Di Nitto, J.G. Kairo, F. Dahdouh-Guebas & N. Koedam.

 2011: Bouwkundeprijs (1st runner up) to Mieke Vandaele & David Vande Wynckel by the Departement Industrial Sciences and Technology of the Katholieke Hogeschool Brugge-Oostende for their MSc Thesis entitled Implementation of a sustainable project in the Tanbi Wetland National Park, Banjul (The Gambia).

 2010: Prix de l’Association des Diplômés en Sciences de l’ULB to Kevin Leempoel for his MSc Thesis entitled Heterogeneity of the spatial structure in mangroves using GeoEye-1 imagery and GIS-analyses : a case-study in the Zhanjiang Mangrove National Nature Reserve (China).

           Development Cooperation Prize / Prix de la Coopération au Développement 2010 to Dr.  Mohamed. O.S. Mohamed by Directorat-Général pour Co-operation au Développement (Département Fédéral belge des Affaires Etrangères, Commerce Etrangère et Coopération au Développement) for his PhD Thesis entitled Are peri-urban mangrove forests viable? Effects of sewage pollution and wood exploitation on the structure and development of the mangroves of Mombasa (Kenya). (prestigious award / prix prestigieux).

           Prix François Crépin to Dr.  Sandrine Godefroid by the Belgian Royal Botanical Society, for her research on Belgian flora and vegetation.

2009: Honorable Mention on the 10th Young Marine Scientists’ Day, Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) for the oral presentations Shelter from the storm? Use and misuse of bioshields for managing natural disasters on the coast, authored by Rusty A. Feagin, Nibedita Mukherjee, Kartik Shanker, Andrew H. Baird, Joshua Cinner, Alexander M. Kerr, Nico Koedam, Aarthi Sridhar, Rohan Arthur, L.P. Jayatissa, Danny Lo Seen, Manju Menon, Sudarshan Rodriguez, Md. Shamsuddoha & Farid Dahdouh-Guebas.

          Prix de la Francophonie pour jeunes chercheurs by Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie, Montréal, Canada. (prestigious award, first Belgian to have been awarded it / prestigieux, premier belge à l’obtenir).

          Prix du Fonds Jean Lebrun to Dr.  Sandrine Godefroid by Fonds Jean Lebrun.

          VLIZ Marine Sciences Encouragement Award to Dennis De Ryck for his MSc. Thesis entitled Moving and settling : experiments on the dispersal and establishment of hydrochorous propagules.

          Prix du Fonds Jean Lebrun to Dr.  Sandrine Godefroid by Fonds Jean Lebrun.

2008: Prix du Fonds Lucien De Coninck to Dr. Sandrine Godefroid by fonds Lucien de Coninck.

2007: Prize of the Royal Academy of Overseas Sciences (Class of Natural and Medicinal Sciences) / Prix de l’Academie Royal de Sciences d’Outre-mer (Classe de Sciences Naturelles et Médicales) to Jared O. Bosire for his PhD Thesis entitled Ecological recovery of reforested mangroves in Kenya.

2006: Best Poster Award (1^st runner-up), Mangrove Macrobenthos Meeting – MMM2, Coolangatta, Australia, for the presentation Retrospective Study of the Mangroves of the Tanbi Wetland Complex, The Gambia, authored by Danae Maniatis, Preetika Hirani, Dawda Badgie, Nico Koedam & Farid Dahdouh-Guebas.

          Prix Edouard Delcroix 2005 by Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) & HYDRO for the encouragement of scientific research in the field of « Ocean Environment and Human Health » in honour of Dr. Edouard Delcroix (1891-1973), orthopedic surgeon and pionneer in thalassotherapy, and for scientific activities conducted in the last 10 years on Mangrove ecosystem degradation and its effects on the quality of life of coastal subsistence communities in Third World countries. (prestigious award / prix prestigieux).

2005: Nominated for the Honorary Fellow Membership of the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association – WIOMSA.

            VLIZ Marine Sciences Encouragement award to Griet Neukermans for her MSc. Thesis entitled Remote sensing of mangroves in Gazi Bay (Kenya) with very high resolution QuickBird satellite imagery : automated methods for species and assemblage identification.

2004: Best Poster Award (1^st runner-up) by International Society of Ethnobiology on the 9th International Congress on Ethnobiology, Social Change and Displacement, in collaboration with the 45th Annual Meeting of the Society for Economic Botany, and the 8th International Congress of the International Society of Ethnopharmacology, Canterbury, United Kingdom.

           Development Cooperation Prize / Prix de la Coopération au Développement 2003 of the Directorate-General for Development Cooperation (Belgian Federal Department Foreign Affairs, Foreign Commerce and Development Cooperation) / Directorat-Général pour Co-operation au Développement (Département Fédéral belge des Affaires Etrangères, Commerce Etrangère et Coopération au Développement). (prestigious award / prix prestigieux).

2003: VLIZ Marine Sciences Encouragement award to Sarah Collin for her MSc. Thesis entitled Ethnobotanical and fishery-related importance of mangroves of East Godavari Delta, Andhra Pradesh, India.

2001: Laureate of the Prize of the Royal Academy of Overseas Sciences (Class of Natural and Medicinal Sciences) / Lauréat du Prix de l’Academie Royal de Sciences d’Outre-mer (Classe de Sciences Naturelles et Médicales). (prestigious award / prix prestigieux).

2000: Golden Propagule Award by the international Meeting on Mangrove Macrobenthos – MMM, Mombasa, Kenya.

1994: Best Student Paper Award by Belgian Royal Zoolgical Society on the First Benelux Congress of Zoology, Leuven, Belgium.