Belgium
Belgium participates actively in European open neuroscience infrastructure through Flemish research investment in life sciences, co-development of Neuropixels electrophysiology hardware, and membership in pan-European research infrastructure networks. Belgian institutions are subject to EU open science mandates as full EU members and benefit from funder-level mandates from FWO (Research Foundation Flanders) and F.R.S.-FNRS (Belgian French Community).
Open Science Policy
| Who | What is required | For whom | In force since |
|---|---|---|---|
| FWO | Open access to publications, FAIR data management plan, open data where possible | All FWO-funded researchers (Flanders) | 2020 |
| F.R.S.-FNRS | Open access to publications | All FNRS-funded researchers (French Community) | 2018 |
| EC Open Science Policy | DMP, FAIR deposit, open access | Belgian institutions in Horizon Europe | 2021 |
FWO (Research Foundation Flanders) joined cOAlition S and its open access mandate is Plan S compliant. The Belgian data protection authority (Gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit / Autorité de protection des données, GBA/APD) is Belgium’s GDPR supervisory authority and EDPB member.
Life Sciences and Genomics Infrastructure
VIB (Flanders Institute for Biotechnology) is the leading Flemish life sciences research institute and the lead organisation of ELIXIR Belgium, Belgium’s ELIXIR node. VIB operates six research centres including the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Neuroscience (CNL) and the VIB-UAntwerp Center for Molecular Neurology, both producing large-scale neurological disease genomics datasets deposited to EGA and CELLxGENE. VIB is a co-founding partner of Mission Lucidity (alongside imec, KU Leuven, and UZ Leuven), the Belgian neurotechnology consortium targeting Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative conditions.
Electrophysiology Hardware Infrastructure
NERF (Neuro-Electronics Research Flanders), co-founded in 2011 by imec, KU Leuven, and VIB, is the independent Belgian electrophysiology research centre most consequential to open neuroscience globally as co-developer of the Neuropixels probe series. Neuropixels probes, designed and fabricated by imec in collaboration with HHMI Janelia Research Campus, the Allen Institute for Brain Science, UCL, NTNU, and NERF, are used in over 400 labs worldwide and are the dominant electrophysiology tool for large-scale in vivo recordings. All Neuropixels datasets are by convention deposited to DANDI Archive in NWB format. NERF was a named partner in the Neuropixels 2.0 development consortium (with UCL/NTNU/Champalimaud) and also develops the OpenfUS open-source functional ultrasound platform.
Clinical and Translational Research
Belgium participates in EATRIS through EATRIS-BE and in ECRIN through a national clinical trials network. The Mission Lucidity consortium connects Belgian academic medical centres (UZ Leuven) and industry (imec) in a publicly funded programme to develop technologies for early diagnosis and intervention in neurodegenerative disease.
International Engagement
VIB leads ELIXIR-BE and contributes to BBMRI-ERIC through the Belgian node. NERF’s Neuropixels hardware contribution is an indirect but substantial structural input into the international open electrophysiology data ecosystem anchored on DANDI Archive, NWB, and IBL. Belgian institutions participate in CURE-ND via Mission Lucidity and in JPND through federal and regional research council membership.