Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences
The Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences (RAOS) contributes to the progress of scientific knowledge about overseas regions. To carry out its mandate the Academy organizes a wide range of activities: publications, conferences, yearly competitions with funds and prizes.
The Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences is divided into three Sections:
- Section of Human Sciences
- Section of Natural and Medical Sciences
- Section of Technical Sciences
The seat of the Academy is located in 231 Louizalaan / Avenue Louise, 1000 Brussels.
History
The Academy was founded under the name of Institut Royal Colonial Belge (Royal Belgian Colonial Institute) in 1928. In 1954 the institute was renamed as the Royal Academy of Colonial Sciences. At that time its area of activities was restricted to the Belgian Congo. In 1959 the Academy adopted the name of Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences and broadened its geographical spectrum to include Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Asia and Oceania.
Competitions, scholarships and prizes
The Academy organizes yearly competitions with specific topics for each of its three Sections. Scholarships are also granted every year as part of the Floribert Jurion Fund, which aim is to contribute to the training of future agricultural engineers or veterinary surgeons by giving them the opportunity to go for a training period in a developing country.
Finally the Academy awards the following three-year prizes:
- The Lucien Cahen Prize for Geology (2012).
- The Yola Verhasselt Prize for Tropical Geography (2013).
- The Fernand Suykens Prize for the study of ports (2013).
- The Jean-Jacques and Berthe Symoens Prize for Tropical Limnology (2014).