Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences

The Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences (RAOS) (French: Académie royale des sciences d'outre-mer; Dutch: Koninklijke Academie voor Overzeese Wetenschappen) is a Belgian federal academy that contributes to the progress of scientific knowledge about overseas regions. The seat of the Academy is located in 231 Avenue Louise, 1000 Brussels.[1]

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 Académie Royale des Sciences Coloniales (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 Académie Royale des Sciences d'Outre-mer (Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences) and broadened its geographical spectrum to include Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Asia and Oceania.

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

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).

Publications

Works produced by the society include:[2]

  • Atlas général du Congo / Algemene atlas van Congo (in French and Dutch), 1948–1963
  • Biographie Belge d'Outre-Mer, 1948-2015; 11 volumes (Also called Biographie Coloniale Belge)
  • Bulletin des Seances. 1930- (online)
  • Commission d'Histoire du Congo. (Publications.) 1953-1958.
  • Livre blanc: Apport scientifique de la Belgique au developpement de l'Afrique centrale. 1962-
  • Memoires (online)
    • Memoires de la classe des sciences morales et politiques. 1933-
    • Memoires de la classe des sciences naturelles et medicales. 1931-
    • Memoires de la classe des sciences techniques. 1930-

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Historical overview | Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences". www.kaowarsom.be. Retrieved 2015-11-14.
  2. ↑ Joanne Coyle Dauphin (1965). "Belgian Centers of Documentation and Research on Africa". African Studies Bulletin. 8. JSTOR 522935. Academie Royale des Sciences d'Outre-Mer (ARSOM)
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