Environmental problems are complex, have impacts on many fields of society and therefore should be studied and tackled in a multidisciplinary way. Therefore, in 1997, the existing environmental research of several UHasselt research groups was brought together under one roof, the Centre for Environmental Sciences, CMK.
CMK focuses since its inception on issues related to environmental stress in general, and more specifically on effects on organisms, soil, water, and air contamination. Over the years, CMK developed academic leadership in two additional research lines: sustainable, clean technologies, and biodiversity, ecosystem services and climate change.
CMK unites top environmental research and industrial collaboration to address challenges of high societal urgency that require analyses that span across the boundaries of different scientific domains and disciplines.
Campus Diepenbeek is the main home of CMK. At this Campus we have elaborate scientific equipment (ranging from Breeding facilities over Equipment for molecular and cellular analyses to Equipment for medical dosimetry). We offer a wide array of assessments (ranging from Risk assessment and toxicity assays to Sustainability assessment of clean technologies), as well as databases (e.g. on health data) and model organisms (e.g. growth promoting bacteria).
Our site in Maasmechelen hosts the Field Research Centre with the Ecotron. The FRC is the scientific home of CMK for top international research on biodiversity and climate in the Hoge Kempen National Park.
The Ecotron is CMK's state of the art research infrastructure that allows to expose large ecosystem samples to highly controlled climate conditions, and monitor their response at a high frequency.
Agoralaan z/n, Gebouw D, 3590 Diepenbeek
CMK has always treated (inter)national partnerships as a priority to support and valorize our research and service activities.
Would you like to discuss partnerships? Do not hesitate to contact us.
LTER (Long Term Ecological Research Network). LTER-Europe was launched in 2003 as the umbrella network for Long-Term Ecosystem Research (LTER) in Europe. It's members are national networks operating a wide range of research and monitoring sites as well as larger platforms for socio-ecological research.
Klankbordgroep Biomassa: The Biomass Sounding Board was founded more than 10 years ago by the Environmental Economics research group within the CMK and is currently jointly lead by UHasselt, VITO and UAntwerp. The Board meets three times a year, with the aim of bringing together supply and demand of local (region Flanders/Wallonia/The Netherlands/Germany) biomass feedstocks in a smart way and strengthening the complementarity between current projects.
This Scientific Research Network funded by FWO FLanders aims to boost and facilitate the development of climate change law as an autonomous field of legal studies in the EU and Flanders (Belgium). Partners are Hasselt University, Gent University, Antwerp University, University of Eastern Finland, University of Copenhagen, Strathclyde University Centre for Environmental Law and Governance, and the Centre for Climate Law and Sustainability Studies
In order to guarantee and enhance public health, the Council draws up scientific advisory reports that aim at providing guidance to political decision-makers and health professionals. Thanks to its network of experts and in-house staff, the Council produces impartial and independent advisory reports that are based on a multidisciplinary assessment of the state of the art of science. The Council formulates these advisory reports on request or on its own initiative and publishes them.
Scientists working at field stations and marine laboratories strive to understand natural processes at every scale, from the molecular to the global, from milliseconds to eons. The mission of the Organization of Biological Field Stations (OBFS) is to help member stations increase their effectiveness in supporting critical research, education, and outreach programs. We pursue this goal in a manner that maximizes diversity, inclusiveness, sustainability, and transparency.