Research
A full overview of current and previous research projects can be found on the UGhent research explorer.
Current Research Projects
SPACETWIN
Digital twins for understanding forest disturbances and recovery from space.
Funding: ERC starting grant
- Learn more on the SPACETWIN website
FWO-project: Does liana proliferation cool down tropical forests?
Team: Hans Verbeeck, Felicien Meunier, Kasper Coppieters (UGent) & Marco Visser (ULeiden)
Funding: Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)
FWO-project: There’s no such thing as “The Tropical Rainforest”: incorporating heterogeneity of tropical forests in a global vegetation model
Team: Hans Verbeeck, Pascal Boeckx, Marc Peaucelle, Félicien Meunier, Marijn Bauters Ines Vieira (UGent)
Funding: Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)
BOF-PhD grant - Louise Terryn
Winners and Losers: does water availability affect the Structural Economic Spectrum of tropical forests? 2019-2023
Funding: Regional and community funding: Special Research Fund (BOF)
BOF-PhD grant - Franklin Marin
Disentangling potential drivers of success in ecological restoration along an altitudinal gradient in the Andes, Ecuador; 2021-2025
Funding: Regional and community funding: Special Research Fund (BOF)
Ecuador TEAM - VLIRUOS
Recovery and conservation of Andean tropical mountain forest to benefit livelihood of local communities
2022 - 2027
Funding: VLIR-UOS
CSC - PhD grant - Liu Chang
Automatic Estimation of Forest Structural Parameters in Multiple Forest Conditions Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning; 2019-2023
Funding: State Scholarship Fund awarded by China Scholarship Council
DG-DEVCO/FWO-project: Congoflux
Continuous monitoring of atmosphere-ecosystem exchange of greenhouse gasses in the Congo Basin forest: Building a flux tower in the Yangambi Man and Biosphere Reserve;
Funding: DG-DEVCO, FWO-IRI
EU-Interreg2-project: Nature Smart Cities
Research towards evidence-based business models for greener cities
Funding: European Union’s Interreg 2
CSC - PhD grant - Xi Peng
Structural Traits Relationships and the Structural Economics Spectrum of Woody Plant; 2021-2025
Funding: State Scholarship Fund awarded by China Scholarship Council
FWO - SB PhD grant - Barbara D'hont
Better Quantifying Ecosystem Services through Digital Twins of Urban Trees; 2021-2025
FWO PhD fellowship strategic basic research
BEAMS
Biocarbon Europe: Advancing Measurement Standards (BEAMS)
Funding: Climate Solutions Exchange, UK
ICOS Belgium research infrastructure
ICOS Belgium research infrastructure; 2021-2025
Funding: FWO – FINANCIERING VAN ONDERZOEKSINFRASTRUCTUUR
- Learn more on the ICOS-BE project website
DAMOCO - BELSPO
Closing the DAta gap to develop Land Surface MOdels for COngo Basin forests (DAMOCO)
2022 - 2026
Funding: BELSPO
CSC - PhD Grant - Shilin Chen
Assessment of time series dynamics of forest 3D spatial structure based on LiDAR data.
2022 - 2026
Funding: State Scholarship Fund awarded by China Scholarship Council
ICOS - BE
Support for the valorisation of federal components of distributed and virtual of ESFRI research infrastructures
2021 - 2026
Funding: BELSPO
FWO senior postdoc grant - Félicien Meunier
Will the Congo basin forest hit a tipping point? Estimating the risk of large-scale changes of the Congo Basin forests based on data assimilation in a Land Surface Model
2022-2025
Funding: Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO), senior postdoctoral fellowship
Previous Research Projects
MSCA-project: LEAF-2-TBM
From Leaf to Terrestrial Biosphere Model: Integrating multi-scale observations of highly diverse tropical ecosystems for global scale simulations; PI: Marc Peaucelle; 2020-2022 (ended in Nov. 2021 when dr Peaucelle was offered a permanent position at INRAE, France)
Funding: European funding: framework programme, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action
MSCA-project: 3D-FOGROD
Understanding forest growth dynamics using novel 3D measurements and modelling approaches; PI: Kim Calders; 2019-2021
Funding: European funding: framework programme, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action
ERC-Starting Grant: TREECLIMBERS
Modelling lianas as key drivers of tropical forest responses to climate change
Funding: European funding: framework programme, ERC Starting Grant
STEREO-project: 3D Forest
Novel in-situ 3D forest structure and biomass estimates to validate air/spaceborne products
Funding: Federal funding, Belspo STEREO
BRAIN-project: COBECORE
Congo basin eco-climatological data recovery and valorization
2017-2020 (extended)
Funding: Federal funding, BELSPO BRAIN