Research policy

Open Access is the practice of making scholarly research results freely available online to the public, both within and outside academia, with the ultimate goal being to maximise the impact of said research.

Data management constitutes an integral part of sound scientific research

The issue of research integrity has become increasingly topical in recent years. A number of high-profile cases of researchers who do not always respect the scientific and moral standards of research have surfaced in various countries.

The FWO aims to do everything in its power to ensure that research funded with its resources is carried out in accordance with the highest ethical standards.

The FWO supports researchers in all stages of their careers. For the selection of young researchers, the FWO has implemented an active equal opportunity policy.

The FWO focusses on the internationalisation of scientific research by offering researchers in Flanders in all career stages opportunities to collaborate internationally and to gain experience abroad. 

Research projects or individual researchers supported by the FWO receive funding, which for the most part comes from the Flemish government. In order to foster support for scientific research, the FWO encourages broad communication about the research it funds. In addition, the FWO tries to map the impact of the supported research as accurately as possible on the basis of efficient reporting by researchers to the FWO.

The Flemish government department of Economy, Science and Innovation has created the Flanders Research Information Space; this is a metadatabase in which research that is at least partially funded with Flemish public funds is aggregated in a comprehensive manner.

We understand both the undesired transfer of knowledge and technology, interference, and misuse of research results as potential breaches of research security.