Presentation of the Policy Research Centre

"In the year 2000, the Flemish government realized the need for more scientific support.
In the year 2001, the so-called 'Policy Research Centres for policy oriented research' were established. These were consortia composed of research groups from several Flemish universities that - each with regard to their own field of expertise - would carry out integrated research projects with a high relevance and utility for policy makers. Twelve of these Policy Research Centres were established, each for a period of five years. In a next phase, in 2006, the Flemish government decided to continue with the Policy Research Centre formula. A number of changes were decided upon; one of them was the establishment of the new Centre of Expertise for Sustainable Development. This centre will give scientific support for the Flemish sustainable development policy, which was only started recently. The Policy Research Centre for Sustainable Development is an interdisciplinary collaboration between the Catholic University of Leuven, the University of Ghent and the Free University of Brussels.
The participating research groups are the Centre for Sustainable Development (Ghent), the Human Ecology Department (Brussels), the Research institute for work and society (Leuven)
and the Research Group on Global Environmental Governance and Sustainable Development (Leuven)."