INVE Aquaculture Award for UGent Master Thesis

INVE Aquaculture Awards for UGent Master Theses

About INVE Aquaculture

Since its start in 1983, INVE Aquaculture has strived for innovation and offering the highest quality products in nutrition and health for fish and shrimp hatcheries and farms. With headquarters in Belgium, production facilities in Thailand and regional offices and test centers across the world, INVE Aquaculture is able to use its global range to effectively reach out to its customers worldwide. This, combined with an elaborate amount of service and support, is what makes INVE Aquaculture truly unique in the market.

About the awards

INVE Aquaculture has committed to fund two separate thematic awards for the amount of € 1.000 / award for submitted UGent master theses from the following faculties:

  • Faculty of Bioscience Engineering 
  • Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
  • Faculty of Sciences

One thesis per award will be selected across the three Faculties.

Thematic award for innovation in aquaculture

Scope: Applied research with significant contribution towards the advancement of the aquaculture industry is rewarded. The work should address one of the following major challenges (cfr. GCA2020), preferably focused on shrimp and marine fish:

  • Innovation and smart technologies: Aquaculture is benefiting from smarter and data-driven technology for production of shrimp and fish. The selected work should illustrate the potential that such technologies bring to the aquaculture industry, or should apply to the development of such technologies.
  • Feed and feeding: Feed is a major component in many aquaculture production systems, and the aquaculture industry requires further advancements to make more optimal use of resources. The selected work should apply to the optimized use of aquaculture (live and formulated) feeds, and can deal with feed formulations, feed production and supplementation technologies, feed use during culture, feed digestibility, feed waste management, etc.
  • Biosecurity and aquatic animal health management: The culture of fish and shrimp faces important challenges from disease. The selected work should deal with approaches to minimize the impact of disease from happening, methods to cure from disease, elucidate conditions that trigger disease, etc.

Thematic award for sustainable societal impact in aquaculture

Scope: Applied research with significant contribution towards the advancement of the sustainable societal impact of the aquaculture industry is rewarded. The work should address one of the following major challenges (cfr. GCA2020 & SGD), focused preferably on shrimp and marine fish:

  • Environment: Aquaculture can be made more sustainable. The selected work should deal with initiatives or technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or increase efficient use of energy, that increase the sustainable management of water and waste, that improve the conservation and utilization of aquatic resources, that decrease the environmental impact of aquaculture consumables, etc.
  • Animal welfare: In aquaculture production, we are culturing animals. The selected work should apply to how welfare of the animals being cultured can be increased, how injuries can be minimized, how stress can be reduced, etc.
  • Social and human dimensions: Aquaculture has a huge impact on society. The selected work should deal with the improvement of human rights, responsible labor policies and practices, improved social dynamics and equitably distributed benefits in an aquaculture setting. 

Application criteria and process

  • Students from the Faculties of Bioscience Engineering, Veterinary Medicine and Sciences, whose thesis falls within the scope of one of the awards, may apply in consultation with their thesis supervisor.
  • The following is to be submitted by email to bluegent@ugent.be with confirmation of receipt:     
    • An abstract of the work (max. 1p. A4)
    • A description of the contribution to the state-of-the-art (max. 1p. A4)
    • The full Master thesis (only if the promotor consents)
  • Either the student submits the application with his / her supervisor in cc, or vice versa.
  • Please specify which awards you are applying for.

Deadline

The deadline for submitting applications is August 27, 2023.