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The Ocean Alkalinisation Enhancement (OAE) Workshop organized by the European Lime Association (EuLA), held on 23–24 June 2026 at the University of Antwerp, brought together researchers and industry partners to review the current state of limestone- and lime-based OAE technologies. Participants identified key scientific, technical, and policy knowledge gaps and defined priority research areas to support the development of safe, effective, and scalable OAE solutions.

Can alkaline minerals help the ocean to fight climate change? That's what the Geobiology Lab is trying to find out!🪨 🌊 Researchers from our Geobiology Lab, led by Prof. , investigate, in collaboration with , how to enhance the ocean’s ability to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere and store it for thousands of years. They study how the natural process of mineral weathering can be accelerated to strengthen the ocean’s natural role in the carbon cycle while carefully assessing its environmental impacts.

🔬 At our Mesocosm research facility, the researchers run different experiments on simulated seabeds of 1 m² and measure whether alkalinity is being released and CO₂ is being absorbed from the atmosphere. The key results from these experiments have been incorporated into models to scale up the findings and estimate how much CO₂ can be removed from the atmosphere in this way (taking into account the available sea space of France).​

Tom Huysmans is currently in New Zealand where he has joined the Research Vessel Tangaroa to investigate how the coastal seafloor in Hawke's Bay contributes to natural CO₂ sequestration. This work is being continued with a laboratory experiment to identify to possible changes in the natural CO₂ sequestration potential of coastal sediments under ocean alkalinity enhancement (OAE) scenarios. 

Lukas Vijn is completing an internship at the University of Antwerp as part of his Applied Biology programme at Aeres University of Applied Sciences Almere. During his internship, he provides practical support to ongoing research within the Geobiology research group. In addition, he will be  carrying out a small-scale study on the climate mitigation potential of mineral-based coastal ocean alkalinization.

For Hazar Faid’s master’s thesis, conducted in collaboration with VESTA, she investigates the potential of olivine-rich peridotites from Oman for Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement (OAE), a technique that can strengthen the ocean’s natural uptake of CO₂. These peridotites are produced as a by-product of copper mining and may therefore offer a more sustainable and readily available alternative to the olivine-rich rocks commonly proposed for OAE. Her research examines how quickly peridotite types from different copper mining locations dissolve in seawater and how much alkalinity they release. She also assesses whether weathering releases trace elements that could pose risks to the marine environment. By combining these results with an initial evaluation of scalability, this study explores whether these materials could make a realistic contribution to large-scale ocean-based CO₂ removal. Overall, this research aims to improve understanding of mining by-products as resources for climate mitigation and to support the further development of Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement as a negative-emissions technology.

The microbial electricity team took part in a three-day foresight workshop as part of the the EIC Pathfinder project PRINGLE (“Protein-Based Next-Generation Electronics”), with discussions centered on the future of conductive materials, nickel bisdithiolenes: natural versus synthetic structures. The workshop fostered interdisciplinary exchange, bringing together different perspectives to explore next-generation electronic systems inspired by nature.
The event was hosted at Hof van Liere, a remarkable 16th-century building whose historic courtyard reflects the golden age of Antwerp. This inspiring setting provided a fitting backdrop for forward-looking discussions, linking the city’s rich intellectual heritage with cutting-edge scientific innovation.

We congratulate Dr. Philp Ley on the successful completion of his dissertation and the attainment of his PhD. His thesis, titled “Long microbes enabling fast conduction: mapping diversity within the cable bacteria clade” represents a significant academic achievement.

Daniel Adan's Master Thesis will be centered on the characterization of the novel cable bacteria clades AR3 and AR4 which were previously reported in the Belgian North Sea. He will be trained in the realization of clonal incubations to reduce microbial diversity of sediments and increase the biomass of the target clades. Also, molecular techniques and bioinformatic tools will be applied to obtain the full 16S rRNA gene of AR3 and AR4 and compare them with published sequences, respectively. Daniel Adan is an Earth Scientist from Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and is currently part of the Master's Program in Marine Environment and Resources (MER+), a joint program between the Universities of Bordeaux (France), the Basque Country (Spain), and Liège (Belgium). 

We welcome a new Bachelor student Matteo Van Ostade in our group.

For his bachelor thesis on  cable bacteria, Matteo will be investigating different microscopy techniques for visualising and investigating these micro-organisms. Mass-spectrometry is frequently used for investigating unknown proteins or structures, however cable bacteria require very specific conditions to grow and are very hard to recover, which makes it difficult to obtain a large enough sample for mass-spectrometry. This is why his thesis will be centered on microscopy techniques that avoid these problems.  More informative and efficient techniques could help our understanding of structures and proteins that cable bacteria use.

Our four-day midweek in Oetingen was the perfect mix of focus and fun.

We kicked things off with inspiring presentations and great discussions that sparked new ideas and alignment. A highlight was our visit to Brouwerij Boon, where we discovered the craft behind traditional lambic beers — and enjoyed tasting them together.

The epic quiz night brought out everyone’s competitive side, while a refreshing hike gave us time to connect in a more relaxed way. 

Add to that plenty of good food and a fun surprise exercise from the professor that challenged our creativity, and you have four days that strengthened both our teamwork and our team spirit.