Welcome to Earth and Life Institute
The Earth and Life Institute (ELI) is a research institute from UCLouvain that gathers more than 450 scientists, covering a wide range of disciplines in the Earth and life sciences.
The aim of their research is to study and understand, at different scales, the fundamental physical, chemical and biological processes that govern the functioning of our planet, in order to develop sustainable solutions to some of the major challenges faced by our societies.
5 research poles
Upcoming events
Ecology and Evolution in the Anthropocene
Our planet is in the midst of a rapidly changing, human-dominated era, often referred to as the Anthropocene.
Climate and biodiversity are being altered in complex ways. There are winners, but also several losers among plants, animals, microorganisms and entire ecosystems. Changed abiotic and biotic conditions have profound impacts on life from biomolecules to the entire biosphere and all levels of biological organization in between (organisms, populations, species, communities and ecosystems).
Ecologists and evolutionary biologists face the fascinating challenge of documenting and ultimately understanding these changes.
Therefore, the Ecology and Biodiversity Section (ELI-V) of the Earth and Life Institute of UCLouvain organizes a two-days symposium on this exciting and complex scientific field: Ecology and Evolution in the Anthropocene.
With a selection of great keynote speakers, an open call for talks and posters, and a concluding debate, the symposium will offer a very educational and stimulating program on April 29 and 30, 2026.
Keynote speakers: Jan Christian Habel, Ellen Decaestecker, Ruben Evens
Jan Christian Habel is a Full Professor in the Department of Environment and Biodiversity at the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (Austria), where he leads the Evolutionary Zoology research group.
Ellen Decaestecker is Full Professor at the Biology Department of KU Leuven and chair of the Interdisciplinary Research Facility Life Sciences at campus Kortijk.
Ruben Evens is Assistant Professor at UCLouvain and head of the Nox’alis research group, which focuses on terrestrial ecology and biodiversity conservation.
To learn more about the speakers, read their biographies here.
Program
Wednesday 29 April
| Time | Event | Speaker |
| 9:00 - 9:30 | Registration | |
| 9:45 - 10:00 | Welcoming & introduction | |
| 10:00 - 10:50 | Keynote: Trends and drivers of rapid global change in animals: lessons from butterflies | Jan Christian Habel |
| 11:00 - 12:20 | Session 1 | |
| 11:00 - 11:15 | Urban warming drives contrasting body size responses in tropical moths | Fernando Gaona |
| 11:20 - 11:35 | Evolutionary trajectories of plasticity when encountering novel thermal conditions during range expansion in the wild | Janne Swaegers |
| 11:40 - 11:55 | Consequences of host plant drought stress for larval development: an experimental study with two butterfly species | Nicola Mauro |
| 12:00 - 12:15 | Creating biodiversity on rubble-composed soils: drivers of plant community composition in sown urban grasslands | Ellen De Vrieze |
| 12:30 - 13:30 | Lunch | |
| 13:40 - 14:55 | Session 2 | |
| 13:40 - 13:55 | How can we predict species adaptive potential to rapid environmental change? | Aina Garcia-Raventós |
| 14:00 - 14:15 | A long-term study reveals strong life stage-dependent weather effects on population dynamics of Boloria eunomia | Victor Brans |
| 14:20 - 14:35 | Spatiotemporal response of bats to anthropogenic light at night | Claire Hermans |
| 14:40 - 14:55 | Urban- and climate-driven phenology shifts across butterfly communities in Flanders | Koen Van Daele |
| 15:00 - 15:30 | Coffee break | |
| 15:40 - 16:55 | Session 3 | |
| 15:40 - 15:55 | Centennial genomic change in Philippines fishes | Brendan Reid |
| 16:00 - 16:15 | Vermicompost: An Exceptional Technological Resource | Mey Jerbi |
| 16:20 - 16:35 | Unravelling hidden movements: tracking juveniles European Nightjars with the Motus Wildlife tracking system | Jitse Creemers |
| 16:40 - 16:55 | LED’s see how the fireflies flee: Quantifying effects of artificial light on flight activity of the firefly Lamprohiza splendidula | Indra Saenen |
| 17:00 - 17:50 | Keynote: Microbiomes as sentinels of environmental health | Ellen Decaestecker |
| 17:55 | Poster session & cocktail | |
Thursday 30 April
| Time | Event | Speaker |
| 9:00 - 9:30 | Welcoming | |
| 9:35 - 10:25 | Keynote: Guided by skyglow, the subtle appeal of artificial skies | Ruben Evens |
| 10:30 - 11:30 | Session 4 | |
| 10:35 - 10:50 | Genetics as a sentinel: Assessing Human impact and guiding conservation in two felid specie | Anaïs Beaumariage |
| 10:55 - 11:10 | Unveiling dispersal: 2D fragmented microcosms reveal dispersal syndromes and strategies in the ciliate Tetrahymena thermophila | Michaëlla Dacek |
| 11:15 - 11:35 | Coffee break | |
| 11:40 - 11:55 | Citizen science as an early detection system for non-native ant species | Max Devis |
| 12:00 - 12:15 | The synergistic impact of nitrogen deposition and heat stress on herbivorous insects: nettle-feeding Lepidoptera as model organisms | Berber Meulpas |
| 12:20 - 13:00 | Interview speaker | Eli Thoré & Ellen Decaestecker |
| 13:05 - 13:15 | Ending | Hans Van Dyck |
Each talk will consist of 12 minutes of presentation followed by 3 minutes of discussion and Q&A.
We will close the conference with a dialogue on academia and the future of ecology, evolutionary biology and conservation in a rapidly changing world. The conversation will focus particularly on opportunities, challenges and even struggles for young researchers. We do not shy away from sensitive themes such as work-life balance.
The dialogue will be held between a young academic, Eli Thoré (UNamur) and a professor with more experience in academia, Ellen Decaestecker (KULeuven) and will be moderated by Hans Van Dyck (UCLouvain). The audience will also be able to ask questions or join in the exchange of ideas and experiences.
Registration
Please register by filling out this Forms.
Deadlines:
Deadline for registration: 16/04/2026
Deadline for poster submission: 16/04/2026
Registration Fee: 80€
It includes:
- Access to the full two-day symposium
- Coffee, tea, cold drinks, and snacks during refreshment breaks
- One lunch
- A closing drink at the end of the first symposium day
Organizers
This symposium is organized by members of the Ecology and Biodiversity Pole (ELI-V) of the Earth and Life Institute of UCLouvain (Belgium). ELI-V brings together researchers studying the evolution, functioning, and diversity of living organisms across biological scales.
The group’s research focuses on how species interact with their environments and how ecological and evolutionary processes shape biodiversity in both natural and human-dominated systems. At an applied level, ELI-V contributes to the conservation of biodiversity and the development of sustainable solutions in agriculture, forestry, and urban ecosystems.
Organizing committee:
Angelot Dominique
Baeckens Simon *
Darja Margaux *
De Laender Frederik* (UNamur)
Deconinck Stephane
Destierdt Wendy *
Ferauge Brigitte
Mauro Nicola *
Van Dyck Hans *
* Members of the scientific committee
If you have any questions about the event, please contact us at this address: stephane.deconinck@uclouvain.be.
Find information on how to get to the conference venue here.
Agroecological transition: the role of microorganisms
As part of the European AgroServ project (Integrated services supporting a sustainable agroecological transition), we are organizing a symposium on the theme of “Agroecological transition: the role of microorganisms”.
We are pleased to welcome several speakers from academia, industry, regulatory bodies, and agriculture, who will share their vision and outlook for the future on this topic.
The seminar will be followed by a round table discussion between the speakers and the audience.
Program
| 13:30 | Welcome |
| 14:00 | Stéphane Declerck - General introduction |
| 14:15 | Monica Höfte - Microorganisms: driving the transition to sustainable agriculture |
| 14:45 | Steven Vandenabeele - From Petri dish to plow: innovation meets commercial reality |
| 15:15 | Imke Hutter - Definitions and regulation for biostimulants and biocontrol microbial agents on national and EU-level |
| 15:45 | Break |
| 16:15 | Brieuc Hardy - The use of microorganisms in agriculture: challenges for a successful use by farmers |
| 16:45 | Michel Boer - The AgroServ Project |
| 17:05 | Iman Mirmazloum - Transnational access in AgroServ |
| 17:20 | Roundtable discussion |
| 18:00 | Closing drink |
Practical
The symposium will take place on May 21 from 13:30 to 18:00 and will be followed by a drink cocktail.
The venue for the afternoon is the SUD11 auditorium (Place Croix du Sud, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve), and the drink will then be hold in the de Serres building (Place Croix du Sud 2, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve).
Registration is free but mandatory for practical organizational reasons.
Please register here before April 30.
ELI-T: The form, function, and footprint of cities
On May 27, the Earth and Life Institute is pleased to welcome Dr. Benjamin Goldstein for a new ELI-Sustainability Talk.
Abstract
TBA
The guest
Dr. Benjamin Goldstein is Assistant Professor of Environment and Sustainability and head of the Sustainable Urban-Rural Futures (SURF) Lab. The SURF Lab studies and emphasizes urban sustainability at multiple scales.
Through his work at the SURF Lab, Benjamin helps understand how urban processes and urban form drive the consumption of materials and energy in cities and produce environmental change inside and outside cities.
He develops methods and tools to quantify the scale of these changes and the locations where they occur using life cycle assessment, input-output analysis, geospatial data, and approaches from data science.
Benjamin Goldstein is particularly interested in combining quantitative methods with theory rooted in social science to explore multiple dimensions of sustainability and address issues of distributive justice.
His topical foci include urban food systems (esp. urban agriculture), agri-commodities, residual resource engineering, global supply chains, sustainable production and consumption, and energy systems.
Practical
This seminar will be held on May 27 from 13:00 to 14:00 in Ocean room (de Serres building, Place Croix du Sud 2, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium).
A lunch with the guest speaker will be held next to there, in the cafeteria of the de Serres building, between 12:15 and 13:00, only for participants at the ELI-T seminar.
If you would like to attend the lunch, please register here.
Please note that registration is mandatory for the lunch and essential for us to plan the right amount of food. Registration for the talk only is appreciated but not required.
The seminar and lunch are free and open to everyone, whether or not you are an ELI member or a UCLouvain member, as long as you are registered.
The seminar can also be attended online. Follow online here: TEAMS link.
Fascination of Plants Day
Les plantes sont bien plus que de simples objets décoratifs : elles nourrissent, soignent et façonnent notre planète.
Ces 17 et 20 mai 2026 se tiendra la 8ème édition du Fascination of Plants Day, à Louvain-la-Neuve, qui les mettra à l'honneur.
Le Fascination of Plants Day est une initiative grand public et entièrement gratuite qui vise à explorer le monde végétal sous un angle ludique et scientifique.
Au programme :
- Balade botanique, visites guidées des Fermes et Serres de l'UCLouvain
- Rencontres avec des chercheurs et chercheuses passionné(e)s
- Bourse aux plantes, clinique des plantes pour vos plantes malades, conseils personnalisés
- Ateliers thématiques : abeilles, lichens & racines
Programme complet
| Activité | Jour et heure |
| A la découverte des fleurs | 17 & 20 mai - 14:30 |
| Abeilles et pollinisation | 17 & 20 mai - 14:00 |
| Back to the roots : à la recherche de nos racines | 17 & 20 mai - activité libre |
| Bourse aux plantes | 17 & 20 mai - activité libre |
| Coulisses des serres de recherche | 17 & 20 mai - 14:00 & 15:45 |
| Domestication des plantes | 17 & 20 mai - 15:45 |
| Les lichens pour évaluer la qualité de l'air | 17 & 20 mai - 14:00 |
| Vos plantes sont malades ? | 17 & 20 mai - activité libre |
| Nos recherches | 17 & 20 mai - activité libre |
| Balade botanique | 17 & 20 mai - 14:00 & 15:45 |
| Visite des champs | 17 & 20 mai - 14:00 & 15:45 |
| Grainothèque | 20 mai - 14:00 à 17:00 |
Envie d'en savoir plus sur ce qui se cache derrière ces propositions ? Découvrez la description de tous les ateliers sur cette page.
Pour certaines activités, l'inscription est gratuite, mais obligatoire, sur cette page. Les places étant limitées, ne tardez pas à vous inscrire.
Cette journée est organisée par le pôle "Agronomie" de l'Earth and Life Institute (ELI-A), en collaboration avec l'Institut LIBST, et la plateforme SEFY, toutes des structures de l'UCLouvain.
What's new at Earth and Life Institute?
