The first edition of the BeNeLux Geography conference: a new exchange platform for the geographic community

The first edition of the BeNeLux Geography conference took place in Leuven between the 8th and the 10th of April, 2026. This initiative, bringing together the geography communities of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, is a continuation of the Belgian Geography Days and Dutch Geographers Days, while extending their reach. Its aim is to provide a reference forum where work in the areas of geography and spatial planning can be presented, while encouraging meetings and collaborations across national borders.

As manager of the Belgian geodetic datum, IGN made a comprehensive contribution to the discussions, highlighting its role in guaranteeing homogeneous, high-quality geodetic networks that cover the entire country. Elise Kazmierczak and Jeffrey Verbeurgt, from the geodesy department, played an active role in the scientific program.

Elise Kazmierczak took part in a round table for young researchers on research outside academia. She shared her experience at IGN, highlighting the specificities, complementarities, and challenges of applied and academic research.

IGN also co-organised the “BeNeLux Observation, Monitoring, and Measurement” session with the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (KBIN-IRSNB).

Elise Kazmierczak presented her research in gravimetry, whose goal is to improve Belgium’s Bouguer anomaly map and make the vertical datum more coherent by refining the Belgian geoid and precision levelling network.

Jeffrey Verbeurgt presented a comprehensive, high-quality reprocessing of over 20 years of GNSS data from Belgian and Dutch reference stations. This work allows for the consistency between national coordinate systems to be assessed, which is a key challenge for cross-border applications. It’s part of the IGS’s REPRO3 initiative, launched following the publication of the latest version of the International Terrestrial Reference Framework (ITRF2020).

By taking part in the first edition of BeNeLux Geography, IGN is affirming its active role in developing and sharing knowledge about geodesy and geography, as well as its commitment to scientific collaboration within the Benelux region.