essenscia vlaanderen extends chair of Safety Engineering at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Safety is and remains the number one priority in the chemicals sector. That is why essenscia vlaanderen has for the third time extended the chair of Safety Engineering at KU Leuven for a period of 5 years, until the end of 2024. The Master of Safety Engineering is a unique academic and practice-oriented training programme […]
essenscia launches chair within safety sciences training at University of Antwerp

From the 2020-2021 academic year, essenscia has started a new ‘Integrated Safety – Chemistry and Life Sciences’ academic chair within the one-year Master’s degree in safety sciences at the University of Antwerp. This specialised course strives for a broad approach in which safety is viewed from all angles: from security over occupational and transport safety […]
Sector builds very first training centre for pharmaceuticals and biotech in Flanders with ViTalent

Specialised training to get started and stay in the pharmaceutical and biotech sector? From the beginning of 2022, students, job seekers and employees from the sector can contact ViTalent at the Science Park in Niel. This very first training centre for the life sciences is a first for Flanders. It sets out to be a […]
Chemical and pharmaceutical companies provide medical staff with 200,000 face masks

During the first wave of the coronavirus, there was a very urgent demand for additional protective equipment, in particular face masks, for health professionals involved in the care of Covid-19 patients. That is why the essenscia sectoral federation launched an appeal to the 700 or so companies in the sector to make some of their […]
1 million litres of disinfectant gel thanks to successful cooperation between government and industry

With an additional production capacity of more than one million litres of hydroalcoholic gel, chemical, pharmaceutical and food companies, in close cooperation with the federal government, solved the impending shortage of hand disinfectant gel that existed at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. Thanks to the rapid approval of temporary authorisations and the increase in […]
EU Biotech School & Health Hub: a flagship project for the international development of Belgian biotech and biopharma

Train more talent, support more start-ups and scale-ups, so that biotechnology and biopharmaceuticals, such a key sector for the economy, prosperity, and employment in Wallonia, develop internationally and are ready for the next generation of therapies and production processes. This is the ambitious goal of the EU Biotech School & Health Hub, a state-of-the-art training […]
WeteWaWerkt: new series of videos places young STEM talent in the spotlight

WeteWaWerkt: in this series of videos from Technopolis and the ‘Vlaamse Ondernemers’ (Flemish entrepreneurs) of which essenscia is part, eight young business employees from various sectors demonstrate what their jobs entail and explain which routes they took to end up working in a STEM profession. The aim is to inspire third grade secondary school pupils, […]
Action plan in the Port of Antwerp to combat plastic pellets in nature

The aim of a comprehensive action plan, launched at the end of 2019 by the partner organisations of the Zero Pellet Loss initiative in the Port of Antwerp, is to prevent plastic pellets (called ‘nurdles’) from accidentally ending up in the environment. One year on and a great deal of action has been taken, from […]
Number of bicycle accidents by BASF employees drops by 35%

BASF Antwerp was one of the first port companies to start a bicycle leasing project. However, with the increasing use of bicycles, the number of bicycle accidents also increased. To turn this around, the company started a prevention policy, internal campaigns and training courses, and improved the bicycle lanes on the company site itself. Result: […]
Educational first: chemical and pharmaceutical sector puts employees part-time in front of the classroom

Dual teaching is an innovative educational concept in which employees from chemical and pharmaceutical companies can teach temporarily and part-time in a secondary school. This brings practice closer to STEM education and at the same time tackles the shortage of specialist teachers. The pilot project was established in collaboration with the Flemish ministers of Education […]