A report of the annual celebrations for Belgian citizen scientist in paleontology

On Saturday 19th October 2024 the Q auditorium at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, was the main venue for the 4th edition of the award ceremony. After the opening speech by the president of Palaeontologica Belgica, an introduction into the inner workings and mission of the GBLsp (Geologica Belgica Luxemburga scientia et professionis) was given by GBLsp vice-president dr. Nuno Da Silva. A strong message concerning the inclusion of researchers regardless of their background or qualifications was being promoted.

After the first presentation by dr. Da Silva a beautiful laudatio was given by a personal friend of the laureate of the Louis De Pauw award. A beautiful homage to the work and person that is Pieter De Schutter was given by his good friend Stijn Everaert.

This beautiful introduction was directly followed by the presentation of the Louis De Pauw Laureate 2024 Pieter De Schutter, who brought his family over to the ceremony and discussed his paleontological parcour since his early adolescence until today. Gradually gaining more interest and researching the things he is curious about. During the presentation we gained a rare insight into the journey that Pieter took from collector to citizen scientist, surrounded by the people who steered him into the right direction.

After the handing out of the award there was no intermission as was customary during the previous editions of the award ceremony. This year the introduction for the Palaeontologica Belgica Award was given by Kevin Nolis who praised the work and career of the Laurate. After this laudatio the winner of the Palaeontologica Belgica award 2024 Kristiaan Hoedemakers took the stage and gave a wonderful lecture on his passion for publications, books and otoliths. A very intimate portait of his passion and trajectory within the Belgian paleontology.

Our master of ceremony invited the two laureates for a joint picture on stage under the applause of the audience. A beautiful picture of two friends who have known each-other for many years but also a picture of a mentor and his pupil and between a professional researcher and a citizen scientist.

The closing keynote talk was reserved to a great scientist from the KU-Leuven, who strongly promotes citizen science driven research into the field of genetic genealogy. Prof. Maarten Larmuseau. the audience and organizers clearly enjoyed his talk.

After the closing talk by François de Bock there was a small reception and networking opportunity amongst the audience, speakers and laureates. We very much enjoyed this edition and this can be re watched on our YouTube channel.

We gladly invite everyone next year for our 5th year anniversary of the ceremony.