Dr. Rudy Herman is a marine ecologist from Belgium. He is a representative of Flanders to the Belgium delegation to the General conference of UNESCO and the General Assembly of the IOC since 1992 where he actively supported the IOC initiatives focused on Training Through Research and other innovative capacity building programmes. He was actively involved in the development of the strategies related to Priority Africa, IODE and ICAM programs. His contribution was critical to the hosting process of UNESCO/ IOC Office for IODE in Belgium which was inaugurated in 2005 and since receives a yearly substantial support from the Government of Flanders. Dr. Herman is instrumental in helping increase the IOC visibility by supporting through Flanders Trust Fund many policy development initiatives such as marine spatial planning, Ocean Forum and others. More