This article is taken from the March 2025 "The Day When" section of Omalius magazine.

Who hasn't been delighted to discover a postcard in their letterbox? Today, as in the past, this little piece of cardboard circulates over distances of varying length, letting people know, in pictures and a few words, that we're being thought of. Although the use of postcards is declining these days due to competition from digital communications, they have long played a fundamental communicative role in our society. As soon as they were launched in Austria in 1869 (they arrived in Belgium two years later), they met with great success, which lasted at least until the Second World War. They were often used to make appointments, to acknowledge receipt of a parcel, or simply to check on a loved one. Very quickly, amateurs became passionate about these documents, which were accessible to all due to their modest price, and built up veritable collections of them.

From the 1890s onwards, chromolithographic or photographic views replaced the advertising content that had prevailed until then. These images were invaluable testimonials: illustrated newspapers were expensive (and therefore inaccessible to the majority), and cinema was still in its infancy at the beginning of the 20th century. The postcard thus became an eminently popular medium. It was not uncommon to have individual or family portraits printed in postcard format and sent to friends and family, at a time when the camera was not the everyday object it is today. In most cases, the image chosen by the sender indicated to the recipient the place from which the card had been sent: those featuring remarkable landscapes or monuments were therefore particularly sought-after.

The thousands of postcards preserved at the BUMP, more than 3,000 of which are already digitized on the library's digitization portal (https://neptun.unamur.be/), thus enable us to discover the face of various Belgian cities at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. The BUMP collection includes, among others, over 400 digitized maps depicting Namur at that time: the city is revealed through panoramas taken from the citadel, photographs of its most famous buildings (the cathedral, the citadel, the theater, the train station...) or views of the Sambre, the Meuse or the Rochers des Grands-Malades (between Namur and Beez).

Among this set of views of Namur are twenty-three postcards that reveal the university campus as it was in 1937. The series was produced, probably at the request of the institution, by Namur photographer Jean Lemaire (1891-1967), who was renowned for his portraits and for his work on heritage. The series was so successful that it was republished several times, with the addition of a few new images. The postcards show the infrastructures that once housed the Faculties' research and teaching activities. These include the dome of the historic astronomical observatory, which stood on the site of today's Observatoire Antoine Thomas sj at UNamur, and the facade of the library, then located on rue Grafé. While the appearance of some buildings has changed relatively little, this is not the case, for example, with the former Faculty of Science, also immortalized in the series, which has since been demolished and replaced by a more modern construction.

Jean Lemaire's photographs also highlight the spaces that were made available to students and staff. Several shots show the appearance of the auditoriums of the time, already equipped with folding seats, and the practical rooms, such as the microscopy room (image 1) or the physics and chemistry laboratories. The stacks and consultation room of the Belles Lettres library, from which several readers can be seen (image 2), also come into view. Places devoted to moments of relaxation are not forgotten: several views thus immortalize the bar (image 3), the refectory, the billiard room or even the circle room.

The series of postcards allows us to identify and date the scientific and educational equipment used at the time. Alongside Mendeleïev's tables and other didactic panels, the shots show several instruments used by chemists or physicists, including an Atwood machine, which made it possible to reduce the acceleration of motion and verify the laws of falling bodies. We also discover the use of "Brendel" models, splendid papier-mâché teaching aids used in the botany study room (image 4), or that of a "repro camera", which was used to obtain extremely precise photographic reproductions, for example, of scientific and technical drawings. While many of these pieces are now preserved at the BUMP (such as the botanical models) or within the departments concerned, others have disappeared over time and are known only through this series of photographs.

The collection of postcards preserved at the BUMP thus constitutes a precious testimony to the society that saw their birth. Vectors of a major social and emotional bond in the 19th and 20th centuries, these little pieces of cardboard provide irreplaceable documentation on the history of the city and the University of Namur, and document a societal practice that is almost obsolete today, in the age of the instantaneous and digital. This collection is now freely accessible, via the BUMP digitization portal, to anyone curious about our heritage.

Olivier Latteur

With its 5,000 employees, CHU UCL Namur is a unique field of study. A university hospital and the leading private employer in the province of Namur, it combines care, teaching and research missions, while facing the challenges of a constantly evolving organization. In this context, better structuring projects, reinforcing strategic steering and intelligently integrating technological innovation is becoming an imperative to guarantee the efficiency of processes and the sustainability of the reforms undertaken.

In contrast to other sectors, where projects are often entrusted to professionals trained in classic project management methodologies, hospitals rely mainly on non-professional project managers. These players, be they doctors, nurses, pharmacists, biologists, administrative staff, etc., regularly find themselves piloting strategic initiatives without dedicated project management training. Kevin Lejeune is interested in this reality, and seeks to understand how their intrinsic motivation and ability to structure initiatives in an informal setting influence the success of hospital projects. His doctoral thesis is part of a wider reflection on the balance between professionalization and organizational agility, supported by the academic expertise of UNamur.

While the sponsor is often presented as a key figure in projects, his role remains unclear and unevenly invested in reality. To what extent does his real involvement and interaction with the project manager influence the success of hospital initiatives? Drawing on the theory of leader-member exchange, Kevin Lejeune sets out to demonstrate that it's not so much the presence of the sponsor that matters, as the quality of his or her commitment. His work highlights three essential levers: the sponsor's concrete actions, his relational qualities and his level of involvement. This theoretical framework, nurtured by regular exchanges with the academic world of the EMCP Faculty, aims to provide tangible recommendations for rethinking leadership in hospital governance and better structuring the support of project managers.

The rise of artificial intelligence in healthcare opens up promising prospects, but also raises organizational and psychological resistance. How can we ensure that these tools do not remain isolated experiments, but become genuine catalysts for innovation within healthcare establishments? This is the issue that Kevin Lejeune explores in the final part of his research. He aims to identify the factors that influence the acceptance and integration of AI tools into hospital processes. Far from taking a purely technological approach, he focuses on the psychological and behavioral barriers that condition the adoption of these innovations. In particular, it analyzes the impact of perceived competence, self-esteem and professional recognition on the adoption of AI tools. By crossing hospital fieldwork and academic contributions, notably from UNamur, the aim is to propose implementation strategies adapted to the human dynamics specific to hospitals.

Through this thesis, Kevin Lejeune aims to offer hospitals operational keys to improve the management of their projects, structure the role of sponsors and support the adoption of technological innovations. Combining scientific rigor with a grounding in the field, his work is based on a dual approach: deciphering hospital organizational mechanisms to identify levers for improvement, and ensuring that these recommendations can be implemented pragmatically.

Marilyn : Diplomacy is a way for state representatives, like ambassadors, to exchange and defend their country's interests on the international stage. The idea is always to seek compromise and cooperation between states. Each country has its own history, its own values, its own politics, but the aim is to put our differences aside to find common solutions.

Delphine: I've always been interested in international relations. It's a field I'm passionate about and I really wanted to do something concrete with it. Participating in this type of experience is an incredible opportunity.

Marilyn : What I love about my studies is all the theoretical part of law, but I was missing a more practical aspect. Diplomacy precisely allows me to develop speaking, debating and negotiating skills: skills that will be essential for me later on, particularly when working in law.

Marilyn : Listening is really essential. You have to be able to understand the reasoning of others, especially in a context where everyone comes from a different country, with their own way of approaching problems. The aim is to arrive at a solution that can benefit everyone, and to do that, you have to know how to listen, follow the arguments of others and build a common response.

Delphine: You also need to be able to put yourself in the other person's shoes, to understand their point of view. And then, self-confidence is important, especially when you're speaking or debating. You also need to know how to adapt, in particular by listening to what others have to say, so you can adjust your own speech accordingly.

Marylin: During these conferences, each party arrives with its own issues. The challenge is to succeed in integrating all these perspectives into a common solution, and that really comes down to listening and adaptability.

Marilyn : I learn a lot from her, especially in speaking and negotiating, which are key skills for practicing as a judge or lawyer. Knowing how to defend someone requires more than theory. I'm also doing further training in political science and have a course in the history of international relations. The lectures allow me to apply what I'm learning, but also to better understand how things work in practice.

Delphine: It also helps us make the connection with certain courses, like European or international law. It's a good way to start familiarizing ourselves with these subjects, while approaching them in a more concrete way.

Delphine: This year, the competition was held in Manila, in the Philippines, for a week. We received the theme a few weeks before the competition, which enabled us to prepare well, to understand the position of the country we were representing, so that we could best defend our point of view during the debates. Personally, I represented Egypt in the Social, Cultural and Humanitarian Committee (SOCHUM). The topic was access to universal healthcare.

Marilyn: For my part, I represented Colombia, in the social development committee. The theme was global poverty reduction. It's quite a broad topic, with a multidimensional approach, both cultural, social and economic, which made the research and negotiation work particularly interesting.

Marilyn: What I really like is all the personal development it's given me. I've gained a huge amount of self-confidence, I've got to know my strengths and weaknesses better. It's also really motivating to see how far you've come. I think that, in a few years' time, that's what I'll remember most of all: how much this experience has made me grow.

Delphine: MSB pushes us as much academically as personally. You develop as a person, gain confidence and become more efficient. All this with a group of friends who are living the same adventure as we are. You also get to meet people from all over the world, which really opens up your mind.

Marilyn: This year was also MSB's 20th anniversary. I think our real strength is diversity. Within MSB, there are students from all over Belgium, as much from Wallonia as from Flanders and from a wide variety of backgrounds: law, engineering, medicine, political science... And then above all, there's an incredible friendship between us.

Delphine: We're all highly motivated and we're living this adventure to the full, together. During the conference, we rely heavily on our ability to listen and adapt. We're not here to impose our ideas, but to build collective solutions with the other delegations.

Guilhem Cassan - Department of Economics, EMCP Faculty and Institut DeFiPP (CRED) at the University of Namur - and Julia Cagé - Department of Economics, Sciences Po Paris -, are studying in particular how political life influences the newspaper market in the USA and India, using newly collected data and cutting-edge econometric methods.

This link through research feeds back into the teaching of the economics department, which has a long tradition of integrating cutting-edge research and teaching. Professor Julia Cagé has been a guest lecturer on several occasions in the EMCP Faculty courses, in this case in the Block 2 Integrated Teaching Unit and in research seminars organized by the Institut DeFiPP.

The Yrjö Jahnsson Prize is awarded every two years to a European economist under the age of 45 "who has made a contribution in theoretical and applied research of outstanding importance to the study of economics in Europe". The 2025 prize is awarded jointly to Julia Cagé and David Yanagizawa-Drott for their work on the political economy of the media. Julia Cagé's most recent book, "Une histoire du conflit politique", co-authored with Thomas Piketty, had an extraordinary media and political impact in France in 2023.