Faculty Economics Management Communication Politics (EMCP) is a school that listens to people and is open to the world. It offers training in four major disciplines, in day courses or on a staggered timetable, with a strong commitment to student supervision and support. It conducts excellent interdisciplinary scientific research in cutting-edge fields. For tomorrow's experts and decision-makers!

The studies

The Faculty offers high-quality, local training that emphasizes rigor and critical thinking beyond pure knowledge. It strives to make its future experts and decision-makers aware of societal responsibility, interdisciplinarity and the international dimension. The bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs it offers are in four major disciplines:

Eco études

Pedagogy: a strong commitment!

The Faculty attaches the utmost importance to supervising and supporting students, whether in daytime classes or on a staggered timetable. Learning by doing, service learning, staggered schedule hybridization, ... Come and discover our pedagogical approach as well as our various schemes.

Eco études
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Eco études

The Faculty, also in staggered hours

Do you want to study on a shift schedule? The Faculty offers a range of adapted training courses.

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Learning by doing

16/05/2025 | 15th Belgian Entrepreneurship Research Day (BERD)

After a first visit 10 years ago, the Belgian Entrepreneurship Research Day (BERD) is back in Namur for its 15th edition which will be held on Friday, May 16, 2025.  

Spotlight

News

Motivation, leadership and AI: three levers to transform hospital practices

IA
Management
Health

In a fast-changing hospital sector, with ever-increasing demands for performance and innovation, project management plays a key role. Kevin Lejeune, Program Manager at CHU UCL Namur, is tackling these challenges as part of a management thesis at the University of Namur, within the EMCP Faculty (Economics, Management, Communication and SciencesPo), under the supervision of Professor Corentin Burnay. His ambition: to understand and structure the human and technological dynamics shaping hospital governance, and propose concrete levers to support its transformation.

professeur et étudiant en train de travailler

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.

Beyond his research, he shares his expertise by leading project management training courses tailored to the hospital sector, and works with several institutions in Belgium and Benin. This involvement enables him to test the lessons learned from his research in real-life conditions, and to contribute to a sustainable transformation of healthcare organizations, in close collaboration with his scientific supervision at UNamur.

professeur et étudiant en train de travailler

Discover Management studies :

Discover management research :

Two students from the Faculty of Law become world diplomacy champions

Law
Students
Political science
Portrait

Law students at UNamur, Marilyn Emmerechts and Delphine Blomme are part of the MUN Society Belgium (MSB), an organization that offers debate simulations in UN committees. In March, their team travelled to Manila, Philippines, to compete in the World Student Diplomacy Championships, organized by Harvard University. For five days, they debated alongside over 1,000 students. Interview.

etudiantes-droit-diplomatie

How would you define diplomacy?

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.

What drew you to this art form?

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.

What qualities do you consider particularly important in diplomacy?

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.

How does this experience complement your legal training?

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.

This year, which country did you represent and on what subject?

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: For my part, I represented Colombia, on the social development commission.

What do you like best about this experience?

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.

It was Belgium's 12th victory and fifth in a row. How do you explain this success?

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.

Media and politics: a prestigious international collaboration

Economy

For the past ten years, Professor Guilhem Cassan has been working on the question of the link between the media and political life in collaboration with Professor Julia Cagé, who has just been awarded the highly prestigious Yrjö Jahnsson Prize, which recognizes the best European economist under the age of 45. The UNamur Department of Economics (EMCP Faculty) and the DeFiPP Institute (CRED Centre) have a network and recognized international expertise in development economics and environmental economics.

Logo Institut DeFiPP

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.

The DeFiPP Institute

The Development Finance and Public Policies Institute (DeFIPP) consolidates the research work carried out in three pre-existing centers:

  • Centre de recherche en économie du développement (CRED)
  • Centre de recherche en finance et gestion (CeReFiM)
  • Centre de recherche en économie régionale et politique économique (CERPE)

around three main areas of research: development economics, public policies and regional economics and finance, and monetary economics.

Logo Institut DeFiPP

EMCP Faculty | Studies in the Department of Economics

Faire des études en économie, c'est comprendre la dimension fondamentale du fonctionnement des entreprises et de notre société pour conseiller et agir en expert et décideur responsable.  

Pilot experiment at UNamur: 25 students share their knowledge of sustainable development and transition

Sustainable

They are future veterinarians, doctors, lawyers, historians, geographers, or even computer scientists, and they share this common point: the concern to train themselves, voluntarily, in the challenges of sustainable development and transition. Since October 2024, 25 mainly 3rd-year students from various UNamur faculties have been taking part in a pilot experiment: the Journées de l'Education au Développement Durable et à la Transition (JEDDT). This Monday, March 17, they presented in a creative form, the fruit of their reflection after 6 months of training.

Représentation du globe terrestre dans un environnement vert

The organization of the JEDDT is an institutional project that aims to train 3rd-year bachelor students at the University of Namur in the multiple challenges of the transition to sustainable development, in its social, environmental, economic and democratic dimensions. With the JEDDT, students are led to think in order to act.

"This is a brand-new initiative whose aim is, by training and raising awareness among young people, to generate commitment in their leaders, while forging links within and outside the university community," explains Amélie Lachapelle professor in the Faculty of Law, who coordinates the JEDDT with Grégoire Wieërs, professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Caroline Canon teacher in the Faculty of Medicine.

Photo des porteurs du projet JEDDT - G. Wieërs, A. Lachapelle et C. Canon
From left to right: Grégoire Wieërs, Amélie Lachapelle and Caroline Canon.

Throughout the year, students were invited to take part in a series of activities, conferences and workshops organized on campus to fuel their reflection, and to keep a logbook to raise awareness of their learning. And on March 17, the closing event of the JEDDT gave them the opportunity to present to the university community, and the wider public, the fruit of the reflection carried out in teams. Through creative formats, they challenged themselves in front of a jury made up of experts and representatives of civil society.

See the closing event in pictures

Représentation du globe terrestre dans un environnement vert

The closing day jury was made up of: Laurent Schumacher, Vice-Rector for Sustainable Development and Education, Fabienne Bister, entrepreneur, UNamur alumni and President of the 6-24 Fund managed by the King Baudouin Foundation, Magalie Meyer, Project Manager at TRAKK, Anne-Catherine Vieujean, Director of the Pôle Académique Namurois, François Nélis, Director of UNamur's Communication Administration and Jean-Marie Balland, Professor at UNamur's Department of Economics.

The advantages of JEDDT?

  • Une formation interdisciplinaire avec des conférences sur des thématiques telles que la santé (humaine, animale et planétaire), la gouvernance climatique, le management du développement durable en entreprise, la soutenabilité du numérique, le changement global (changement climatique, biodiversité, ressources en énergie…), le rôle joué par le droit dans la transition, ou encore les enjeux de justice environnementale et sociale.  
  • Une formation proposée à l’ensemble des étudiants de 3ème année des 7 facultés de l’UNamur. 
  • Une dizaine d’enseignants de 7 facultés différentes directement impliqués dans le projet. 
  • Une pédagogie novatrice adaptée aux enjeux de transition développée en collaboration avec PUNCH et la FaSEF (Faculté des sciences de l'éducation et de la formation). 
  • Une expérience humaine au travers d’un travail collectif en équipe pluridisciplinaire et de la création d’un support créatif avec l’aide des services de l’université.  
  • La découverte du campus au travers d’activités organisées sur tous ses sites (facultés, BNB, BLC, Quai 22, Haugimont, etc.). 

Et l’année prochaine ?  

Les JEDDT se poursuivent évidemment avec le statut d’ « unité d’enseignement transversale » à part entière, ce qui leur confèreront une meilleure visibilité, valorisation et intégration dans le programme de l’étudiant. 

« Les JEDDT s’inscrivent pleinement dans le cadre du plan stratégique institutionnel Univers 2025 dont l’un des objectifs est de faire de l’UNamur un campus durable sur le fond et sur la forme », précise Annick Castiaux, Rectrice de l’UNamur.  

Supported by the King Baudouin Foundation's 6-24 Fund

Initiées au départ grâce à un budget impulsionnel de l’université dans le cadre de l’appel Campus Namur Durable (CaNDLE), les JEDDT ont la chance d’être soutenues par le Fonds 6-24 géré par la Fondation Roi Baudouin. Ce fonds, dont le développement durable est l’une des thématiques privilégiées, a été fondé par les entrepreneurs Michel et Carole Dumont (Lebronze Alloys). Michel Dumont et Fabienne Bister, respectivement fondateur et présidente du Fonds 6-24, sont tous deux alumni de l’UNamur en sciences économiques. « Les membres du Fonds 6-24 ont tous été impressionnés par la vitesse, la force d’impact et le professionnalisme pour transformer cette idée de JEDDT en un projet concret, en l’espace de quelques semaines, tout en fédérant un grand nombre d’acteurs autour de cette initiative extraordinaire », explique Fabienne Bister. Grâce à ce mécénat, nous avons permis de tester une nouvelle formule académique, tout en mettant en place une mécanique qui permettra à tous les étudiants de troisième année de découvrir en quoi la durabilité permet de dessiner un bel avenir pour l’humanité ». Michel Dumont poursuit : « En liaison étroite avec la Fondation Roi Baudouin qui gère notre Fonds, nous sommes très heureux et fiers d'apporter notre soutien à une initiative qui permet aux étudiants de travailler dans une approche inter-facultés sur le sujet majeur de la durabilité. Les carrières seront de plus en plus pluridisciplinaires et évolutives, avec la nécessité de travailler en équipe. Le projet innovant développé par l'UNamur se situe bien dans ce cadre où l'adaptabilité sera un atout important pour gérer les défis nombreux que les nouvelles générations vont devoir affronter et résoudre ». 

Find out more about JEDDT

Motivation, leadership and AI: three levers to transform hospital practices

IA
Management
Health

In a fast-changing hospital sector, with ever-increasing demands for performance and innovation, project management plays a key role. Kevin Lejeune, Program Manager at CHU UCL Namur, is tackling these challenges as part of a management thesis at the University of Namur, within the EMCP Faculty (Economics, Management, Communication and SciencesPo), under the supervision of Professor Corentin Burnay. His ambition: to understand and structure the human and technological dynamics shaping hospital governance, and propose concrete levers to support its transformation.

professeur et étudiant en train de travailler

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.

Beyond his research, he shares his expertise by leading project management training courses tailored to the hospital sector, and works with several institutions in Belgium and Benin. This involvement enables him to test the lessons learned from his research in real-life conditions, and to contribute to a sustainable transformation of healthcare organizations, in close collaboration with his scientific supervision at UNamur.

professeur et étudiant en train de travailler

Discover Management studies :

Discover management research :

Two students from the Faculty of Law become world diplomacy champions

Law
Students
Political science
Portrait

Law students at UNamur, Marilyn Emmerechts and Delphine Blomme are part of the MUN Society Belgium (MSB), an organization that offers debate simulations in UN committees. In March, their team travelled to Manila, Philippines, to compete in the World Student Diplomacy Championships, organized by Harvard University. For five days, they debated alongside over 1,000 students. Interview.

etudiantes-droit-diplomatie

How would you define diplomacy?

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.

What drew you to this art form?

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.

What qualities do you consider particularly important in diplomacy?

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.

How does this experience complement your legal training?

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.

This year, which country did you represent and on what subject?

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: For my part, I represented Colombia, on the social development commission.

What do you like best about this experience?

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.

It was Belgium's 12th victory and fifth in a row. How do you explain this success?

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.

Media and politics: a prestigious international collaboration

Economy

For the past ten years, Professor Guilhem Cassan has been working on the question of the link between the media and political life in collaboration with Professor Julia Cagé, who has just been awarded the highly prestigious Yrjö Jahnsson Prize, which recognizes the best European economist under the age of 45. The UNamur Department of Economics (EMCP Faculty) and the DeFiPP Institute (CRED Centre) have a network and recognized international expertise in development economics and environmental economics.

Logo Institut DeFiPP

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.

The DeFiPP Institute

The Development Finance and Public Policies Institute (DeFIPP) consolidates the research work carried out in three pre-existing centers:

  • Centre de recherche en économie du développement (CRED)
  • Centre de recherche en finance et gestion (CeReFiM)
  • Centre de recherche en économie régionale et politique économique (CERPE)

around three main areas of research: development economics, public policies and regional economics and finance, and monetary economics.

Logo Institut DeFiPP

EMCP Faculty | Studies in the Department of Economics

Faire des études en économie, c'est comprendre la dimension fondamentale du fonctionnement des entreprises et de notre société pour conseiller et agir en expert et décideur responsable.  

Pilot experiment at UNamur: 25 students share their knowledge of sustainable development and transition

Sustainable

They are future veterinarians, doctors, lawyers, historians, geographers, or even computer scientists, and they share this common point: the concern to train themselves, voluntarily, in the challenges of sustainable development and transition. Since October 2024, 25 mainly 3rd-year students from various UNamur faculties have been taking part in a pilot experiment: the Journées de l'Education au Développement Durable et à la Transition (JEDDT). This Monday, March 17, they presented in a creative form, the fruit of their reflection after 6 months of training.

Représentation du globe terrestre dans un environnement vert

The organization of the JEDDT is an institutional project that aims to train 3rd-year bachelor students at the University of Namur in the multiple challenges of the transition to sustainable development, in its social, environmental, economic and democratic dimensions. With the JEDDT, students are led to think in order to act.

"This is a brand-new initiative whose aim is, by training and raising awareness among young people, to generate commitment in their leaders, while forging links within and outside the university community," explains Amélie Lachapelle professor in the Faculty of Law, who coordinates the JEDDT with Grégoire Wieërs, professor in the Faculty of Medicine and Caroline Canon teacher in the Faculty of Medicine.

Photo des porteurs du projet JEDDT - G. Wieërs, A. Lachapelle et C. Canon
From left to right: Grégoire Wieërs, Amélie Lachapelle and Caroline Canon.

Throughout the year, students were invited to take part in a series of activities, conferences and workshops organized on campus to fuel their reflection, and to keep a logbook to raise awareness of their learning. And on March 17, the closing event of the JEDDT gave them the opportunity to present to the university community, and the wider public, the fruit of the reflection carried out in teams. Through creative formats, they challenged themselves in front of a jury made up of experts and representatives of civil society.

See the closing event in pictures

Représentation du globe terrestre dans un environnement vert

The closing day jury was made up of: Laurent Schumacher, Vice-Rector for Sustainable Development and Education, Fabienne Bister, entrepreneur, UNamur alumni and President of the 6-24 Fund managed by the King Baudouin Foundation, Magalie Meyer, Project Manager at TRAKK, Anne-Catherine Vieujean, Director of the Pôle Académique Namurois, François Nélis, Director of UNamur's Communication Administration and Jean-Marie Balland, Professor at UNamur's Department of Economics.

The advantages of JEDDT?

  • Une formation interdisciplinaire avec des conférences sur des thématiques telles que la santé (humaine, animale et planétaire), la gouvernance climatique, le management du développement durable en entreprise, la soutenabilité du numérique, le changement global (changement climatique, biodiversité, ressources en énergie…), le rôle joué par le droit dans la transition, ou encore les enjeux de justice environnementale et sociale.  
  • Une formation proposée à l’ensemble des étudiants de 3ème année des 7 facultés de l’UNamur. 
  • Une dizaine d’enseignants de 7 facultés différentes directement impliqués dans le projet. 
  • Une pédagogie novatrice adaptée aux enjeux de transition développée en collaboration avec PUNCH et la FaSEF (Faculté des sciences de l'éducation et de la formation). 
  • Une expérience humaine au travers d’un travail collectif en équipe pluridisciplinaire et de la création d’un support créatif avec l’aide des services de l’université.  
  • La découverte du campus au travers d’activités organisées sur tous ses sites (facultés, BNB, BLC, Quai 22, Haugimont, etc.). 

Et l’année prochaine ?  

Les JEDDT se poursuivent évidemment avec le statut d’ « unité d’enseignement transversale » à part entière, ce qui leur confèreront une meilleure visibilité, valorisation et intégration dans le programme de l’étudiant. 

« Les JEDDT s’inscrivent pleinement dans le cadre du plan stratégique institutionnel Univers 2025 dont l’un des objectifs est de faire de l’UNamur un campus durable sur le fond et sur la forme », précise Annick Castiaux, Rectrice de l’UNamur.  

Supported by the King Baudouin Foundation's 6-24 Fund

Initiées au départ grâce à un budget impulsionnel de l’université dans le cadre de l’appel Campus Namur Durable (CaNDLE), les JEDDT ont la chance d’être soutenues par le Fonds 6-24 géré par la Fondation Roi Baudouin. Ce fonds, dont le développement durable est l’une des thématiques privilégiées, a été fondé par les entrepreneurs Michel et Carole Dumont (Lebronze Alloys). Michel Dumont et Fabienne Bister, respectivement fondateur et présidente du Fonds 6-24, sont tous deux alumni de l’UNamur en sciences économiques. « Les membres du Fonds 6-24 ont tous été impressionnés par la vitesse, la force d’impact et le professionnalisme pour transformer cette idée de JEDDT en un projet concret, en l’espace de quelques semaines, tout en fédérant un grand nombre d’acteurs autour de cette initiative extraordinaire », explique Fabienne Bister. Grâce à ce mécénat, nous avons permis de tester une nouvelle formule académique, tout en mettant en place une mécanique qui permettra à tous les étudiants de troisième année de découvrir en quoi la durabilité permet de dessiner un bel avenir pour l’humanité ». Michel Dumont poursuit : « En liaison étroite avec la Fondation Roi Baudouin qui gère notre Fonds, nous sommes très heureux et fiers d'apporter notre soutien à une initiative qui permet aux étudiants de travailler dans une approche inter-facultés sur le sujet majeur de la durabilité. Les carrières seront de plus en plus pluridisciplinaires et évolutives, avec la nécessité de travailler en équipe. Le projet innovant développé par l'UNamur se situe bien dans ce cadre où l'adaptabilité sera un atout important pour gérer les défis nombreux que les nouvelles générations vont devoir affronter et résoudre ». 

Find out more about JEDDT

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Agenda

13

Vivre la Ville | What technologies for the city of 2030?

Evènement

Vivre la Ville | What technologies for the city of 2030?

Transition numérique
Register for the event
13
09:00 - 14:00
TRAKK - Avenue Reine Astrid, 16 - 5000 Namur
Contact person :  Simonofski Anthony
Register for the event

The time has come for the 2025 edition of the Vivre la Ville conference. A time to position ourselves in a forward-looking approach to emerging technologies as a lever of innovation at the service of cities.

Visuel Vivre la Ville 2025

The program

Interventions by experts and researchers in the field of data science, , AI, digital twins, digital law and participatory processes.

Registrations on the Vivre la Ville...

website.
28

Summer open house

Corporate event

Save the date!

On Saturday June 28, 2025, from 1pm to 5pm, UNamur once again opens its doors to you before the summer vacations.

At the program

Professors, assistants, students and staff members look forward to welcoming you to

  • answer all your questions about your future studies;
  • share with you their experience of university life and its many opportunities for fulfillment;
  • guide you through your final practical steps: registration, preparatory courses, finding accommodation, financial aid and more.

Forthcoming information

The afternoon's detailed program will be available some ten days before the event.

30

Public thesis defense - Komlan Elikplim AGBA

Thesis defense

Public thesis defense - Komlan Elikplim AGBA

Economie
30
20:00 - 23:00
Auditoire E13 - Premier étage de la Faculté EMCP - Rempart de la Vierge 8 - 5000 Namur
Contact person :  J'Espère Nathan

The Rector of the University of Namur informs that Mr. Komlan Elikplim AGBA will publicly defend his dissertation for the title of Doctor in Economic Sciences and Management.

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Essay topic

Essays on the macroeconomic effects of cross-country and time heterogeneity in a monetary union

Composition of the Jury

Promoters

  • Professor Jean-Yves Gnabo, University of Namur
  • Professor Hamza Bennani (University of Nantes), Co-promoter

Other Jury members

  • Professor Sophie Béreau, Université de Namur
  • Professor Pauline Gandré, Université Paris Nanterre
  • Professor Yuliya Rychalovska, Université de Namur

President of the Jury

  • Professor Oscar Bernal, Université de Namur
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Research

The Faculty's many research teams aim to produce research of excellence where quality takes precedence over quantity. By concentrating their research efforts in cutting-edge fields, they produce scientific research, open to interdisciplinary rapprochements, with a societal impact, on a national and international scale. The research carried out in the Faculty feeds its teaching and its capacity to innovate.

International

In addition to the internationalization of faculty life (courses and other activities, students, teachers), the Faculty offers Bachelor's and Master's level mobility opportunities in the form of "course" exchange programs (Erasmus Belgica, Erasmus + and non-European stays) as well as internships in companies and other organizations abroad!

International photos etudiants

A word from the Dean

More portraits
Students are at the heart of our profession, they are our joy, our pride. By working together, openly, creatively and constructively, we'll make sure they shine, both at UNamur and beyond its walls.
Pietro Zidda
Dean of the Faculty Economics Management Communication Politics (EMCP)
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The Faculty in figures

1800
Students
15
Percentage of international students
4
Departments
250
Staff members
Image
Dispositifs pédagogiques fac sciences éco

Contacts and location

Faculty Economics Management Communication Politics (EMCP) welcomes you to the heart of the Namur campus.