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In January 2023, an international symposium on organic chemistry was held at UNamur in honour of the 80th birthday of Professor Emeritus Alain Krief. A scientific day with six renowned speakers, including Professor Jean-Marie Lehn, 1987 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Interview.

An international team of researchers, including Professor Benoît Champagne from UNamur, has just published a paper in the prestigious journal "Accounts of Chemical Research" (ACS). They have demonstrated the role of dynamic fluctuations in the structure of molecules on their optical properties. This aspect of dynamics is innovative because previous studies were limited to rigid structures.

What is a perfect fluid? It is a theoretical model of a fluid that allows us to assume that the fluid is not viscous, that it does not conduct heat, that it is incompressible and does not create vortices. It is therefore an approximation of reality that simplifies theoretical predictions of fluid flows. For the first time, an international team has experimentally demonstrated this same behaviour for light immersed in a medium of low refractive index.

On 9 June 2023, the NISM and naXys Institutes, the Physics and Chemistry Departments and the Namur Research College were delighted to welcome Prof. Jean-Luc Brédas from the University of Arizona. A prestigious speaker of international renown, Prof. Brédas completed his doctoral thesis with Prof. Jean-Marie André at the University of Namur.

This is a technical and scientific feat that has just been patented at the UNamur. Researchers from the Laboratory of Analysis by Nuclear Reactions (LARN), the Department of Physics of UNamur (NISM Institute) and the spin-off Innovative Coating Solutions (ICS) have succeeded in developing a carbon-based coating with innovative properties that can be used in a wide range of fields, including fuel cells, decoration, and mechanical parts for automobiles.

On 21 and 22 September 2023, for the 4th year running, Belgian researchers came together for the bePOM conference. The format was original, with a virtual day and a hybrid day combining virtual and face-to-face sessions. A great success, and a Belgian network that is growing from strength to strength.

In a new study published in February 2023 in the Journal of Luminescence, an international group of scientists led by Sébastien Mouchet from UNamur, reported the previously unknown fluorescence properties of transparent insect wings. This research highlights the valuable information that can be obtained from advanced optical characterisation techniques.

Dr. Sébastien Mouchet, a researcher at UNamur and member of the NISM and ILEE Institutes, has just published the results of research focusing on the effects of pollution on coral reef fish in MDPI-Optics. The findings of the international, multidisciplinary team lead to crucial conclusions with implications for the health of marine ecosystems.

It's obvious to anyone paying attention to the paths taken by a growing number of 21st century thinkers: these paths lead to the living! Whether it's called "ecophilosophy", "ecoanthropology", "ecosophy", or "ecopolitics", this thinking about the living is occupying a growing place not only in the media and publications of all kinds, but also in concrete actions in a variety of fields.Program 2024-2025 | At the Roots of the HumanTo introduce the subjectIf we were to take stock of the history of mankind, one trend would certainly stand out: that of a utilitarian relationship with the non-human that continues to grow, and consequently that of a widening gap between the human and the rest.Humanity, however, has its roots in a living environment that cultivates many other relationships than those we currently privilege, which are dominated by instrumental rationality. Sounding out these forgotten relational universes without which it is increasingly difficult to think about the human is one aim of this seminar, which this year will invite you to encounter the plant.On December 13 2024 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm (intervention, discussions and convivial moment). Quentin HIERNAUX will introduce plant philosophy and tell us about Humboldt's "Tableau physique des Andes" and his equinoctial geography of plants.Next datesOn February 28, 2025 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm (intervention, discussions and convivial moment), Jean-Baptiste VUILLEROD will address the following theme: Naturphilosophie du végétal : Goethe, Schelling, Humboldt.OnApril 11, 2025from 2:00 to 4:00 pm (intervention, discussions and convivial moment), Roland CAZALIS will share with us his biologist's point of view on the plant world. Find out more about seminars

It's obvious to anyone paying attention to the paths taken by a growing number of 21st century thinkers: these paths lead to the living! Whether it's called "ecophilosophy", "ecoanthropology", "ecosophy", or "ecopolitics", this thinking about the living is occupying a growing place not only in the media and publications of all kinds, but also in concrete actions in a variety of fields.Program 2024-2025 | At the Roots of the HumanTo introduce the subjectIf we were to take stock of the history of mankind, one trend would certainly stand out: that of a utilitarian relationship with the non-human that continues to grow, and consequently that of a widening gap between the human and the rest.Humanity, however, has its roots in a living environment that cultivates many other relationships than those we currently privilege, which are dominated by instrumental rationality. Sounding out these forgotten relational universes without which it is increasingly difficult to think about the human is one of the aims of this seminar, which this year will invite you to encounter the plant.Next dateOnApril 11, 2025from 2:00 to 4:00 pm (talk, discussions and convivial moment), Roland CAZALIS will share with us his biologist's point of view on the plant world. Find out more about seminars

Colloques 14/11/2024 | The Emergence of ConsciousnessInterdisciplinary colloquium organized by ESPHIN (UNamur's Espace Philosophique), with the collaboration of the Centre Universitaire Notre-Dame de la Paix (cUNDP), the Louvain Institute of Biomolecular Science and Technology,and Louvai4evolution (UCLouvain).This free colloquium is aimed at:Specialists, students or PhD students from various disciplines: neuroscience, biology, anthropology, medicine, psychology, philosophy, ethics, computer science, robotics, mathematics, ...People with a passion for interdisciplinarity;Humanists and the curious.Location : Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, rue Grafé 1, Local L22Learn more Ecology of life" seminars It's obvious to anyone paying attention to the paths taken by a growing number of 21st century thinkers: these paths lead to the living! Whether it's called "ecophilosophy", "ecoanthropology", "ecosophy" or "ecopolitics", this way of thinking about the living is occupying a growing place not only in the media and publications of all kinds, but also in concrete actions in a variety of fields.Fashion? Ephemeral trend? Collateral effect of "transitionism" tinged with ambient catastrophism? A new attempt at ecological rebellion? The seminars to which we invite you are intended to be a meeting place - an ecosystem - at the heart of which we will resonate with founding texts of this current that integrates nature, environment, milieu, human and non-human, and straddles the worn-out dualisms of our modern tradition. In other words, we propose to read together some key texts by authors who have attempted to draw lessons from their authentic encounters with other living beings.Program 2024-2025 | At the Roots of the HumanOn December 13 2024 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm (intervention, discussions and convivial moment). Quentin HIERNAUX will introduce plant philosophy and tell us about Humboldt's "Tableau physique des Andes" and his equinoctial geography of plants.On February 28, 2025 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm (intervention, discussions and convivial moment), Jean-Baptiste VUILLEROD will address the following theme: Naturphilosophie du végétal : Goethe, Schelling, Humboldt.OnApril 11, 2025from 2:00 to 4:00 pm (intervention, discussions and convivial moment), Roland CAZALIS will share his biologist's point of view on the plant world.Introducing the subjectIf we were to take stock of the history of mankind, one trend would certainly stand out: that of a utilitarian relationship with the non-human that continues to grow, and consequently that of a widening gap between the human and the rest.Humanity, however, has its roots in a living environment that cultivates many other relationships than those we currently privilege, which are dominated by instrumental rationality. Sounding out these forgotten relational universes, without which it is increasingly difficult to think about the human, is one aim of this seminar, which this year will invite you to encounter the plant.Last year we turned our attention to the communal dimension of living things, starting with the work of Aldo Leopold. In particular, the American forester challenged us with a question from which we should never stray: "just what and whom do we love?". His answer, in the middle of the last century, already confirmed the trend evoked above: "Certainly not the soils, which we allow to be scavenged towards the estuaries. Certainly not the waters, which we assume have no other function than to power turbines, carry barges and carry away garbage. Certainly not plants, whose entire communities we exterminate without batting an eyelid. Certainly not the animals, from which we have already extirpated many of the largest and most magnificent species.". In the face of this lack of consideration for what is not us, the earth ethic proposed by Leopold "modifies the role of homo sapiens, who, from conqueror of the earth-community, becomes a full member and citizen of it". It is thus an ethic that "implies respect for other members as well as for the community as such", and "man is ultimately only a member of a biotic team" ("The Ethics of the Earth", in Almanac of a Sand County).To help us rediscover this vital sense of community, this year we'll turn to plant lifestyles: those living things that maintain intimate relationships with light, air, water and everything we call "soil". How can we let ourselves be instructed by the plants without which we could not exist? "By making possible the world of which they are part and content, plants destroy the topological hierarchy that seems to reign in the cosmos. They demonstrate that life is a breaking of the asymmetry between container and content. When there is life, philosopher Emanuele Coccia continues, the container lies within the content (and is therefore contained by it) and vice versa. The paradigm of this reciprocal imbrication is what the ancients already called breath (pneuma). To blow, to breathe, means in effect to have this experience: that which contains us, the air, becomes contained within us and, conversely, that which was contained within us becomes that which contains us." (The Life of Plants).The Tableau Physique (1807) by Alexander von Humboldt: