Grande Conférence Namuroise - What is "care"? What is health?
What is "care"? What is health?
This opening conference will be an opportunity to explore the contemporary challenges linked to health, care and the transformations needed for a sustainable, inclusive future.Speakers:Barbara Stiegler, philosopher at Bordeaux-Montaigne UniversityGaël Giraud sj, economist and theologian, researcher at CNRS and Doctor Honoris Causa of UNamurFree conference as part of the partnershipRegistration required. Please make sure you select the February 20 conference.
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The archives of the Middle Ages under the microscope of Jean-François Nieus
Jean-François Nieus, F.R.S-FNRS research fellow at UNamur for nearly 20 years, readily describes himself as a "document hunter." Fascinated by the mysteries of the Middle Ages, he explores a period still marked by gray areas and clichés. His main field of study? The documentary practices of the aristocracy of northern France and the former southern Netherlands, which shed light on the political, social, and cultural mechanisms at work between the 11th and 13th centuries.
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International Conference - Memory(ies) and Political Competition in the Roman World (3rd century BC - 4th century AD)
The study of memory phenomena in ancient societies has been a growing field of research since the 1990s, and has been particularly dynamic over the last decade. Awareness of the impact of memory, due to its plasticity, on social and political actors in the ancient world opens up new perspectives for analyzing attested phenomena and events. The conference proposes to study the use of memory and its specific dynamics in the context of political competition, in various spheres and covering a broad chronological framework, from the 3rd century BC to the 4th century AD, with the aim of encouraging dialogue between respective specialists.Organizers: Simon Lambert (F.R.S.-FNRS Research Fellow), Pierre Assenmaker (Professor, UNamur), and Françoise Van Haeperen (Full Professor, UCLouvain)Information and registration: simon.lambert@unamur.be
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International Conference - Beyond the State: New Perspectives on the Conceptual Relationships Between Constitution and Society
Constitutionalism, understood as a means of establishing a political autonomous from society, is seen as having constructed the opposition between the State and society. At the same time, the concept of constitutionalism is increasingly being used to describe other forms of social power and normativity – such as the economy, finance, digital, technologies, media, environment – even though the concrete and theoretical implications of these shifts have not always been fully clarified. More recent trends have emerged within the framework of socio-constitutionalism or societal constitutionalism to challenge the reduction of constitutional issues to state-individual relations, acknowledging the complexity of power. Despite their heterogeneity in assumptions, as well as in their descriptive, normative, and theoretical dimensions, these approaches have contributed to renewing the inquiry into the relationship between constitution and society. The purpose of the conference is to assess the current boundaries of constitutionalism and to explore theoretical proposals seeking to overcome them. These approaches raise several fundamental questions: What role should be granted to social actors and sectors within constitutionalism? How can their normative autonomy be acknowledged while also regulating their private power and expansionist tendencies? To what extent do these transformations challenge traditional forms of politics? At what cost might the relationship between constitution and society be reconsidered today?
Program
January 299:00 a.m. Welcome9:30-10:00 Introduction: Manon Altwegg-Boussac (Paris-Est Creteil University/IUF) and Sabina Tortorella (MSCA/University of Namur)From State to Society: New Challenges for ConstitutionalismChair: Isabelle Aubert (Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne University)10:00-10:30 Thomas Boccon-Gibod (Grenoble Alpes University): Relationships between Constitution and Society10:30-11:00 Simone Mao Zhenting (Harvard University): Constitutionalizing Society in an Age of Fragmented Authority: From State-Centrism to Social Constitutional Norms11:00-11:30 Discussion11:30-12:00 Coffee Break12:00-12:30 Angelo Jr Golia (Luiss Guido Carli): Societal Constitutionalism and General Theory of Law (beyond the State): Norm, Order, Interpretation12:30-12:45 Discussion12:45-14:30 LunchMoving Beyond the Nation-State: Theoretical PerspectivesChair: Eleonora Bottini (Sciences Po)2:30-3:00 p.m. Jean-François Kervégan (Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne University): Politics below and beyond the State: Schmitt and Kojève in Comparative Perspective3:00-3:30 p.m. Paul Linden-Retek (University at Buffalo School of Law): Postnational Society and its Law3:30-4:00 Discussion4:00-4:30 p.m. Coffee BreakNew Conceptual Tools: Alterity and DerogationChair: Eleonora Bottini (Sciences Po)4:30-5:00 p.m. Horatia Muir Watt (Sciences Po): On the Borderline (and beyond the State): Ontologizing Alterity on the Terms of the Law5:00-5:30 p.m. Raffaele Bifulco (Luiss Guido Carli): Derogation as Legal Response to Social Differentiation5:30-6:00 p.m. Discussion6:00 p.m. DinnerJanuary 309:00 a.m. WelcomeMapping Sectoral Constitutions: Case StudiesChair: Sabina Tortorella (MSCA/University of Namur)9:30-10:00 Francesco Martucci (Panthéon-Assas University): Trust and Distrust. State, Society, and Money in the Digital Era10:00-10:30 Nefeli Lefkopoulou (Sciences Po): Exploring Constitutional Narratives in Meta’s Oversight Board: Replicating or Renewing Traditional Constitutionalism?10:30-11:00 Discussion11:00-11:30 Coffee Break11:30-12:00 Manuela Niehaus (University of Administrative Sciences Speyer): Global Climate Constitutionalism beyond the State?12:00-12:30 Mathilde Laporte (Pau University): The Debated Protection of Constitutional Rights within Social Orders beyond the State. The Example of Gated Communities12:30-1:00 p.m. Discussion1:00-2:30 p.m. LunchCritical Insights: Take the Leap?Chair: Manon Altwegg-Boussac (Paris-Est Creteil University/IUF)2:30-3:00 p.m. Chris Thornhill (University of Birmingham): The Military in Sociological Constitutionalism3:00-3:15 Discussion3:15-3:45 p.m. Coffee Break3:45-4:15 p.m. Jörn Reinhardt (Fulda University of Applied Sciences): Regression and Progress in Constitutionalism beyond the State4:15-4:45 p.m. Martin Loughlin (LSE): The Concept of Constitution4:45-5:15 Discussion5:15 p.m. Cocktail
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The warlike desires of modernity
After a presentation of the book, Déborah V. Brosteaux will be interviewed by Thibault De Meyer and Vivien Giet.Free admission. Everyone is welcome.Book presentationFaced with the wars in which European countries are involved, we constantly oscillate between numbness and frenzy. Some war situations give rise to emotional heatedness, a "renewed" psychic and social energy, while others are barely mentioned, relegated to the background. This philosophical investigation delves into the ambivalence of our relationship to war, which is at the heart of the sensitive history of modernity.Inspired by the writings of Walter Benjamin, W. G. Sebald, and Klaus Theweleit, the book explores these warlike emotions throughout the 20th century and questions their legacy: the coldness of distancing, the denial of the ruins after 1945, the desire to intensify the experience of self, which mobilized the imagination in 1914-1918 and was swallowed up in the trenches... even mutating into fascist passions that actively fed on the devastation.Déborah V. Brosteaux takes these desires seriously, including their appeal. And she asks: what emotional transformations can be activated to resist the mobilization of war?
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Delamination of sheepskin parchment: an interdisciplinary discovery published in Heritage Science
At UNamur, parchments are much more than objects of curiosity: they are at the heart of an interdisciplinary scientific adventure. Starting with historical sciences and conservation, the research has gradually incorporated the disciplines of physics, biology, chemistry, and archaeology. This convergence has given rise to research in heritage sciences, driving innovative projects such as Marine Appart's doctoral work, supervised by Professor Olivier Deparis. This research has now been recognized with a publication in the prestigious journal Heritage Science (Nature Publishing Group).
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Annual meeting of the archaeology and archaeometry module of the HISTAR doctoral school - History, Art and Archaeology - EDT 56
Program
10:00am: Welcome10:15am: Ian Johnson (University of Sydney), "Heurist, a solution to the data management needs of projects and researchers in the Humanities"10:55am: Break11:25am: Lola Tydgadt & Ronè Oberholzer (Uliège), "Stone Tools and Databases: A New Method to Put Function on The Map"11h55: Matthieu Delmeulle (UCLouvain), "Pondera :An Online Database of Ancient and Byzantine Weights"12h25: Lunch13h25: Elise Delaunois (AWaP), "La base de données des fouilles de Grognon (Namur, Belgique)"14h05: Tobias Heal (Uliege), "The Acies Ferri project and the Chips database"14h35 : Mostafa Alskaf (ULB), "Digital Archiving of Archaic Greek Plastic Vases: Opportunities and Obstacles"15:05: Break15:35: Fanny Martin (UNamur), "Celts, Germans and GIS: methods and questions for approaching Iron Age populations in northern Gaul"16:15: Final discussion.17:00: Closing
Download the Modus Operandi doctoral seminar program
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Food or foe? Preparation, consumption, and sacralization of fish in Graeco-Roman and Byzantine Egypt
The results of research obtained using archaeobotanical, archaeozoological, nutritional biochemical and microbiological methods are supplemented by information drawn from papyrological evidence and hieroglyphic sources. The project brings together researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Brussels, the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, the University of Liège, the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, the University of Michigan and the University of Namur. The latter is home to the Egyptological part of the project, conducted as a postdoctoral research by Arnaud Delhove and Alexa Rickert under the direction of René Preys. One of the questions to be addressed is to what extent the food offering to the gods in the temple is related to the diet of the priests, since scholarship traditionally assumes the distribution of the offerings to the clergy after the ritual. The investigation on what kinds of food were present in the temple and how they were prepared also raises the question why certain dishes, including fish, are largely absent from the offering scenes and descriptions. Discussions on the avoidance of fish in the temple gave rise to the idea of organising this workshop.
Program
23/04/202414.15-14.45 Arrival of the participants, coffee 14.45-15.00 Welcome, introduction to the workshopPart one: Fish in profane contextsSession one, chair: Gert Baetens15.00-15.30 Daan Smets, Lisa Vanoppré (KU Leuven): Salty Business - Consuming and processing fish in Ptolemaic Egypt15.30-16.00 Sandra Gubler (University of Basel), Johanna Sigl (Commission for Archaeology of non-Euro- pean Cultures KAAK): Ancient Aswan's fisheries16.00-16.30 Coffee breakSession two, chair: Daan Smets16.30-17.00 Nicolas Morand (National Museum of Natural history, AASPE - MNHN): Fish consumption in Alexandria and its hinterland during the Graeco- Roman and Byzantine periods: first archaeo- zoological insights and perspectives17.00-17.30 Mauro Rizzetto (Ca' Foscari University of Venice): Fish exploitation at Ptolemaic and Roman Al-Qārah al-Ḥamrā, Egypt17.30-18.00 Korshi Dosoo (University of Würzburg): Fish in Graeco-Egyptian and Christian Magic18.00-18.30 Katelijn Vandorpe (KU Leuven): Response and discussion part one19.00 Speakers' dinner (L'Huile sur le Feu, Rue de Marchovelette 19) 24/04/2024Part two: Fish in religious contextsSession one, chair: Alexa Rickert09.30-09.40 Welcome address by Carine Michiels (University of Namur, vice-rector in charge of research and libraries)09.40-10.10 Arnaud Delhove (University of Namur/ULB): Thou shalt not eat fish, for it is an abomination! On the bw.t on fish consumption in Graeco- Roman Egypt10.10-10.40 Wim Van Neer (Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences): A Late Period votive deposit of fish at Oxyrhynchus (Al Bahnasa, Egypt)10.40-11.10 Daniel von Recklinghausen (University of Tübingen): Why was Esna called "The City of the Nile perches" (Lato(n)polis) in Greek?11.10-11.40 Françoise Labrique (University of Cologne/ ULB): Kom Ombo : graphies et théologie12.00-13.30 Lunch (Brasserie François, Place Saint-Aubain 3)14.00-15.30 Informal part of the event: guided tour of NamurSession two, chair: Arnaud Delhove16.00-16.30 Alexa Rickert (University of Namur): The catcher in the dark: fish in the economic processions of the Graeco-Roman temples of Egypt16.30-17.00 Christian Cannuyer (Lille Catholic University/ S.R.B.É.O.): The fish as a symbol of Christ: its possible Egyptian origin and its treatment in Coptic iconography17.00-18.00 René Preys (University of Namur): Response and discussion part two, general discussion, closing of the event
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35 years between two accelerators - Serge Mathot's journey, or the art of welding history to physics
One foot in the past, the other in the future. From Etruscan granulation to PIXE analysis, Serge Mathot has built a unique career, between scientific heritage and particle accelerators. Portrait of a passionate alumnus at the crossroads of disciplines.
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Forgotten manuscripts tell the story of Christianization in the Middle Ages
Matthieu Pignot, researcher in the History Department and member of the PraME research center, has just been awarded the title of FNRS Qualified Researcher for his work on the transmission of religious knowledge between Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The originality of his research lies in the study of writings little or unknown to historians in the context of the Christianization of Europe.
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IBAF Conference 2026
The IBAF Meetings have been organized since 2003, every two years since 2008, by the Ion Beams Division of the French Vacuum Society (SFV), the oldest national vacuum society in the world, which celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2025.As in previous editions, IBAF 2026 will offer a rich and varied program with guest lectures, oral and poster presentations, and technical sessions. All this will be complemented by an industrial presence to promote exchanges between research and innovation. The conference will cover a wide range of topics, from ion beam instruments and techniques to the physics of ion-matter interactions, including the analysis and modification of materials, applications in the life sciences, earth and environmental sciences, and heritage sciences.
More information on the IBAF2026 website
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Knowledge and truth: university education in the post-truth era
After focusing on the issues of the "Commons", the management of "common goods" , "health as a common good", this year the Chair turns its attention to the issue of "knowledge" as a "common good" and the role that the University is called upon to play in the creation and transmission of knowledge. As its title - "University and society. What can knowledge do for the common good?" - shows, the value and meaning that society places on knowledge, even more so from a universal perspective, is not self-evident. More info coming soon...
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