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Jérémy Dodeigne, professeur de sciences politiques à la Faculté des sciences économiques, sociales et de gestion de l'UNamur, et président de l’Institut de recherche Transitions vient de décrocher une prestigieuse ERC Starting Grant de près de 1,5 Millions d'euros pour son projet POLSTYLE.

Nathalie Burnay, professor in the EMCP Faculty and member of the TRANSITIONS Institute, has just been awarded PDR funding from the F.R.S-FNRS for her BRIDGE-EXT project. In collaboration with the Haute Ecole de Travail Social de Lausanne, she will focus on the situations and reasons that contribute to the continuation of professional activity after the legal retirement age.

Reconciling family life and a political career in the European Parliament poses major challenges, particularly for MEPs with young children. This is demonstrated by Elena Frech, researcher at the University of Namur, in her recent research on work-life balance in European institutions.

In the summer of 2022, we set out to discover the UNamur Qualified researchers who were awarded funding by the FNRS in 2022. We met Vincent Jacquet, a member of the Department of Political Science and the Transitions Institute. His research focuses on citizen participation and its impact on solving the crisis of democracy.

An analysis of voter turnout in October 2024This analysis presents a comparison of voter turnout in Wallonia, Brussels and Flanders. On the one hand, the report identifies the profiles and political attitudes of voters who abstained (representative survey of the Belgian population). On the other hand, the report presents the evolution of abstention and electoral participation according to institutional and political contexts in Wallonia. Particular attention is paid to the increase in blank and invalid votes in Wallonia.Analysis of the effects of electoral reforms since 2018This analysis presents the effects linked to the adoption of gender quotas in communal executives, as well as the effects of the end of the devolutive effect of the top box in Wallonia. These electoral reforms may have had limited effects in some communes (mainly due to a "learning" effect of the new electoral rules). Our report analyzes the effects observed in 2024 and the factors explaining the differences observed between Wallonia's communes.Analysis of the restructuring of the electoral offer in 2024While 2018 had seen a significant increase in the number of lists present at communal polls (notably so-called "citizen" and far-right lists), in October 2024, the number of lists in competition fell significantly. An analysis of official figures describes the evolution of the number and type of lists according to the institutional and political configurations of Wallonia's communes. It focuses in particular on the evolution of typically "local" lists, a Walloon characteristic within European democracies. Practical information L'ArsenalRue Bruno, 11 - 5000 NamurL'Arsenal is a 10-minute walk from Namur train station and the Parliament of Wallonia. Adjacent parking is available free of charge (Rue de l'Arsenal 13, 5000 Namur)Registration required (places are limited - registration deadline: March 3) Program 9:00-13:00: Conference workshop9:00-9:30: welcome and coffee9:30-9:35: presentation of the project by the inter-university consortium9:35-11:40 : presentation of reports and Q&A Analysis of the restructuring of the electoral offer in 2024 Analysis of electoral participation in 2024 Analysis of the effects of electoral reforms in 202411:40-11:50 : closing remarks12:00-13:00: closing lunchContact person For information requests: laura.uyttendaele@unamur.be and jeremy.dodeigne@unamur.be SPW Interior and Social Action

On December 11, 2024, the University of Reims-Champagne-Ardenne hosted the launch event for the ORION project, in which the University of Namur is a partner. This project, financed for 4 years by ERDF and INTERREG funds, aims to improve water management in the Val de Meuse while preserving the ecosystems of the Val de Meuse, a river running through France and Belgium.

An international research team led by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences has uncovered how pharmaceutical pollution alters the behaviour and migration patterns of Atlantic salmon in nature. Professor Eli Thoré, from the Department of Biology and the ILEE research institute at the University of Namur, contributed to this groundbreaking field study, which has just been published in Science.

An unusual piece of research recently mobilized teams from UNamur's Biology Department. Genetic analyses carried out by the Environmental and Evolutionary Biology Research Unit (URBE) were able to confirm the protected status of a herd of wild mouflons based in Gesves, and thus highlight the importance of saving them.

EMBO Courses and Workshops are selected for their excellent scientific quality and timelines, provision of good networking activities for all participants and speaker gender diversity (at least 40% of speakers must be from the underrepresented gender). Organisers are encouraged to implement measures to make the meeting environmentally more sustainable.Upon registration - More info and registration on the EMBO website.

Characterization of trehalase from Acyrthosiphon pisum for the design of new insecticides SummaryAphids are major pests in agriculture, causing direct damage to plants and acting as vectors for phytopathogenic viruses. Conventional insecticides are widely used to control them, but their toxicity and efficacy pose problems in terms of the environment, human health and the emergence of resistance to these compounds. New alternatives are therefore needed, such as biological control using predators or parasitoids. However, these methods are not always economically viable on a large scale. As part of this thesis, another approach is being explored which involves developing new insecticides targeting the biochemical functions of aphids.The project aims to discover new inhibitors of trehalase, an enzyme essential for insect energy metabolism. Inhibition of this enzyme could disrupt vital insect functions without affecting mammals. This research involved several stages: the purification and complete characterization of trehalase from Acyrthosiphon pisum (the model for this study), the in vivo, in vitro and in silico analysis of commercial inhibitors on this enzyme, before moving on to the search for new inhibitors. Two points of integrated insect management were explored, biological and chemical control.The biological side saw the study of a strain of Streptomyces naturally producing trehalase-inhibiting metabolites, notably validamycin A, a molecule recognized in the literature as one of the best inhibitors, but not applicable as an insecticide. Other molecules appear to have interesting features, but we have not been able to isolate and characterize them.The chemical side has enabled us to create a pharmacophore hypothesis based on experimental results on molecules obtained by virtual screening. Although these molecules are not usable as insecticides as they stand, this hypothesis provides a better understanding of trehalase inhibitors in general and can be used to refine future analyses. JuryProf. Jean-Yves MATROULE (UNamur), presidentDr Catherine MICHAUX (UNamur), promoter and secretaryProf. Frédéric FRANCIS (ULiège), co-promoterProf. André MATAGNE (ULiège)Dr Rudy CAPARROS (ULiège)Dr Morgan HANS (Biocidal)

Professor Eli Thoré and Justine Bélik have just been honoured by the Adrien Bauchau Fund (FAB). Created in memory of the founder of the Biology Department at UNamur, the FAB has been promoting excellence in education and research in the life sciences since 1989.

High-Sensitivity Birefringence Mapping Using Near-Circularly Polarized Light I will describe several techniques for mapping a two-dimensional birefringence distribution, which can be classified according to the optical schemes and principles of work:Illumination geometry (transmitted light/reflected light)Image acquisition (sequential acquisition/simultaneous acquisition)Polarization control (electrically controlled variable retardance/mechanical rotation).This classification facilitates a comparative analysis of the capabilities and limitations in these methods for birefringence characterization. Polychromatic polarizing microscopy (PPM) provides unique capabilities to alternative methods. It leverages vector interference to generate vivid, full-spectrum colors at extremely low retardances, down to < 10 nm. PPM is a significant departure from conventional polarizing microscopes that rely on Newton interference, which requires retardances above 400 nm for color formation. Furthermore, PPM's color output directly reflects the orientation of the birefringent material, a feature absent in conventional microscopy where color is solely determined by retardance.Joint seminar of ILEE & NISM!The seminar is open to external people too, no need to register. More info