The "research credits and projects" call resulted in 14 grants for ambitious new projects. These include two "equipment" grants, five "research credits (CDR)" grants and seven "research projects (PDR)" grants, including one in collaboration with the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland. The FRIA doctoral research support call will fund 6 doctoral fellowships.

A prestigious Mandat d'Impulsion Scientifique (MIS) has also been obtained. This 3-year funding supports young permanent researchers wishing to develop an original and innovative research program while acquiring scientific autonomy within their department.

Call for Equipment

• Max Collinet, Institut ILEE
• Catherine Michaux, with Stéphane Vincent and Guillaume Berionni, co-sponsors, Institut NISM

Call for Research Credits (CDR)

• Thierry Arnould, Institut NARILIS
• Thomas Balligand, Department of Medicine
• Danielle Leenaerts, Institut PaTHs
• Denis Saint-Amand, Institut NaLTT
• Elio Tuci, Institut NADI

Appel Projets de Recherche (PDR)

• Nathalie Burnay, in collaboration with "the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland", Institut Transitions (Subject to acceptance by SNSF Switzerland)
• Catherine Guirkinger, Institut DEFIPP, co-promoter in collaboration with UCLouvain
• Luca Fusaro, Institut NISM
• Laurence Meurant, Institut NaLTT
• René Preys, Institut PaTHs
• Stéphane Vincent, Institut NISM, co-promoter in collaboration with UCLouvain
• Johan Wouters, Institut NISM, co-promoter in collaboration with UCLouvain

Fonds pour la formation à la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture (FRIA)

• Alix Buridant - Promoter: Henri-François Renard, Institut NARILIS ; Co-sponsor: Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck - Austria -
• Constance De Maere d'Aertrycke - Promoter Nicolas Gillet, Institut NARILIS
• Noah Deveaux - Promoter: Benoît Champagne, Institut NISM
• Nicolas Dricot - Promoter: Muriel Lepère, Institut NISM; Co-promoter: Bastien Vispoel, Institut NISM and Université Grenoble Alpes
• Laurie Marchal - Promoter Thierry Arnould. Co-promoter: Patricia Renard. Institut NARILIS
• Léa Poskin - Promoter: Catherine Michaux, Institut NISM; Co-promoter: Jean-Pierre Gillet, Institut NARILIS

Mandat d'Impulsion Scientifique (MIS)

• Arthur Borriello, Institut Transitions

Congratulations to all and sundry

The mission of the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique - FNRS is to develop basic scientific research through initiatives presented by researchers. It promotes the production and development of knowledge by supporting individual researchers on the one hand, and by financing research programs carried out in laboratories and departments located mainly in the universities of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation on the other.

Based on the sole criterion of scientific excellence, financial support from the F.R.S.-FNRS is provided in several ways. Numerous calls for funding are launched each year to support fundamental research at all levels of researchers' careers.

Among the equipment received are, for example, CO₂ incubators for preserving, under optimal conditions, cells cultured as part of scientific experiments, laminar flow hoods to prevent contamination of biological samples, and a series of -20 and -80 degree freezers for preserving samples at low temperatures.

The lucky recipients of this equipment are the Molecular Physiology Research Unit (URPhyM) within the Faculty of Medicine and the Environmental and Evolutionary Biology Research Unit (URBE), the Microorganism Biology Research Unit (URBM) and the Integrated Veterinary Research Unit (URVI) within the Faculty of Science.

The URPhyM: the research themes addressed in its laboratories have in common the study of the molecular bases of normal biological functions and certain diseases such as cancer, neurodegenerative diseases or skin pathologies.

The URBE : its research teams aim to study aquatic organisms, their adaptations and their interactions with the environment Its research focuses range from the study of genomes to that of ecosystems, via organisms and populations.

The URBM: its scientists devote their research to micro-organisms (mainly bacteria) at all levels of integration, from molecular to cellular bacteriology, and their relationship with their hosts.

The URVI: this research unit integrates the expertise of researchers in anatomy, surgery, physiology, ethology and cell biology around a central theme: animal patho-biology. The questions asked range from the molecule to the whole animal.

This list, created by Stanford University and published in August 2024 is compiled in collaboration with Elsevier's ICST lab from Scopus data, aims to provide a standardized means of identifying the world's best scientists and recognizing those scientists who have had a significant impact on their respective fields.

While this list has been adopted by many institutions as a reliable measure of research impact, it is not the only way to evaluate research. Based strictly on bibliometric data, it is also subject to criticism.

Since September 2023, the University of Namur has been strengthening its commitment to the implementation of research assessment reform with the signing of the "Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment (CoARA) "agreement.

This agreement commits the institution to a series of principles, including taking into account career diversity and emphasizing qualitative research criteria rather than relying solely on bibliometric (and therefore quantitative) data.

• Charlotte Beaudart - Faculty of Medicine, Narilis Institute
• Benoît Champagne - Faculty of Science, NISM Institute
• Alain Decrop - EMCP Faculty, NaDi-CRIDS Institute
• Olivier Deparis - Science Faculty, NISM Institute and PaTHs Institute
• Jonathan Douxfils - Faculty of Medicine, Narilis Institute
• Patrick Kestemont - Faculty of Science, ILEE Institute
• Alexandre Mayer - Faculty of Science, NISM Institute and Institut naXys
• Carine Michiels - Faculty of Science, Institut Narilis
• Antoinette Rouvroy - Faculty of Law, ESPHIN Institutes and NaDi-CRIDS Institute
• Frédéric Silvestre - Faculty of Science, ILEE Institute
• Bao-Lian Su - Faculty of Science, NISM Institute
• Johan Wouters - Faculty of Science, NISM Institute

The list is updated every year, with data on the whole career and impacts on a single year, for the sake of transparency and relevance.

A variety of bibliometric measures are taken into account to ensure a fair and balanced representation of researchers' work.

• The C-score: this composite score is based on various bibliometric factors, including the total number of citations.
• The h-index: this impact indicator takes into account the number of a researcher's publications as well as the number of their citations.
• The percentiles of fields and subfields : scientists are classified into 22 major fields and 176 subfields. Only those who rank in the top 2% of their subfield are taken into account.
• Career-wide or single-year impact: rankings are available for both career-wide impact and single-year performance, providing a better understanding of long-term contribution and recent achievements.

Figuring among this top 2% of scientists is therefore a prestigious recognition of an individual's contribution to science and demonstrates the excellence of their research, enhancing their reputation in academia and industry.

The ranking offers visibility across all disciplines, drawing attention to work that might otherwise remain in a niche or be under-appreciated. It also serves as a benchmark for institutions and governments to assess the influence of their research programs.

Many institutions use the ranking to measure the success of their faculty, or other entity, which can also enhance credibility within the academic community.

This list encourages scientists to focus on producing high-quality, impactful research rather than chasing quantity.

By compiling data from all scientific fields and offering a fair, metrics-based approach, this ranking not only celebrates individual achievements, but also highlights the importance of impactful research in advancing knowledge. However, it must be qualified, as it only takes into account quantitative data, which are not necessarily representative of the full diversity of research.

According to another database, that of UNESCO, the number of researchers in the world is increasing by 300,000 per year, reaching 9 million today. The Top 2% comprises 200,000 names, including twelve researchers from the University of Namur.

Congratulations to them for their excellent research and for this prestigious worldwide recognition!

This article is taken from the "Eureka" section of the June 2024 issue of Omalius magazine.

In each of our cells, compacted in the heart of the nucleus, are the chromosomes, the seat of our DNA. DNA is made up of a long chain of molecules, each named A, T, C or G. In all, our genome comprises 3.4 billion of these "letters". By way of comparison, Victor Hugo's river novel Les Misérables has "only" 2.66 million characters, or 1,000 times fewer. And don't be fooled into thinking that our genetic code is the largest in the living world - far from it! The genetic code of corn has 5 billion letters, and that of the Paris japonica flower is 50 times larger than that of a human being.

"And recently, with the evolution of techniques, we can also obtain long sequences, but only a few state-of-the-art laboratories in the world are capable of sequencing a genome in its entirety. Most researchers therefore end up with incomplete genetic codes, fragmented into thousands of pieces. By attempting to preserve the DNA of all European eukaryotes, ERGA will help to considerably improve genome sequencing standards throughout Europe, in order to obtain reference genomes, i.e. of the highest quality."

A Herculean task, given that Europe is home to almost 200,000 species, a fifth of which are threatened with extinction due to global warming and the collapse of biodiversity, among other factors. "It's important to understand that there are many steps involved in obtaining a single genome", adds Alice Dennis. "For each species, you need to obtain quality biological samples, which can be difficult when it's a rare or endangered species. Then comes the genome sequencing and assembly stage, which involves arranging all the DNA fragments obtained. And then we can move on to annotation, before proceeding to analysis."

Annotation, a crucial and "soften neglected" step, is carried out by a committee under the responsibility of the UNamur biologist. "My job is to determine which part of the DNA corresponds to what: such and such a sequence corresponds to a gene, such and such is a regulatory sequence, etc.", Alice Dennis details. "Unfortunately, it's a job that few people know how to do, partly due to the fact that there are few good tools to check the quality of your work."

According to the researcher, the creation of reference genomes will provide invaluable help in preserving biodiversity in Europe. "A single genome provides a great deal of information", she believes. "In most organisms, each chromosome is duplicated. By comparing them, you can already get an idea of an individual's genetic diversity. If this is low, it means that the population is showing signs of inbreeding."

The reference genomes therefore function as Rosetta stones for future studies. "It's much easier and much cheaper to compare a few DNA sequences from many individuals to an original, than to create the latter,"judges Alice Dennis. "This makes it possible to track populations, to identify those that are most at risk. We can also study genes that are subject to strong evolutionary pressures, and likely to mutate over the years."

Beyond Alice Dennis, over 1,000 researchers across Europe are involved in the ERGA project. And the latter is, in fact, the European part of an even larger project, the Earth Biogenome Project, which aims to sequence the entire living world over a 10-year period. ERGA also includes prestigious members such as the Darwin Tree of Life, in the UK, or the ATLASEA project in France, which aims to sequence the DNA of marine life.

But for Alice Dennis, the ERGA initiative goes much further than these major partners: "ERGA places particular emphasis on creating a decentralized network, and a science that aims to be inclusive. These large partners may have the means to sequence any genome, but this would be to the detriment of less well-endowed countries. There are many biodiversity hotspots in Europe to which these large laboratories do not have access. Relying on local expertise, and allowing everyone to participate and develop their skills will ensure that as many species as possible are present in this Atlas. This is also why all the data produced will be available as open access."

After an initial declaration of intent, the researchers behind ERGA set up a pilot project, which closed in 2023, and which removed a number of difficulties. "We tried to coordinate our action even before we received any funding", recalls Alice Dennis. "Each country came with one or two organisms whose DNA they wanted to sequence, and it was all done through a sharing of the resources each had available, and donations from certain companies. This enabled us to identify a number of problems, such as the difficulty of getting samples to travel in good conditions, in order to preserve the genetic material."

All in all, this testing phase has already established 1,213 reference genomes. And the pace is accelerating, thanks in particular to funding from the European Union's Horizon Europe program. The second phase of the project, which starts this year and will run for 5 years, aims to sequence 150,000 genomes, with priority given to the most endangered species.

ERGA is supported by Horizon Europe as part of the Biodiversity, Circular Economy and Environment program (REA.B.3, BGE 101059492).