This article is taken from the "The day when" section of Omalius magazine for December 2024.

Four major teaching and research disciplines have marked the Faculty's development and become its pillars over the years: economics and political and social sciences first, then management and communication. "In its early days, the Faculty of Economic, Social and Management Sciences, created by Father Camille-Jean Joset, was united around social sciences and economics," recalls Pietro Zidda, Dean of the EMCP Faculty. "Then, the various fields developed. Management took off, enrolments in political science and communications soared. We were careful to maintain a spirit of collaboration between each of our programs". Far from the usual silos, the Faculty today makes it a point of honor for its chosen disciplines to collaborate, question and nurture each other in order to develop the skills of students and researchers so that together they can contribute to the challenges of a society in transition.

The EMCP Faculty is committed to three major missions. The first is to train responsible experts and decision-makers, through rigorous, hands-on teaching that stimulates critical thinking and openness to the world. It also aims to conduct ambitious, interdisciplinary research with a strong scientific impact, feeding into teaching and innovation. Finally, the EMCP Faculty wishes to act as a responsible player in societal development, sharing knowledge and contributing to informed decisions at regional, national and international levels.

It is therefore quite natural that the FSESG has become the EMCP Faculty, a name now incorporating communication and political sciences and reflecting the importance they have acquired in recent years. Four disciplines united to prepare students and researchers in a transdisciplinary way for the challenges of tomorrow.

The spirit of collaboration is firmly rooted at the heart of the Faculty, which strives to develop transdisciplinary approaches to meet the complex challenges of a society in transition. "To meet these challenges, a solution from a single discipline is no longer enough. We need to think more broadly, with an approach that transcends disciplines," explains Anne-Sophie Collard, Vice-Dean of the EMCP Faculty. A sentiment shared by Zora Gilet, a management engineering student: "This new name above all brings coherence to the Faculty's image and visibility for all the courses on offer. It also represents the intra-faculty diversity that we wish to promote at all levels."

This vision is also accompanied by an internal reorganization, with the creation of four thematic schools or schools: UNamur School of Economics (NSE), UNamur School of Management (UNSM), UNamur School of Social Sciences, Politics and Communication and UNamur School of Evening Studies in Economics and Management. These schools aim to strengthen synergy between disciplines, while promoting a pedagogy that integrates cross-disciplinary skills and innovative working methods. Soft skills, for example, are now systematically integrated into projects, to prepare students to respond to societal challenges in a collaborative and creative way. "I think this change helps to concretize and recognize all the large-scale projects that have been set up in recent years," explains Zora. It's an expression of a desire to develop and innovate, which is more than positive today. I consider myself lucky to be able to witness this change and proud to be part of this community."

"EMCP aims to be the catalyst lever for a future where walls are broken down and barriers between disciplines abolished as much as possible, to provide strong solutions to societal problems," concludes Pietro Zidda. This new name therefore goes beyond mere naming: it symbolizes a renewed commitment to transforming the way graduates are trained, giving them the tools they need to provide strong, coherent solutions to major contemporary challenges.

Within the Faculty, various projects and teaching experiments illustrate this EMCP vision. Examples?

Learning by doing: an approach that offers immersion in concrete projects from the first year, combining knowledge and cross-disciplinary skills to respond to real-life challenges.

Regards croisés: this project invites students and teachers to explore a topical issue from a variety of disciplinary angles, enriched by exchanges with experts in the field at a major final conference.

A little wink, the Dean of Faculty wondered how this fresco would be perceived by an outside audience: "This work is quite original compared to what we usually do. So I asked the artificial intelligence to give me its interpretation. And then, surprise, the answer was bluffing! ChatGPT perfectly identified the meaning and intentions of the project, as if it had read our initial brief", laughs the dean.

Students have also been involved in this transformation, notably through their circles. Thus, the Cercle €co became the Cercle EMCP. "We were contacted by the Dean, who suggested that our Circle should bear the same name as the Faculty, and this seemed to us to be a perfectly natural move. We had many discussions with the dean and the vice-presidents of the Cercle. We put a lot of effort into the name change, but it was an extremely rewarding experience," explains Matthieu Dupuis, President of the Cercle EMCP. "The change may have come as a surprise to some students, but this new name enriches the Faculty's image by enhancing the value of all its courses of study. It embodies strong values and, in my opinion, represents our Faculty better than the old one."

"The current generation of large language models (LLMs), like ChatGPT, learn language in a very different way," continues Paul Van Eecke. "By observing in huge quantities of text which words often appear in close proximity to each other, they learn to generate texts that are often indistinguishable from human texts. This leads to extremely powerful models in many forms of text generation, from text synthesis or translation to question answering, but which at the same time have a number of inherent limitations. They are thus prone to hallucinations and biases, often struggle with forms of human reasoning, and require huge amounts of data and energy to build and use."

The researchers propose an alternative model in which artificial agents learn language as humans do: by participating in meaningful communicative interactions in their environment. In a series of experiments, they show how these agents develop linguistic constructs directly related to their environment and sensory perceptions. This leads to linguistic models that :

• Are less prone to hallucinations and biases because their understanding of language is based on direct interaction with the world.
• Manage data and energy more efficiently, leaving a smaller ecological footprint.
• Are more grounded in meaning and intention, enabling them to understand language and context in a more human way.

"The integration of communicative and situated interactions into AI models is a crucial step in the development of the next generation of linguistic models. This research offers a promising route to linguistic technologies that approximate the way humans understand and use language," the researchers conclude.

Source: Katrien Beuls, Paul Van Eecke; Humans Learn Language from Situated Communicative Interactions. What about Machines?Computational Linguistics 2024; 50 (4): 1277-1311. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/coli_a_00534

All it takes is one night under the stars to plunge us back into the endless questions of childhood: are we alone in the Universe? Can we go back in time? Does space have a limit? And what lies beyond that limit? "Today, we know that the stars around us are spread out over a very large space, and that we are part of the suburbs of one galaxy among many others", explains Eve-Aline Dubois, a mathematician by training and researcher in the Department of Science, Philosophy and Society at UNamur. "But this is a recent realization, marking the beginnings of cosmology as a science, dating back more or less to the 1920s." Because it considers the Universe as a whole, cosmology actually operates a "huge zoom-out" from conventional astronomy. "On the scale of cosmology, a galaxy is a point", sums up the researcher.

An observation that led her to take an interest in the notion of infinity in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. "At the time, infinity was considered an attribute of God: so it was more of a theological question, before the debate shifted to more scientific and philosophical considerations. And it wasn't until the late 19th and early 20th centuries that the notion of infinity was properly mathematized." An infinity that can be envisaged in both its temporal and spatial dimensions. "Can we go back to infinity in the past, and does the Universe have an infinite future? With the Big Bang, this theory falls apart, since there would be a beginning... But also: does the Universe have a boundary, or is it like the surface of a sphere which, if traversed, would give the impression of never reaching the end?"

If space is of interest to the philosophy of science, it is also at the heart of very real economic and geopolitical issues. Using applied mathematics, Jérôme Daquin, a lecturer in the Department of Mathematics at UNamur, is seeking to gain a better understanding of how satellites and space debris in the Earth's vicinity behave. "Ultimately, the aim is to be able to guide political or legislative decisions to preserve space, which is increasingly seen as a resource, on a par with other natural resources," he explains. Today, space has never been so densely populated with satellites, sometimes sent up in squadrons, notably for the needs of new technologies and high-speed Internet. But at the same time, the space environment is cluttered with several million objects that have become useless and out of control. "This space debris has various sources", Jérôme Daquin details.

Thanks to the theory of dynamic systems and the field known as "complexity", Jérôme Daquin is therefore trying to understand how space objects behave on large time scales, in order to propose perennial scenarios. "These scenarios make it possible, for example, to envisage placing a satellite in such and such an orbit that we know will not deform over time." Because today the issue of space debris has become central not only for certain private operators, but also for public authorities and in particular for the defense sector. "Space has always been a place of strategic influence", recalls Jérôme Daquin. "For the armed forces, having a good knowledge of it is always very interesting." Today, moreover, there is a synergy between academic and private players concerning the production of data relating to the space environment. "Fifteen years ago, this didn't exist, but today, more and more companies are producing their own cataloging."

If space is an essential resource for the new technologies sector, computer science and artificial intelligence (AI) in turn enable us to better understand the enigmas it still harbors. For example, the team led by Benoît Frenay, a professor at UNamur's Faculty of Computer Science, is collaborating on the VAMOS project, which is studying the atmosphere of Venus.

"This allows us to work not directly on a system of distant planets, for example, but on its "digital twin", which we will have built from data. While it's impossible to modify a star and its planets, it is possible in computer science! It's quite possible to modify a digital solar system and observe, for example, what would happen if one of the planets were a little bigger... Finally, we can help the missions themselves, by embedding AI techniques in the probe."

By helping to analyze the physical and mineralogical composition of rocks on the surface of Mars or Venus, geology is thus able to better understand the conditions necessary for the appearance of life and why, Max Collinet points out, this life has instead developed on Earth, "our favorite planet"

At the end of 2022, UNamur joined the European Alliance UNIVERSEH (European Space University for Earth and Humanity) focused on the theme of space, with the aim of addressing societal and environmental challenges relating to European space policy. This Alliance is part of the European Alliances initiative launched in 2017 by Emmanuel Macron. "A European Alliance is a network of universities that come together voluntarily with the aim of building an international campus and thus facilitating the development of integrated international pathways accessible to different learner profiles, explains Isabella Fontana, Director of International Relations at UNamur."This implies a great openness for students, who can choose innovative pathways recognized at European level, but also for teachers, who can collaborate in a context conducive to cross-border, transdisciplinary interactions and in dialogue with regional ecosystems."

Alliances can be either transversal or thematic, as is the case with the UNIVERSEH alliance. "The case of Belgium is rather particular since all the universities were already part of an alliance in 2022, with the exception of UNamur. There was therefore a particular strategic challenge for our university to join an alliance in its turn," continues Isabella Fontana. By joining the six other alliance partners - including the University of Toulouse, a European leader in the space field - UNamur can now lay claim to new opportunities in terms of international collaborations, teaching and research. "One of UNamur's strengths in relation to space is the scientific mediation and education component", details Isabella Fontana."Having said that, the aim of the Alliance is above all to be able to work in a network, to fuel the process of raising awareness of the importance of the network especially in the field of education and more generally in economic development. At UNamur, for example, we have devoted part of the budget to stays for members of the academic and scientific staff who wish to develop collaborations particularly at teaching level with partner universities, collaborations which, of course, have the potential to have spin-offs on research too."

"UNamur joined the Alliance relatively recently. Organizing and hosting the general meeting was a way of showing and demonstrating our investment in this project. It was also an opportunity to showcase Namur and its ecosystem", says Annick Castiaux, Rector of UNamur. The main aim of the general meeting was to bring together all the partners and people involved in the project to discuss progress and difficulties, but also to build solid, supportive teams and encourage team spirit. Work meetings, thematic workshops and collective exchange moments took place throughout the three days.

A complex field involving both the "hard" sciences and the humanities, particularly the philosophy of science, space is also very present in literature and film. This makes it a "perfect theme for popularization", according to Maxime Dussong, communications and events manager at Confluent des Savoirs, UNamur's research popularization service."In culture, space is everywhere. It's an interesting gateway, even if we also have to break down stereotypes. And remind people that space isn't just about astronauts...". This is notably the aim of the Printemps des Sciences, an initiative of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation in which UNamur is actively involved. "Through this event, we are reminding people that the theme of space can be found in all STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) professions. On this occasion, we also organize visits to UNamur's Antoine Thomas Astronomical Observatory, which are always a huge success. They enable the public to discover the various instruments used there, but also, weather permitting, to observe the sky..."

A dedicated event, the Space week organized at UNamur (the last edition was held in October 2024) meanwhile enables schools and the general public to rub shoulders very directly with the thrill of space through meeting astronauts. "Again this year, we were lucky enough to have the participation of Dirk Frimout, who everyone knows, even children in fifth grade...", recounts Maxime Dussong. The event also features themed workshops, on constellations for example, an opportunity to "make the link between legends and science"and to"remind the youngest of the distinction between science and belief"illustrates Maxime Dussong.

Finally, UNamur is collaborating on various space-related art projects, such as "Stellar Scape", an exhibition at the Pavillon - located on the Esplanade de la Citadelle in Namur - which brings together works designed by artists and researchers until January 2025. "This is a fine example of collaboration, enabling people who are not very inclined towards scientific themes to become interested in them via art... and vice versa! ". We should also mention the existence at UNamur of Kap to UNIVERSEH, a kot-à-projet on the theme of space, which brings together students from all backgrounds: scientists, historians, philosophers... A transdisciplinary and cosmic experience!

"For 5 years, I'll be part of the Collegium of the Royal Academy of Belgium, and also of the "Technology and Society" class. My participation will enable me to contribute my vision and interdisciplinary expertise on digital transformation. During this mandate, I will be able to participate in the Academy's various work concerning its knowledge dissemination events such as its colloquia or scientific valorization (prizes, competitions, grants)", explains Anthony Simonofski.

One of the missions he hopes to accomplish as part of his mandate is to exchange on digital issues through an interdisciplinary approach. "Today's digital challenges require an interdisciplinary approach, combining IT, managerial, legal, sociological perspectives and much more. The 'Technology and Society' class will enable these exchanges to elaborate constructive reflections for a harmonious integration of digital in our society," he emphasizes. He will also make his expertise in digital transformation available. "It presents a whole series of new challenges such as inclusion, adoption or the necessary participation of citizens. So I'd like to make my research in this area available, and perhaps even encourage the Academy itself to enter into a more participatory approach towards citizens via digital channels," Anthony Simonofski points out.

Author of the podcast "Pop-Code" about digital education, which he is producing with his colleague Benoit Vanderose (Faculté informatique- UNamur), Anthony SIMONOFSKI also defends the concept of art as a vehicle for popularizing science. "At the Collegium, I want to work to make digital research accessible and engaging, by initiating collaborative projects that combine scientific rigor and artistic innovation to reach a wider and more diverse audience." Finally, by becoming a member of the Collegium, Anthony Simonofski will ensure representation of UNamur's expertise on digital, notably by relaying the interdisciplinary vision of the Namur Digital Institute and the EMCP Faculty.

Incidentally, I also hope to represent UNamur there," Olivier Sartenaer points out. "Integrating the Collegium is a nice recognition of my work. Secondly, it will enable me to meet a lot of interesting people and, together, to cross-fertilize our expertise to reflect on major societal issues at our monthly sessions. I'll be able to present and discuss my work, and also discover the work of Belgian scientific colleagues. Finally, it will enable me to take advantage of some of the Academy's support (access to premises, publications, networks, etc.) to organize events, or disseminate my work".