The five-year Ernest-John Solvay Prize, one of the FNRS's most prestigious honors, was awarded this November 24, 2025 to Jean-Marie Baland, professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Namur since 1991. The prize, awarded every five years, recognizes researchers whose work has marked their discipline by its originality and impact.

"Jean-Marie Baland combines theoretical rigor with field studies conducted in countries such as India, Nepal, Kenya and Chile. His research tackles key issues such as economic development, poverty reduction and environmental protection," emphasizes the FNRS jury.

Internationally recognized expertise

As a specialist in less developed countries, Jean-Marie Baland has devoted his work to the analysis of informal institutions, a subject for which he was awarded an ERC Advanced Grant in 2009. His research also explores the determinants of deforestation, the consequences of poverty, and more recently, the causes of infant mortality in South Asia, or domestic violence.

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Photo portrait Jean-Marie Baland

The central question of my research is to understand how groups organize themselves to manage decision-making. Who benefits? Who is harmed? What impact does it have? I've tackled this theme in a variety of ways, using a wide range of case studies. In Kenya, for example, I studied how a group of women in a shantytown organized themselves to build up collective savings to meet their needs. More recently, I've been studying how decision-making works within couples in Europe. Today, I'm working with my colleague Catherine Guirkinger (EMCP Faculty, Department of Economics) on the question of female emancipation and its impact on domestic violence: does it reduce or increase it, and if so, why? All these questions are analyzed using an interdisciplinary method, with approaches drawn from statistical, mathematical and economic models, and social science methods involving field surveys.

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Jean-Marie Baland Professor in the Economics Department of the EMCP Faculty and co-founder of CRED, Institut DeFIPP

The desire to understand the world

What's always motivated him?

"The desire to understand the world. My motivation in my research has always been to produce knowledge before wanting it to have a societal impact. The usefulness of research is of course important, but personally it's not what drives me forward. Of course, the results of my research are regularly used to shape public policy, for example. But that's not an end in itself for my work as a researcher ", he stresses.

Jean-Marie Baland's academic career has been studded with prestigious distinctions: Chaire Francqui (2008), Distinguished Fellow Award at Harvard (2007), member of the Academia Europaea (2012)... So many accolades that testify to his scientific influence.

UNamur in the spotlight

But one of his proudest achievements is the creation of UNamur's Center for Research in Development Economics (CRED), founded with Professor Jean-Philippe Platteau. Jean-Marie Baland is a member of the Centre de recherchéche en économie du développement (CRED). A center now internationally recognized for its expertise in development economics, applied microeconomics and environmental economics, contributing to research with a strong societal impact. "The CRED today includes five academics and some fifteen researchers," says Jean-Marie Baland. The economist is also one of the founders of the Master of Specialization in Development Economics .

To the generation of future economists, Jean-Marie Baland addresses this wish:

"Interested in fields that make sense to you! And work as part of a team, even with people who think differently from you. For me, this experience of human interaction has been a very rich experience," he concludes.

A prestigious ceremony

Photo officielle de la cérémonie de remise des prix quinquennaux du FNRS 2025

These prestigious prizes, awarded every five years by the FNRS, were presented this November 24, 2025 by King Philippe to one researcher and five researchers from the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. They confirm the international recognition and crown the exceptional careers of these scientists, in all disciplines. The Excellentieprijzen of the FWO, Flanders' equivalent of the FNRS, were also awarded on November 24 by His Majesty the King. At the ceremony, Véronique Halloin, Secretary General of the FNRS, congratulated the winners, thanking the 42 members of the international juries, as well as the sponsors who make these awards possible. She also spoke of "essential issues for scientific research and society as a whole", insisting on the need "to maintain the level of funding for fundamental research, to keep its full place for strategic research but also for the human and social sciences."

Discover the other winners on the FNRS website