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Can we still speak of democracy when algorithms influence our electoral choices or participate in the drafting of laws? This topic is explored by Aline Nardi, researcher at the Faculty of Law and member of the Namur Digital Institute (NADI).

The Namur Digital Institute (NaDI) is launching a series of original events: "Les Séances du Numérique". Films followed by debates with experts to understand digital challenges and stimulate collective thinking. A project spearheaded by Anthony Simonofski, Anne-Sophie Collard, Benoît Vanderose and Fanny Barnabé.

Abstract Deep learning has become an extremely important technology in numerous domains such as computer vision, natural language processing, and autonomous systems. As neural networks grow in size and complexity to meet the demands of these applications, the cost of designing and training efficient models continues to rise in computation and energy consumption. Neural Architecture Search (NAS) has emerged as a promising solution to automate the design of performant neural networks. However, conventional NAS methods often require evaluating thousands of architectures, making them extremely resource-intensive and environmentally costly.This thesis introduces a novel, energy-aware NAS pipeline that operates at the intersection of Software Engineering and Machine Learning. We present CNNGen, a domain-specific generator for convolutional architectures, combined with performance and energy predictors to drastically reduce the number of architectures that need full training. These predictors are integrated into a multi-objective genetic algorithm (NSGA-II), enabling an efficient search for architectures that balance accuracy and energy consumption.Our approach explores a variety of prediction strategies, including sequence-based models, image-based representations, and deep metric learning, to estimate model quality from partial or symbolic representations. We validate our framework across three benchmark datasets, CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100, and Fashion-MNIST, demonstrating that it can produce results comparable to state-of-the-art architectures with significantly lower computational cost. By reducing the environmental footprint of NAS while maintaining high performance, this work contributes to the growing field of Green AI and highlights the value of predictive modelling in scalable and sustainable deep learning workflows. Jury Prof. Wim Vanhoof - University of Namur, BelgiumProf. Gilles Perrouin - University of Namur, BelgiumProf. Benoit Frénay - University of Namur, BelgiumProf. Pierre-Yves Schobbens - University of Namur, BelgiumProf. Clément Quinton - University of Lille, FranceProf. Paul Temple- University of Rennes, FranceProf. Schin'ichi Satoh - National Institute of Informatics, Japan

Something for everyone 09:30 | Welcome ceremony for new students11:00 | Back-to-school celebration at Saint-Aubain Cathedral (Place Saint-Aubain - 5000 Namur), followed by student welcome by the Cercles. Read more

BNAIC/BeNeLearn 2025 will be held at the University of Namur under the auspices of the Belgian-Dutch Association for Artificial Intelligence (BNVKI) and the Dutch Research School for Information and Knowledge Systems (SIKS). The conference aims at presenting an overview of state-of-the-art research in artificial intelligence and machine learning in Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg. More information and registration

Abstract Deep learning has become an extremely important technology in numerous domains such as computer vision, natural language processing, and autonomous systems. As neural networks grow in size and complexity to meet the demands of these applications, the cost of designing and training efficient models continues to rise in computation and energy consumption. Neural Architecture Search (NAS) has emerged as a promising solution to automate the design of performant neural networks. However, conventional NAS methods often require evaluating thousands of architectures, making them extremely resource-intensive and environmentally costly.This thesis introduces a novel, energy-aware NAS pipeline that operates at the intersection of Software Engineering and Machine Learning. We present CNNGen, a domain-specific generator for convolutional architectures, combined with performance and energy predictors to drastically reduce the number of architectures that need full training. These predictors are integrated into a multi-objective genetic algorithm (NSGA-II), enabling an efficient search for architectures that balance accuracy and energy consumption.Our approach explores a variety of prediction strategies, including sequence-based models, image-based representations, and deep metric learning, to estimate model quality from partial or symbolic representations. We validate our framework across three benchmark datasets, CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100, and Fashion-MNIST, demonstrating that it can produce results comparable to state-of-the-art architectures with significantly lower computational cost. By reducing the environmental footprint of NAS while maintaining high performance, this work contributes to the growing field of Green AI and highlights the value of predictive modelling in scalable and sustainable deep learning workflows. Jury Prof. Wim Vanhoof - University of Namur, BelgiumProf. Gilles Perrouin - University of Namur, BelgiumProf. Benoit Frénay - University of Namur, BelgiumProf. Pierre-Yves Schobbens - University of Namur, BelgiumProf. Clément Quinton - University of Lille, FranceProf. Paul Temple- University of Rennes, FranceProf. Schin'ichi Satoh - National Institute of Informatics, Japan

Trust of traditional political institutions and elected representatives, rise of authoritarian logics, definition of public services... Democracy today seems to be going through a turbulent zone. What role does the university play in this context? To shed light on this question, we interviewed four researchers from different disciplines: educationalist Sephora Boucenna, philosopher Louis Carré, political scientist Vincent Jacquet and legal scholar Aline Nardi. Their contrasting views sketch out the contours of an issue that is more topical than ever: thinking about and defending the link between university and democracy.

The graduation ceremony for the Master of Specialization in Digital Law took place this Friday, October 3, 2025, in the presence of the Rector, Annick Castiaux, and the Federal Minister for Digital Affairs and Science Policy, Vanessa Matz. A double presence that symbolizes the importance of the role of new graduates in our increasingly digitized societies.

In 2025–2026, the UNamur School of Law has the honor and privilege of welcoming Professor Delphine Misonne as the recipient of a Francqui Chair awarded by the Francqui Foundation: “Need for the Environment, Need for Law?” Delphine Misonne is an FNRS Research Fellow, Professor at UCLouvain, Director of CEDRE, and a member of the Royal Academy of Belgium.The organization of this lecture is fully aligned with the Faculty of Law’s overarching theme dedicated to the environment, nature, and our earth—the very foundation of life: “Re-enchanting the Earth.” 

This Francqui Chair offers a fresh perspective on the advances and tensions that characterize the way in which the law currently organizes society's relationship with the environment, as an essential substrate for human life and the balance of ecosystems. Far from presenting this law as having reached its peak, it is its recent major advances that will be discussed, as well as the risks of regression that threaten it. If the ambition to protect the environment has indeed become a legal issue, how are its essential drivers evolving, whether in terms of climate, human health, or the status accorded to nature?The conference will be followed by a local drink offered by the Cercle de Droit, the Régionale la Binchoise, and the Régionale RTM.Free event. Registration strongly recommended. More information and full program I'm signing up

This Francqui Chair offers a fresh perspective on the advances and tensions that characterize the way in which the law currently organizes society's relationship with the environment, as an essential substrate for human life and the balance of ecosystems. Far from presenting this law as having reached its peak, it is its recent major advances that will be discussed, as well as the risks of regression that threaten it. If the ambition to protect the environment has indeed become a legal issue, how are its essential drivers evolving, whether in terms of climate, human health, or the status accorded to nature?The conference will be followed by a local drink offered by the Cercle de Droit, the Régionale la Binchoise, and the Régionale RTM.Free event. Registration strongly recommended. More information and full program I'm signing up

This Francqui Chair offers a fresh perspective on the advances and tensions that characterize the way in which the law currently organizes society's relationship with the environment, as an essential substrate for human life and the balance of ecosystems. Far from presenting this law as having reached its peak, it is its recent major advances that will be discussed, as well as the risks of regression that threaten it. If the ambition to protect the environment has indeed become a legal issue, how are its essential drivers evolving, whether in terms of climate, human health, or the status accorded to nature?The conference will be followed by a local drink offered by the Cercle de Droit, the Régionale la Binchoise, and the Régionale RTM.Free event. Registration strongly recommended. More information and full program I'm signing up