Souhaib Fadli
Digital literacy through fiction: NaDI's interdisciplinary initiative
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.
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Defense of doctoral thesis in computer science - Gonzague Yernaux
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
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Academic year 2025-2026
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.
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BNAIC - BENELEARN 2025
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
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Namur researchers score highly in F.R.S.-FNRS "Grants and mandates" 2025 call for proposals
On July 1, 2025, the F.R.S.-FNRS published the list of winners of the various doctoral and postdoctoral mandates, Télévie projects and co-financing with the Fonds de recherche du Québec. Among these, many UNamur researchers were awarded funding. UNamur's particularly high ranking rate demonstrates the quality and excellence of research on the Namur campus.
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Defense of doctoral thesis in computer science - Sacha Corbugy
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
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University and democracy: a living, sometimes threatened, link
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.
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Florentin Rochet - IT Security: Reading Between the Lines of Code
Florentin Rochet, a professor of computer security at the University of Namur, specializes in applied cryptography and secure communications. Against the backdrop of rapid advances in artificial intelligence and open-source solutions, he shares his analysis of the current situation and offers his outlook for the future.
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Studies in ancient and modern languages and literature (Latin-French)
From the heritage of a civilization to the foundation of our cultureThe bachelor's degree in ancient and modern languages and literature stands at the crossroads of two complementary fields - Latin and French - and studies them from a linguistic and literary perspective.The program gives you access, in the original language, to the founding texts of our culture, from Antiquity to the Renaissance, in Latin, and from the Middle Ages to the Contemporary Era, in French.
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Academic year 2025-2026
September 15, 2025
A program for all09h00 | Welcome at Pedro Arrupe (Rue de Bruxelles, 67 - 5000 Namur).11h00 | Back-to-school celebration at Saint-Aubain Cathedral (Place Saint-Aubain - 5000 Namur) then welcome students by the Cercles.
First year bachelor
September 16, 2025 - Aula Maior - Auditorium L01, ground floor08:30 | Student welcome sessions - attendance mandatory 08:45 | Welcome address and important information10:00 | Student welcome sessions in their respective departments: DepartmentRoomPhilosophy Philosophy Seminar (L57 - 5th floor) History Aula Maior L01 (first floor) Romanes and Latin-French* L22 (2nd floor) Germanics L21 (2nd floor) History of Art and Archaeology L33 (3rd floor) * An LLAM-specific welcome session will be organized at the end of the one with Romanes at L43 (4th floor). 12:00 | Information session on the various Greek courses at the Classics Seminar (L43, 4th floor) for all students interested in the Greek language option13:00 | Information session on language courses (English-Dutch) at Aula Maior - L01 for students in Block I History / Art History and Archaeology / Philosophy 14:00 | Classes resume
Second and third bachelor years
Tuesday, September 16, 2025From 9:00 am | Student welcome sessions - compulsory attendance :TimeDepartmentRoom09:00 Philosophy 2-3 Philo Seminar (L57 - 5th floor) 09h00 History 3 L31 (3rd floor) 09h00 Romanes and Latin-French* 2-3 L22 (2nd floor) 09h00 Art History and Archaeology 2-3 L33 (3rd floor) 11h00History 2 Aula Maior L01 (first floor) 11h00Germanics 2-3 L21 (2nd floor) * An LLAM-specific drop-in session will be held after the one with the Romanes at L43 (4th floor). 12:00 | Information session on the various Greek courses at the Classics Seminar (L43, 4th floor) for all students interested in the Greek language option 13:00 | Information session on language courses (English-Dutch) at Aula Maior - L01 for students in blocks II and III History / Art History and Archaeology / Romance + block II Germanics 14:00 | Classes resume
Specialized Master's degree in "Cinematographic Thought and Culture
Tuesday, September 16, 2025Required attendance 5:30pm | Welcome session in L57 (5th floor) and resumption of classes
University Certificate in Philosophy
Tuesday, September 16, 202508:30 am | Student Welcome Sessions:At Aula Maior - Auditorium L01, first floor: 08:30 | Welcome to all students08:45 | Welcome address and important information10:00 | Welcome session at the Philosophy Department (Philo seminar - L57, 5th floor) - attendance compulsory Resumption of classes
Specialized Master's Degree in Appraisal and Management of Movable Heritage
Friday, September 19, 202509:30 am | Welcome session at LASA (Laboratoire d'archéologie et des sciences de l'art, first floor) and resumption of classes
And before school starts?
In addition to preparatory courses, UNamur offers newcomer students the opportunity to discover their Faculty and the campus, and to take part in a services forum during 2 integration days.Put all the advantages on your side, take part in the preparatory courses!For future medical students, the preparatory courses enable you to prepare for the entrance exam, and for all other students, to discover university teaching by revising the subjects essential to your future training.Exclusively designed for students completing their secondary education (newcomers), these preparatory courses, programmed between mid-August and early September, are tailored to each university program.Learn more about the schedules for the various sessions and register for the preparatory courses...
NEW! To help you make the most of your first year at the University, take part in our integration days!Friday afternoon, September 12 - reserved for newcomers, free, registration requiredTour of your Faculty and campusBarbecue and evening partyYou must register for both activities, even if you are enrolled in the preparatory courses! Registration link: https://www.billetweb.fr/journees-dintegration-unamur-2025.Saturday September 13 from 12pm to 4pm - open to all - free, free accessServices forum: presentation of student services (sports, culture, commitment, social cell, ...), project kots and activities organized on campus...
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Academic year 2025-2026
September 15, 2025
A program for all09h00 | Welcome at Pedro Arrupe (Rue de Bruxelles, 67 - 5000 Namur).11h00 | Back-to-school celebration at Saint-Aubain Cathedral (Place Saint-Aubain - 5000 Namur) then welcome students by the Cercles.
Daily prices
Tuesday, September 16, 2025For Block 1 (Local I02)* - Welcome session08H30: Presentation of the Dean/Vice-Dean (Anthony Cleve - Marie-Ange Remiche)09H00: Presentation of the IS (Cédric Aerts)09H20: Presentation of the pedagogical coordinator (Fanny Boraita)09H40: Presentation of the academic advisor (Géraldine Grandjean)For students in the first 60 credits of the bachelor's degree (only first-time students*)10H40 (Local I02): passport to the "mathematics" baccalaureate(Florence Henry)Attendance at these sessions is compulsory.For UES** and new Master's students (Local I33) - Welcome session14H00: Presentation of the Dean/Vice-Dean (Anthony Cleve - Marie-Ange Remiche)14H30: Presentation of the IS (Cédric Aerts)14H50: Presentation of the pedagogical coordinator (Fanny Boraita)15H10: Presentation of the academic advisor (Géraldine Grandjean)15H30: Presentation of CSLabs (Hugo Raskin)Wednesday, September 17, 2025For Block 1 (Local I02)*<13H00: Passport "lire et comprendre un texte universitaire" (Alexandre Libioul)Attendance at this session is compulsoryFor all students: Classes start (see schedule)Permanences PAE17/09, 10h40-11h40 for NON-primo-arrivants from bloc1: Configuration PAE (salle académique)17/09, 09h00-10h00 for bacheliers from bloc2 and 3: Configuration PAE (salle académique)18/09, 09h00-10h00 for masters: Configuration PAE (salle académique)* First-time students : Students enrolled for the first time in a computer science study program at UNamur, whether they are coming from secondary school, a high school, another university or enrolled in staggered-schedule courses. ** UES: Unités d'enseignement supplémentaires au master (année passerelle)
Staggered timetable courses
Bachelor and Master 60Saturday, September 13, 2025 - Classes startFor Primo-arrivant students (Block 1 and UES):08:30: Breakfast welcome (coffee, pastries) in the faculty hall.09h00: Presentations by the Vice-Dean, Madame Marie-Ange REMICHE, the Academic Advisor, Madame Géraldine GRANDJEAN, the IT Correspondent, Monsieur Cédric AERTS and the Secretary, Madame Benjamine LURQUIN. Auditorium I02 (first floor of the Faculty of Computer Science). Attendance is compulsory. The welcome session presentation will be posted on the BVE afterwards.10:00 am: Start of classes for all students.
Master's specialization in IT and innovation: business analysis and it governance
For students concerned by prerequisite coursesSaturday, September 13, 2025 at 9:00 am, seminar I22 on the 2nd floor of the Faculty.For all new studentsCourses start on Friday, October 17 and Saturday, October 18, 2024 at the Academic Hall on the 4th floor of the Faculty of Computer Science, from 8:30 am.
And before school starts?
In addition to preparatory courses, UNamur offers newcomer students the opportunity to discover their Faculty and the campus, and to take part in a services forum during 2 integration days.Put all the advantages on your side, take part in the preparatory courses!For future medical students, the preparatory courses enable you to prepare for the entrance exam, and for all other students, to discover university teaching by revising the subjects essential to your future training.Exclusively designed for students completing their secondary education (newcomers), these preparatory courses, programmed between mid-August and early September, are tailored to each university program.Learn more about the schedules for the various sessions and register for the preparatory courses...
NEW! To help you make the most of your first year at the University, take part in our integration days!Friday afternoon, September 12 - reserved for newcomers, free, registration requiredTour of your Faculty and campusBarbecue and evening partyYou must register for both activities, even if you are enrolled in the preparatory courses! Registration link: https://www.billetweb.fr/journees-dintegration-unamur-2025.Saturday September 13 from 12pm to 4pm - open to all - free, free accessServices forum: presentation of student services (sports, culture, commitment, social cell, ...), project kots and activities organized on campus...
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