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English versionIn the context of an international Chaire Francqui 2024-2025, the Faculty of Computer Science (UNamur) has the honor to receive Professor Arie Van Deursen (TU Delft, Netherlands ) from the 24th to the 27st of March, for a series of lectures on the theme of: “ Explainable Software Engineering ”.The inaugural lecture, entitled “Explainable Software Engineering in the Public Sector”, will be held on the 25th of March 2025, at 6pm at PA02 (Sentier Thomas, 5000 – Namur).French versionAs part of an international Francqui Chair 2024-2025, the Faculty of Computer Science (UNamur) will have the pleasure of welcoming Professor Arie Van Deursen (TU Delft, Netherlands) from March 24 to 27, 2025, for a series of lessons on the theme: "Explainable Software Engineering".The inaugural lesson, entitled "Explainable Software Engineering in the Public Sector", will take place on Tuesday March 25, 2025 at 6:00 pm at PA02 (Sentier Thomas, 5000 - Namur). Explainable Software Engineering in the Public Sector The field of software engineering seeks to devise theories, methods, tools, and techniques that support the development, operation, and evolution of the digital infrastructure modern society relies on. While the software engineering capabilities have advanced substantially over the past decades, it remains challenging to deliver high quality systems in a timely and cost-effective manner. Government system in particular have a weak reputation in this respect.To better understand why, we analyze 125 complex software projects in the public sector in The Netherlands. The projects are described in public reports published by the Advisory Council on IT Assessments (AcICT), which advises the Dutch parliament and cabinet on riks and chances of success in complex Information Technology (IT) projects. The projects span a time period of 10 years, represent a total budget of over 14 billion Euros, and cover such areas as tax collection, social security, pensions, health, traffic control, defense, or water management.We study these reports through the lens of "explainability", focusing on supporting decision making. Furthermore, we reflect on current advances in software engineering, including modern software testing and large language models, in addressing current software engineering challenges. Program INAUGURAL LECTURE: Explainable Software Engineering in the Public Sector - Tuesday 25/03 - 18:00-19:00 - PA02 SESSION 1: Architectural decision making in software engineering - Monday 24/03 - 10:30-12:30 - I33SESSION 2 : Tests as executable explanations - Tuesday 25/03 - 14:00-16:00 - I33SESSION 3: Technical debt, test smells, legacy systems - Wednesday 26/03 - 14:00-16:00 - I33SESSION 4: Artificial Intelligence for Software Engineering - Thursday 27/03 - 10:30-12:30 - I33 About the speaker Arie van Deursen is a professor at Delft University of Technology, where he leads the Software Engineering Research Group. His research interests include software testing, language models for code, trustworthy artificial intelligence, and human aspects of software engineering. He presently serves as chair of the Steering Commmittee of the ACM/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE).He is a member of the Dutch Advisory Council on IT Assessments (AcICT), as well as a member of the Advisory Board of ING Bank The Netherlands. In 2023, he was elected fellow of the Netherlands Academy of Engineering (NAE). Read more Register for the event

In late November 2024, UNamur hosted the 23rd BENEVOL Congress, an annual research seminar that provides an opportunity for international researchers to meet and discuss new ideas, important issues and cutting-edge research in the field of software engineering, maintenance and evolution.

Detecting a failure before it occurs: that is the goal of the research being conducted by Antoine Hubermont, a doctoral student at UNamur. This project, named Monsater, is funded by SPW Research as part of the Win4Doc program in collaboration with the space company Telespazio Belgium. It addresses a key strategic challenge: ensuring the reliability of complex systems, particularly in the space sector. 

This dissertation proposes to analyze the transformation of subjectivation and the revolutionary event through the works of Walter Benjamin and Gilles Deleuze.Methodologically, the aim is less to compare these two authors or to postulate the existence of a shared thought than to create a “collage,” in the sense proposed in Difference and Repetition, in order to highlight and bring into tension disparate elements through juxtaposition.On a theoretical level, the challenge is to account for the ruptures with causal and signifying chains that revolutionary moments reveal. From this perspective, we extend the Deleuze-Guattarian idea of the “utopia of immanence.” Developed during a fleeting convergence with the Frankfurt School, it situates revolutionary politics in a non-place: outside of stratifications and in opposition to social formations. Driven by a Benjaminian impulse, this notion is unfolded in its negative dimension.In turn, the tradition of the oppressed is drawn onto this plane of immanence. Far from establishing subterranean continuities between established minorities, it consists in the exploration of a field of ruins from which it becomes possible to break with culture and humanity frozen into monumental forms.The JuryProf. Louis CARRÉ (Chair), UNamurProf. Sébastien LAOUREUX (Advisor, Secretary), UNamurProf. Éric ALLIEZ (Co-advisor), University of Paris 8Prof. Jacques-Olivier BÉGOT, University of RennesProf. Maud HAGELSTEIN, ULiègeProf. Frédéric RAMBEAU, University of Paris 8You are cordially invited to attend this defense.The announcement of the results will be followed by a reception in the Academic Hall. More info

A 24-hour live stream, about ten computers and video game consoles, around fifteen participants… and one goal: to raise as much money as possible for Télévie. Building on the success of its first event, the UNamur Computer Club embarked on the adventure once again with a new charity marathon, which took place from April 7 to 8. In total, the event raised €1,831.91 for Télévie.

HISTAR Doctoral School Day - Program 10:00 a.m. | Lecture: The Hidden Side of Political Archives in Belgium By Marie-Laurence Dubois, CEO of Valorescence2:00 PM – 4:30 PM | Roundtable: Political Archives and Democratic ChallengesWith:Jean Faniel (CRISP)Marie-Laurence Dubois (Aksoni)Odile Gaultier-Voituron (Sciences Po Paris)Marie-Cerise Fivet (Citizenship and Participation)Joffrey Lienart (Emile Vandervelde Institute) Registration

Abstract When we communicate, we constantly adapt the way we speak so that we can be understood. The goal is to avoid overwhelming our conversation partner with too much new information, while also avoiding the unnecessary repetition of information they already know. In this context, certain pieces of information are highlighted in speech because they are considered new or important to the listener.This thesis focuses specifically on how we emphasize this type of information in conversation. It aims to understand how these mechanisms work, both in a spoken language (taking gestures into account as well), French, and in a sign language, LSFB. What methods are used? How often? And how are they employed in conversation?The presentation will be delivered in three languages: LSFB, French, and English. Jury Prof. Lieven VANDELANOTTE (Chair), UNamurProf. Laurence MEURANT (Advisor), FNRS – UNamurProf. Kathy HUET (Co-advisor), UMonsDr. Jorina BRYSBAERT, FNRS – UCLouvainProf. Véronique DELVAUX, FNRS – UMonsProf. Gaëlle FERRÉ, University of PoitiersProf. Pilar PRIETO VIVES, Pompeu Fabra UniversityDr. Anna PUUPPONEN, University of JyväskyläYou are cordially invited to attend this defense.The announcement will be followed by a reception in the Academic Hall. More info

In 2025, two iconic Walloon products—Walloon honey and Liège white blood sausage—were awarded the prestigious European PGI designation. Behind this success lies the AgriLabel project, to which UNamur has been contributing for over a decade. Working alongside producers, specialists, and public institutions, our Department of History played a decisive role: demonstrating, through historical sources and scientific analysis, the close connection between these products and their local terroir. A project at the heart of economic, identity-related, cultural, and scientific issues.

The past decade has seen the release of numerous mixed reality headsets. Some are aimed at casual recreational use (for example, the Meta Quest 3), while others are marketed as next-generation computing platforms (for example, the Apple Vision Pro). As these devices become integrated into our daily lives, they are redefining the way we—as human beings—interact with them.Their nature differs significantly from traditional computing devices (e.g., computers or smartphones), introducing multiple paradigm shifts driven by several factors. On the one hand, they integrate and democratize various sensors that enable the use of gaze, hand gestures, and speech as means of interaction, thereby serving as effective vectors for the adoption of multimodal user interfaces. On the other hand, their portable nature implies continuous contextual changes that fundamentally alter interface design and redefine human-computer interaction as their use becomes ubiquitous.To better understand such systems, this research is divided into three areas. First, we immerse users in a deliberately constructed pervasive environment to explore their perceptions while examining their attitudes toward managing intrusive content through manual interventions, thereby highlighting needs emerging from such contexts. Second, we explore new communication channels by leveraging metaphors and designing interaction techniques that use multiple modalities to enable more natural communication, thereby addressing the needs arising from pervasive use. Finally, after designing multimodal interaction techniques, we examine the technical requirements and review existing tools that support the development of multimodal user interfaces, identify the limitations of some of these tools, and address them by introducing a new tool called Ummi.Through these three complementary perspectives, this thesis addresses six research questions and contributes to the fields of mixed reality and multimodal interaction.The juryProf. Vincent Englebert - University of Namur, BelgiumProf. Bruno Dumas - University of Namur, BelgiumProf. Xavier Devroey - University of Namur, BelgiumProf. Marcos Serrano - University of Toulouse, FranceProf. Denis Lalanne - University of Fribourg, SwitzerlandFree event; registration required. Sign me up

This is a first in Wallonia! The Citadelle de Dinant now offers an augmented reality tour that plunges visitors right into the heart of its history. At the helm: the French company Histovery, specializing in heritage reconstructions, with scientific support from Axel Tixhon, professor in the History Department at UNamur.

The study of memory phenomena in ancient societies has been a growing field of research since the 1990s, and has been particularly dynamic over the last decade. Awareness of the impact of memory, due to its plasticity, on social and political actors in the ancient world opens up new perspectives for analyzing attested phenomena and events. The conference proposes to study the use of memory and its specific dynamics in the context of political competition, in various spheres and covering a broad chronological framework, from the 3rd century BC to the 4th century AD, with the aim of encouraging dialogue between respective specialists.Organizers: Simon Lambert (F.R.S.-FNRS Research Fellow), Pierre Assenmaker (Professor, UNamur), and Françoise Van Haeperen (Full Professor, UCLouvain)Information and registration: simon.lambert@unamur.be