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South America is a subcontinent rich in natural and cultural resources. Between biodiversity preservation and development cooperation, UNamur maintains valuable partnerships to address the challenges of biodiversity loss and understand current socio-economic transformations. Immersion in Ecuador and Peru. 

The lack of primary care is a major public health issue. In 2022, it was estimated that 52 municipalities in French-speaking Belgium were facing a severe shortage of general practitioners. This is a worrying situation that the University Observatory for Rural Medicine (OUMRu) has been addressing since 2023, with the aim of identifying concrete solutions. Working alongside a doctor and a health geographer, Amélie Pierre, a sociologist and lecturer at the Faculty of Economics, Management and Communication SciencesPo (EMCP), is studying the factors that influence access to healthcare, particularly from the patients' point of view. She emphasizes the need to take into account the realities experienced by vulnerable groups.

JuryProf. Nicolas DENDONCKER (UNamur), PresidentProf. Sabine HENRY (UNamur), SecretaryDr. Sébastien DUJARDIN (UNamur)Prof. Pierre OZER (ULiège)Prof. Emmanuel TWARABAMENYE (University of Rwanda)Prof. Caroline MICHELLIER (MRAC and UCLouvain)AbstractThis research investigates community vulnerability to landslides and floods in Northwestern Rwanda, hazards that frequently interact to produce compound disasters. The research focused on understanding the institutional, social, and structural factors that shape vulnerability and adaptive capacity in this disaster-prone region. Using a mixed-methods approach at local-scale, including institutional analysis, household surveys (n = 904), and field observations, the research highlights how vulnerability is shaped by socio-economic conditions, weak institutional coordination, and limited adaptive capacity. A Contextualized Vulnerability Index (CoVI) was developed to map vulnerability patterns, revealing particularly high vulnerability in landslide-prone and dual-hazard zones. The analysis of adaptive capacity showed that while awareness of hazards is high due to lived experiences, financial constraints, and limited technical knowledge hinder communities' ability to adapt effectively. The study contributes to the literature on social vulnerability and disaster risk reduction by emphasizing the importance of locally grounded, evidence-based strategies to strengthen community resilience in hazard-prone regions.

Abstract Since its emergence in 1996, the Asian H5 Goose/Guangdong (Gs/Gd) lineage has circulated widely in poultry in southern China, spilling over to wild birds by 2002. Wild bird infections facilitated global dissemination via migratory waterfowl and repeated spillback into poultry, challenging the view that HPAI primarily arises from LPAI mutation. Subclade 2.3.4.4b emerged in Asia in 2013, reached Europe in 2016, caused recurrent epizootics, diversified into multiple genotypes, became dominant in wild birds, and shows zoonotic potential.This thesis investigates critical knowledge gaps regarding H5Nx subclade 2.3.4.4b in poultry: (1) early within-flock spread after punctual introduction in chickens, particularly during the first European epizootics; (2) influence of pre-existing immunity on silent circulation; (3) limitations in diagnostic throughput during epizootic peaks; (4) potential of environmental surveillance, including air and dust sampling; and (5) impact on egg contamination and the reproductive tract, relevant for food safety and zoonotic risk.Four main objectives were addressed: (1) development of an experimental model simulating punctual introductions and spread, comparing 2017 and 2020 strains and assessing pre-existing immunity; (2) enhancement of diagnostic capacity via alternative sampling, semi-automated RNA extraction, and high-throughput processing; (3) evaluation of air and dust sampling for virus monitoring under experimental and field conditions; and (4) assessment of egg contamination risk. Alternative sampling and environmental monitoring were also applied to Newcastle disease virus as a comparative notifiable pathogen. Jury Prof. Catherine LINARD (UNamur), ChairProf. Benoît MUYLKENS (UNamur), SecretaryDr. Damien COUPEAU (UNamur)Dr. Jean-Luc GUÉRIN (INRAE & ENVT)Dr. Cyril BARBEZANGE (ECDC)Dr. Steven VAN BORM (Sciensano)Dr. Mieke STEENSELS (Sciensano)Dr. Bénédicte LAMBRECHT (Sciensano)

At UNamur, research is not confined to laboratories. From physics to political science, robotics, biodiversity, law, AI, and health, researchers collaborate daily with numerous stakeholders in society. The goal? To transform ideas into concrete solutions to address current challenges. 

JuryProf. Nicolas DENDONCKER (UNamur), ChairProf. Sabine HENRY (UNamur), SecretaryProf. Frédéric SILVESTRE (UNamur)Dr. Sébastien DUJARDIN (UNamur)Prof. Kara PELLOWE (Stockholm University)Prof. Romain GLELE KAKAI (University of Abomey Calavi)Prof. Patrick KESTEMONT (UNamur)Prof. Eli THORE (UNamur)AbstractMangroves play an important role in environmental conservation and livelihood provision yet remain one of the most threatened ecosystems on earth. This doctoral study assesses pathways to enhance coastal sustainability in the Anthropocene, by promoting the sustainable use of mangroves and strengthening their social-ecological resilience through an interdisciplinary approach. The thesis is structured into four specific objectives: assessing the role of traditional beliefs and local deities in promoting the sustainable use of mangroves, analyzing the synergies between legal frameworks and traditional beliefs in enhancing the social-ecological resilience of mangroves, developing a novel interdisciplinary framework to evaluate the social-ecological resilience of mangroves, and operationalizing the proposed framework in Benin's mangroves, West Africa.  We collected field data using ethnobiological surveys, drone image analysis and document review, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, plant and fish inventories across three coastal communities in Benin. The study draws insights from the seven principles of resilience to analyze mangrove sustainability. The interdisciplinary methodology of this study links plant biology, fisheries sciences, and human geography to analyze mangroves as complex social-ecological systems. Findings of the thesis show that traditional beliefs and local deities play a significant role in regulating the use of mangrove resources, while the overlapping of formal and informal institutions offer opportunities to enhance their social-ecological resilience. The novel proposed framework called Mangrove Social Ecological Resilience Appraisal (MaSERA) outlines variables and indicators tailored to mangroves to assess their social-ecological resilience. Its application in Benin highlights its potential in identifying factors that enable or erode mangrove resilience, for informed decision making. The study argues that promoting the sustainable use of mangroves and enhancing their social-ecological resilience represent dual imperatives for achieving coastal sustainability in the Anthropocene. It contributes to the growing body of knowledge on mangrove conservation and provides actionable insights for integrated coastal zone management.

At UNamur, parchments are much more than objects of curiosity: they are at the heart of an interdisciplinary scientific adventure. Starting with historical sciences and conservation, the research has gradually incorporated the disciplines of physics, biology, chemistry, and archaeology.  This convergence has given rise to research in heritage sciences, driving innovative projects such as Marine Appart's doctoral work, supervised by Professor Olivier Deparis. This research has now been recognized with a publication in the prestigious journal Heritage Science (Nature Publishing Group).

A chemist by training, Véronique Steukers is now the first woman to head the global organization of nickel producers, the Nickel Institute. Her career path has taken her far from the laboratory and into the heart of an industry facing significant environmental, industrial, and social challenges. We meet her.

Brendan Reid has just joined the Environmental and Evolutionary Biology Research Unit (URBE) team in the Department of Biology, Faculty of Science. This unit functions as a collaborative ecosystem, bringing together skills and expertise to advance research on organisms and their dynamic interactions with the environment. Dive into aquatic and semi-aquatic research!

At UNamur, research is not confined to laboratories. From physics to political science, robotics, biodiversity, law, AI, and health, researchers collaborate daily with numerous stakeholders in society. The goal? Transform ideas into concrete solutions to address current challenges. 

For its inaugural conference, the SPiN (Science & Philosophy in Namur) center will be joined by Claire Rommelaere, a lawyer and researcher at the Center for Bioethics at the University of Namur, and Aude Bandini, a philosopher of science at the University of Montreal, to take a critical look at the theme of "distrust of science." The urgency of addressing this issue is clear in our era, where, despite an overall stable level of trust in science, the parameters of public debate are frequently blurred by misinformation.Having had the opportunity to observe philosophers of science in their natural habitat for nearly fifteen years, Claire Rommelaere will share her thoughts on whether or not we should trust those who think about science.For her part, Aude Bandini will address a major problem that we all face at a time when the mass of available knowledge is such that it is impossible to acquire it on our own. Indeed, the socially distributed nature of knowledge generally leaves us no choice but to rely on the authority of experts, even on very important issues (such as health). However, when we rely on others in this way and follow recommendations that, due to our ignorance, we have no means of evaluating, we place ourselves in a relationship of "epistemic dependence" that conflicts with our aspirations for intellectual autonomy and forces us to ask ourselves a question whose answer may prove unbearable: is intellectual autonomy nothing more than a myth?Conference hosted by journalist Maïté Warland.Program:5:30-6:30 p.m. | Drinks at Quai 22 (Rue du Séminaire 22, 5000 Namur)6:30 p.m. | Claire RommelaereDistrust of philosophers of science7:00 p.m. | Aude Bandini Intellectualautonomy in the face of scientific authority: a headache for social epistemologyRegistration deadline: April 16.Free of charge. Register

At a time when bacterial resistance to antibiotics is a public health problem, Professor Stéphane Vincent's team is currently developing dynamic constitutional frameworks (Dynamic Constitutional Frameworks, DCF): a molecular system that would be able to break down certain resistances and thus deliver antibiotics as close as possible to pathogens.