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An analysis of voter turnout in October 2024This analysis presents a comparison of voter turnout in Wallonia, Brussels and Flanders. On the one hand, the report identifies the profiles and political attitudes of voters who abstained (representative survey of the Belgian population). On the other hand, the report presents the evolution of abstention and electoral participation according to institutional and political contexts in Wallonia. Particular attention is paid to the increase in blank and invalid votes in Wallonia.Analysis of the effects of electoral reforms since 2018This analysis presents the effects linked to the adoption of gender quotas in communal executives, as well as the effects of the end of the devolutive effect of the top box in Wallonia. These electoral reforms may have had limited effects in some communes (mainly due to a "learning" effect of the new electoral rules). Our report analyzes the effects observed in 2024 and the factors explaining the differences observed between Wallonia's communes.Analysis of the restructuring of the electoral offer in 2024While 2018 had seen a significant increase in the number of lists present at communal polls (notably so-called "citizen" and far-right lists), in October 2024, the number of lists in competition fell significantly. An analysis of official figures describes the evolution of the number and type of lists according to the institutional and political configurations of Wallonia's communes. It focuses in particular on the evolution of typically "local" lists, a Walloon characteristic within European democracies. Practical information L'ArsenalRue Bruno, 11 - 5000 NamurL'Arsenal is a 10-minute walk from Namur train station and the Parliament of Wallonia. Adjacent parking is available free of charge (Rue de l'Arsenal 13, 5000 Namur)Registration required (places are limited - registration deadline: March 3) Program 9:00-13:00: Conference workshop9:00-9:30: welcome and coffee9:30-9:35: presentation of the project by the inter-university consortium9:35-11:40 : presentation of reports and Q&A Analysis of the restructuring of the electoral offer in 2024 Analysis of electoral participation in 2024 Analysis of the effects of electoral reforms in 202411:40-11:50 : closing remarks12:00-13:00: closing lunchContact person For information requests: laura.uyttendaele@unamur.be and jeremy.dodeigne@unamur.be SPW Interior and Social Action

Arthur Borriello, professor in the EMCP Faculty and member of the TRANSITIONS Institute, has just been awarded a Mandat d'Impulsion Scientifique (MIS), prestigious funding from the F.R.S-FNRS. Through a comparison of 4 countries, this research project aims to understand why and how social democratic parties have adapted to the socio-political changes of the last ten years. Explanations.

Can a computer learn a language like a child? A recent study published in the leading journal Computational Linguistics by Professors Katrien Beuls (Université de Namur) and Paul Van Eecke (AI-lab, Vrije Universiteit Brussel) sheds new light on this question. The researchers argue for a fundamental revision of the way artificial intelligence acquires and processes language.

Reconciling family life and a political career in the European Parliament poses major challenges, particularly for MEPs with young children. This is demonstrated by Elena Frech, researcher at the University of Namur, in her recent research on work-life balance in European institutions.

This summer's third and final focus on the NaDI-CeRCLe research center, which has gained international recognition in recent weeks thanks to awards won by three young researchers in service management. Following on from Floriane Goosse and Victor Sluÿters, we invite you to discover the work of Florence Nizette, a young researcher working on Artificial Intelligence technologies.

A flurry of awards for the NaDI-CeRCLe research center in recent weeks. The service management research of three young doctoral students from the EMCP Faculty has been recognized by their peers at leading international scientific events: Floriane Goosse, Victor Sluÿters and Florence Nizette. This summer, we invite you to discover their careers and their work.

Japan is almost 10,000 kilometers from Belgium, a country that fascinates, not least for its rich culture full of contrasts. Researchers at UNamur maintain close ties with several Japanese institutions, particularly in the fields of computer science, mathematics and video games. Let's take a look at some of these collaborations..

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

Semantic change, i.e. the evolution of word meanings over time, offers crucial information about historical, cultural and linguistic processes. Language acts as a mirror of societal change, reflecting evolving values, norms and technological advances. Understanding how the meaning of words evolves enables us to trace these transformations and gain a deeper understanding of our distant and recent past.This seminar explores how computational methods are revolutionizing our ability to analyze semantic change in historical texts, addressing a major challenge in the field of digital humanities. While advanced computational methods enable us to analyze vast datasets and uncover previously inaccessible patterns, few natural language processing algorithms fully take into account the dynamic nature of language, particularly semantics, which is essential for research in the humanities. As AI systems develop to better understand the historical context and dynamics of language, human annotation and interpretation remain essential to capture the nuances of language and its cultural context.In this presentation, I will show how computational and human-centered approaches can be effectively combined to examine semantic change and its links to cultural and technological developments. I will present examples illustrating how semantic change can be analyzed across temporal, cultural and textual dimensions."Methods "seminarsThe Methods Seminar is a series of seminars organized at the University of Namur with the aim of fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge exchange. All seminars take place in a hybrid format.This seminar series focuses on advanced methodological approaches, particularly in the fields of natural language processing (NLP), artificial intelligence (AI), video and image analysis, and multimodal analysis.To stay informed about details of upcoming seminars, please subscribe to our mailing list below. I subscribe to the "Methods" mailing list

"Methods" is a seminar series organized by the Institut Transitions at the University of Namur with the aim of fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge exchange. All seminars take place in a hybrid format.The Methods seminar series focuses on advanced methodological approaches, particularly in the fields of natural language processing (NLP), artificial intelligence (AI), video and image analysis, and multimodal analysis.

Democratic Transformations - TRANSDEMThese seminars will focus on how current institutional, economic, environmental and migratory tensions are transforming and challenging the way our democratic regimes function.

More info to come."Methods "seminarsThe Methods Seminar is a series of seminars organized at the University of Namur with the aim of fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and knowledge exchange. All seminars take place in a hybrid format.This seminar series focuses on advanced methodological approaches, particularly in the fields of natural language processing (NLP), artificial intelligence (AI), video and image analysis, and multimodal analysis.To stay informed about details of upcoming seminars, please subscribe to our mailing list below. I subscribe to the "Methods" mailing list