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Following are links to working papers from the DeFiPP Research Institute. This series of working papers was launched in September 2021.

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For more than 30 years, the Department of Flexible Scheduling at the Faculty of Economics, Management, Communication, and Political Science (EMCP) at the University of Namur has been helping adults returning to school to acquire new skills. In 2023, the Department launched a brand-new program: a Master's degree specializing in sustainable development management and economics. This one-year program addresses environmental and societal challenges by training professionals to support the ecological and economic transition. 

New Christian churches are experiencing spectacular growth, particularly in Africa. While they are attracting a growing number of followers, it is notable that women are joining them far more often than men. Catherine Guirkinger, a professor and researcher in development economics, examines this gendered phenomenon of religious conversion and the economic mechanisms underlying it. This original research has just received prestigious WelCHANGE funding through the 2025 call for proposals from the F.R.S-FNRS. 

Since September 2023, the reform of initial teacher training (RFIE) has been profoundly transforming the teaching profession. This year, it is taking a new step forward with the replacement of the former teaching-oriented master's degrees and the agrégation by master's degrees in teaching sections 4 and 5. Led by the Faculty of Education and Training Sciences (FaSEF), in collaboration with the Faculties of Science and EMCP (Economics, Management, Communication, and Political Science), the reform is accompanied by a strengthened partnership with HENALLUX (Namur-Liège-Luxembourg University College).

The FNRS has awarded the five-year Ernest-John Solvay Prize in the Social Sciences to Jean-Marie Baland, Professor in the Department of Economics at UNamur's EMCP Faculty and co-founder of the DeFiPP Institute's Centre de Recherche en Economie du Développement (CRED). A major accolade for a career devoted to the study of poverty, informal institutions and sustainable development..

Conceptual field theory and didactic situation theory Two complementary theories for thinking about and organizing mathematical learningIn the first part of this talk, I'll propose an introductory situation in literal arithmetic (Barallobres & Giroux, 2008) that will enable me to introduce and illustrate the main concepts and methodological tools of the theory of didactic situations developed by Guy Brousseau (Brousseau, 1997; Bessot, 2024). In the second part, I will give a brief presentation of Gérard Vergnaud's theory of conceptual fields (Vergnaud, 1990; Durand-Guerrier and Saby, 2023), then show how this theory helps to shed further light on the introductory situation.The contributions of the anthropological theory of didactics The Anthropological Theory of Didactics (TAD, Chevallard, 2001) aims to explain why and how a given knowledge lives in a certain institution, and/or is transformed as it passes from one institution to another. This perspective and some of its evolutions will be presented and illustrated in this talk.Students' activities and teachers' practices in the mathematics classroom: analysis methodology with Activity TheoryIn this talk, we will present the founding assumptions of the Activity Theory framework adapted to the Didactics of Mathematics (TADM, Vandebrouck, 2008), showing how this theory gives importance to fine-grained analyses of mathematical knowledge to appreciate classroom developments. We will then exemplify some of these aspects on the teaching of limits at university (Bridoux and Grenier-Boley, 2024).BibliographyBarallobres, G., & Giroux, J. (2008). Environmental deficiencies and regulations in validation situations. N. In Berdnaz, & C. Mary (Eds). L'enseignement des mathématiques face aux défis de l'école et des communautés. Actes du colloque EMF 2006 (CD-ROM). Éditions du CRP https://emf.unige.ch/application/files/1414/5390/4857/EMF2006_GT8_Barallobres.pdfBessot, A. (2003). An introduction to the theory of didactic situations. Cahiers du laboratoire Leibniz, 91. hal-00078794Bridoux, S., & Grenier-Boley, N. (2024). What teaching practices should be used to introduce the limits of functions in the first year of university? A case study. In A. González-Martín, G. Gueudet, I. Florensa & N. Lombard (Eds.), Proceedings of the Fifth Conference of the International Network for Didactic Research in University Mathematics (INDRUM 2024, 10-14 June 2024) (pp. 791-800). Escola Universitària de Sarrià. Univ. Autònoma de Barcelona and INDRUM.Brousseau, G. (1997). Théorie des situations didactiques. Lecture given at the award to Guy Brousseau of the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Montreal. http://www.cfem.asso.fr/actualites/archives/Brousseau.pdfChevallard, Y. (2001). Organizing study: 1. Structures and Functions. In J.-L. Dorier, M. Artaud, M. Artigue, R. Berthelot, & R. Floris Proceedings of the XIe École d'été de didactique des mathématiques. (pp. 3-32). Editions la Pensée Sauvage.Durand-Guerrier, V., & Nicolas Saby, N. (2023). Usages de la théorie des champs conceptuels en didactique des mathématiques. The example of transitivity. Caminhos da Educação Matemática em Revista, 13 (4),118-134. ⟨hal-04585866⟩Vandebrouck, F. (dir.) (2008). La classe de mathématiques: activités des élèves et pratiques des enseignants. OCTARES Éditions.Vergnaud, G. (1990). Conceptual field theory. Recherches en didactique des mathématiques, 10(2/3), 133-170. In practice Program18:00: Presentation by Viviane Durand-Guerrier 18:40: Presentation by Ghislaine Gueudet 19:20: Presentation by Nicolas Grenier-Boley and Stéphanie Bridoux20:00: Q&A around the three presentationsModalities Required registration via the PhD school website or direct link to the registration form.Or online participation link (via TEAMS).

The F.R.S.-FNRS has just published the results of its various 2025 calls for proposals. These include the "Credits & Projects" and "WelCHANGE" calls, as well as the "FRIA" (Fund for Research Training in Industry and Agriculture) and "FRESH" (Fund for Research in the Humanities) calls, which aim to support doctoral theses. What are the results for UNamur? Twenty-eight projects have been selected, demonstrating the quality and richness of research at UNamur. 

The university has a duty to set an example in terms of sustainable development, in all three of its dimensions: economic, social and environmental. Sustainable "in form" through the way it manages its infrastructures and assets, and sustainable "in substance" through its commitment to research and teaching activities, in order to actively contribute to the environmental transition. All in line with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Statistics usually focus on anticipating events that fall within the norm. But what about rare events? They are dealt with by a branch of mathematics called extreme value theory, in which Anna Kiriliouk, lecturer in statistics at UNamur, is a specialist. Applied to the climate, this theory enables us to better predict extreme climatic events, at a time when these are multiplying due to climate change.

Gabriel Dias De Carvalho Junior adds his expertise in didactics and cognitive psychology to the physics didactics research unit of UNamur's Department of Physics. With almost two decades of teaching experience in Brazil, he works to improve teaching practices. His innovative projects aim to make teaching more inclusive and accessible, while establishing international collaborations.

Program FEBRUARY 139.00-9.30 Registration Auditorium E13Chair: Jean-Marie Baland9.30-10.15 Catherine Guirkinger (University of Namur) - Height, parental investments and marriage payments in sub-Saharan Africa10.15-11 Clément Imbert (Sc Pos Paris) - Dry Lives: Climate Adaptation and Mortality in the Semi-arid Regions of Brazil 11-11.30 coffee break11.30-12.15 Karlijn Morsink (Utrecht University) - Keeping the Peace while Getting Your Way: Information, Persuasion and Intimate Partner Violence12.15-13.00 Liam Wren-Lewis (Paris School of Economics) - Decentralization, Ethnic Fractionalization, and Public Services: Evidence from Kenyan Healthcare 13.00-14.10 Lunch Break and EC MeetingChair: Guilhem Cassan14.15-15.00 Christelle Dumas (University of Fribourg) Informal labor exchange teams and participation on the labor market: Evidence from rural Tanzania15.00-15.45 Andreas Madestam (University of Stockholm) Credit Contracts, Business Development and Gender: Evidence from Uganda15.45-16.15 Coffee Break16.15-17.00 Salvatore di Falco (University of Geneva) Farming, Non-Farm Enterprise, and Migration Under Incomplete Markets17:00-17:45 Jadnith Kaur (University of Glasgow) How Much Do I Matter? Teacher Self-Beliefs, Effort, and Education Production18:15 EUDN General Assembly 19.30 Conference DinnerFEBRUARY 14Chair: Sylvie Lambert9.30-10.15 Yannick Dupraz (University of Paris Dauphine) A century of language and migration in India10:15-11:00 Laura Montebruck (Stockholm University) Fiscal exchange and Tax Compliance: Strengthening the the Social Contract Under Low State Capacity 11-11.30 coffee break11.30-12.15 Justine Knebelmann (Sciences Po, Paris) Discretion versus Algorithms: Bureaucrats and Tax Equity in Senegal12.15-13.00 Imelda (Geneva Graduate Institute) Crime in the Dark: Role of Electricity Rationing 13.00-14.00 Lunch BreakChair: Catherine Guirkinger14.00-14:45 Rieger Matthias (Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management, Rotterdam) Shaken, not Stunted? Global Evidence on Natural Disasters, Child Growth and Recovery14.45-15:30 Guilhem Cassan (University of Namur) Political Determinants of the News Market: Novel Data and Quasi-Experimental evidence from India 15.45 End of the Conference Full program