DeFiPP consolidates the research work carried out in three pre-existing centers, CRED, CEREFIM and CERPE, each of which represents one of the three main areas of research: development economics, public policy and regional economics and finance, and monetary economics. DeFiPP's main objective is to promote excellent research in economics and finance, with a high international profile, using economic methodology, both in theory and empirical research, which is the common link between the clusters. Cross-fertilization will take place through the joint sharing of new methods or approaches.

L'objectif principal de DeFiPP est de promouvoir l'excellence de la recherche en économie et en finance par le biais de publications scientifiques théoriques et empiriques de premier plan. Pour ce faire, l'institut s'appuie fortement sur les interactions entre les membres de ses trois centres de recherche et encourage le partage de méthodes et d'approches. DeFiPP vise également à développer une visibilité nationale et internationale en collaborant avec des chercheurs de nombreuses universités et de nombreux pays. A cet égard, l'institut, avec plusieurs autres universités belges (KULeuven, UCLouvain et Universiteit Antwerpen), est actuellement impliqué dans le projet Excellence of Science (EOS) qui se concentre sur le développement des connaissances sur les conséquences de la mondialisation et de l'intégration des marchés dans les pays développés et en voie de développement.

Les centres de recherche

Image
Pièces de mnnaie empilées avec une petiteplante qui pousse au sommet
See content
Image
CERPE
See content
Image
African women carrying bowls on their heads, Benin, Africa
See content

Spotlight

News

Better prediction of climate extremes

Mathematics

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.

Photo de la banquise et de la mer

This article is taken from the "Impact" section of the December 2024 issue of Omalius magazine.

On the night of January 31, 1953, the North Sea suddenly rose by almost four meters, submerging parts of the Netherlands and Belgium. The disaster caused the death of over 2,500 people, as well as considerable damage. According to Anna Kiriliouk, lecturer in statistics at UNamur's Department of Mathematics and EMCP Faculty, this exceptional event truly marked "the beginning of the development of extreme value theory, with the development of the first extreme value construction project"

The Delta Plan, as it is called, is a system of dikes that protects the Netherlands against the risk of flooding, with these dikes overtopping once every 10,000 years. A rare danger, certainly, but not zero, which "could not have been calculated using conventional statistics, which are very poorly adapted to rare events", believes the mathematician.

While climate change is often discussed in terms of averages, such as rising temperatures and sea levels, it also has the consequence of increasing the frequency of extreme weather events, with significant repercussions for our societies. "In other words, the risk increases along with the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere", summarizes the researcher. "Thus, a flood calculated in 1953 to occur only every 10,000 years does not have the same significance as today. The latter could happen more frequently, for example every 1,000 years."

Attributing extreme events

While extreme weather events are on the increase, it's difficult in practice to attribute any particular flood or drought to climate change. With this in mind, Anna Kiriliouk has just been awarded an interdisciplinary research project,named EXALT, in collaboration with UCLouvain. "It involves both climatologists and statisticians, she reveals.

Image
Photo d'Anna Kiriliouk

"This collaboration is very important, because answering this question of the attribution of extreme events can only be done through the development of a common language between our two disciplines, which currently operate separately. We have a lot to learn from each other"

Anna Kiriliouk Lecturer in Statistics, Department of Mathematics and EMCP Faculty, UNamur

In practice, the EXALT project will therefore calculate the probabilities of an extreme event occurring, and compare this probability with that of the same situation in a world where GHG emissions would not have increased. "Of course, we don't have real data from such a world", says Anna Kiriliouk. "We are therefore basing ourselves on alternative climate simulations, the quality of which we will moreover compare, with a focus on extreme events."

Divided into three working groups, the EXALT project will seek in particular to determine the role of climate change in the occurrence of floods, as well as heat waves and drought in Europe. And to do so as realistically as possible: "One of the things we want to incorporate into climate models concerns the dependency between data," explains Anna Kiriliouk. "For example, if a heat wave hits Namur, there's a good chance that the same temperatures will affect Louvain-La-Neuve. We therefore say that there is a strong spatial dependency between these two data. However, this dependence is probably not at all valid for rain, which is much more heterogeneous. By taking into account all these variables, both spatial and temporal, we hope to improve existing models."

A third working group will study much more distant areas, located in Antarctica. "Until 2016, the extent of the Antarctic ice pack was increasing, before abruptly decreasing", the researcher illuminates. "Or, according to the models, this event was considered almost impossible. But with one of EXALT's partners, we began to analyze the evolution of pack ice extent using extreme value theory. With the latter, this sudden drop was no longer so improbable. This gave us confidence in our approach, which is all the more important when the state of the pack ice has such a strong influence on other climate variables."

Compound events

This interaction between several climatic processes is, moreover, the subject of a second project just obtained by Anna Kiriliouk and funded by an FNRS Mandat d'Impulsion Scientifique. "The aim is to make it possible to study what we call compound events", explains the researcher. "During extreme climatic situations, we usually associate very high or low values simultaneously, such as a lack of rain and high temperature, resulting in an intense drought. But in the case of compound phenomena, we find that the combination of several variables, albeit in a moderate state, results in a severe and unusual event."

In 2017, for example, Hurricane Sandy, which struck the US coastline, is considered a compound event. While North Atlantic hurricanes usually dissipate in mid-ocean, this one coincided with onshore winds and a high tide, leading to massive flooding of New York and the surrounding area.

"In this project, we will therefore try to include more flexibility between the different variables, by introducing different degrees of dependence, the mathematician elaborates. "We're also going to try, as a second step, to group the dependencies together, in order to lighten the models, which become more and more complex as we add nuances to them. And once these models have been modified, we'll apply them to recent events to test their realism."

EXALT - ARC project (FWB)

Funded by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (FWB), ARC projects are Concerted Research Action projects that aim to develop university or inter-university centers of excellence in basic research areas and, where possible, that carry out basic and applied research in an integrated way and aim to add economic and social value to research results.

Logo FWB

Mandat d'impulsion scientifique (MIS) - FNRS

The aim of the funding granted is to support young permanent researchers wishing to develop a scientific unit within their academic institution in a promising field. This mandate has earned Anna Kiriliouk a fellowship from Namur Research College (NARC).

Logo FNRS

This article is taken from the "Impact" section of Omalius magazine #35 (December 2024).

Visuel de Omalius #35 - décembre 2024

Former UNamur doctoral student featured in The Economist

Economy
ODD #10 - Reduced inequalities

The research of Dr. Nitin Bharti, a former PhD student in the Economics Department of the EMCP Faculty at the University of Namur, is covered in "The Economist", the prestigious international business magazine. The article deals with one of his favorite research themes: understanding the development of education systems and their link with economic growth and long-term inequality.

India-China locator on the globe with a picture of Nitin Bharti ant the logo of The Economist

Nitin Bharti is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Economics Program of the Division of Social Sciences at New York University Abu Dhabi. He is also coordinator of the World Inequality Lab for South and Southeast Asia. He received his PhD in economics from the Paris School of Economics (PSE) and the University of Namur in September 2022 under the supervision of his promoters, Thomas Piketty (PSE) and Guilhem Cassan (UNamur).

His doctoral thesis at UNamur studied different dimensions of inequality in India:

  • Inequality of access to education (covered by the article in the Economist),
  • Inequality of income and wealth,
  • Inequality of treatment in the face of justice.

For each of these projects, he conducted extraordinary data collection work, searching for new data in historical archives, or using new website data-mining methods to collect large-scale contemporary administrative data. He then exploited this data via cutting-edge econometric methods.

More about Dr Nitin Bharti

These topics are also at the heart of the themes developed at UNamur, for both teaching and research.

In fact, the DeFiPP Institute has recognized expertise in development economics and environmental economics. Its researchers are very active internationally. Some of DeFiPP's members, for example, have Jim Robinson, Nobel Prize 2024 for his research on the role of institutions in economic development, as a co-author on their articles.

These issues are also at the heart of many of the Economics Department's courses, at both bachelor and master levels. The Department of Economics is keen to offer its students an education that enables them to gain a better understanding of major contemporary societal issues. The Department also has a very long tradition of teaching issues related to the management of environmental resources, inequalities and sustainable development in general.

The Economist | "Bureaucrats, not bridge-builders"

In the article published by The Economist, Nitin Bharti and his co-author Li Yang answer this question: are educational policy choices in India and China at the root of these two countries' economic divergence? The researchers tracked the evolution of education in India and China between 1900 and 2020. According to their study, educational policy is an important and underestimated factor in explaining the trajectories of these countries.

Logo de "the Economist"

At the beginning of the 20th century, less than 10% of Indian and Chinese children attended school; today, almost all do. But the path to universal education has been remarkably different, and has had profound effects on the development of both countries' economies.

EMCP Faculty | Studies in the Department of Economics

Comprendre la dimension fondamentale du fonctionnement des entreprises et de notre société pour conseiller et agir en expert et décideur responsable.  

21 new F.R.S.-FNRS grants for research at UNamur

Institution

The F.R.S.-FNRS has just published the results of its various 2024 calls. Equipment calls, research credits and projects, FRIA doctoral grants and Mandant d'Impulsion Scientifique (MIS), there are many instruments to support fundamental research. Find out more about UNamur's results.

Deux chercheurs dans un laboratoire

The "research credits and projects" call resulted in 14 grants for ambitious new projects. These include two "equipment" grants, five "research credits (CDR)" grants and seven "research projects (PDR)" grants, including one in collaboration with the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland. The FRIA doctoral research support call will fund 6 doctoral fellowships.

A prestigious Mandat d'Impulsion Scientifique (MIS) has also been obtained. This 3-year funding supports young permanent researchers wishing to develop an original and innovative research program while acquiring scientific autonomy within their department.

Results in detail

Call for Equipment

  • Max Collinet, Institut ILEE
  • Catherine Michaux, with Stéphane Vincent and Guillaume Berionni, co-sponsors, Institut NISM

Call for Research Credits (CDR)

  • Thierry Arnould, Institut NARILIS
  • Thomas Balligand, Department of Medicine
  • Danielle Leenaerts, Institut PaTHs
  • Denis Saint-Amand, Institut NaLTT
  • Elio Tuci, Institut NADI

Appel Projets de Recherche (PDR)

  • Nathalie Burnay, in collaboration with "the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland", Institut Transitions (Subject to acceptance by SNSF Switzerland)
  • Catherine Guirkinger, Institut DEFIPP, co-promoter in collaboration with UCLouvain
  • Luca Fusaro, Institut NISM
  • Laurence Meurant, Institut NaLTT
  • René Preys, Institut PaTHs
  • Stéphane Vincent, Institut NISM, co-promoter in collaboration with UCLouvain
  • Johan Wouters, Institut NISM, co-promoter in collaboration with UCLouvain

Fonds pour la formation à la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture (FRIA)

  • Alix Buridant - Promoter: Henri-François Renard, Institut NARILIS ; Co-sponsor: Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck - Austria -
  • Constance De Maere d'Aertrycke - Promoter Nicolas Gillet, Institut NARILIS
  • Noah Deveaux - Promoter: Benoît Champagne, Institut NISM
  • Nicolas Dricot - Promoter: Muriel Lepère, Institut NISM; Co-promoter: Bastien Vispoel, Institut NISM and Université Grenoble Alpes
  • Laurie Marchal - Promoter Thierry Arnould. Co-promoter: Patricia Renard. Institut NARILIS
  • Léa Poskin - Promoter: Catherine Michaux, Institut NISM; Co-promoter: Jean-Pierre Gillet, Institut NARILIS

Mandat d'Impulsion Scientifique (MIS)

  • Arthur Borriello, Institut Transitions

Congratulations to all and sundry

!

F.R.S.-FNRS missions

The mission of the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique - FNRS is to develop basic scientific research through initiatives presented by researchers. It promotes the production and development of knowledge by supporting individual researchers on the one hand, and by financing research programs carried out in laboratories and departments located mainly in the universities of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation on the other.

Based on the sole criterion of scientific excellence, financial support from the F.R.S.-FNRS is provided in several ways. Numerous calls for funding are launched each year to support fundamental research at all levels of researchers' careers.

A new collaboration with Benin

Economy
Institution

In January 2023, Professor Romain Houssa of UNamur led a Belgian delegation to formulate a new ARES Institutional Support (IS) programme at the University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC) in Benin. This multidisciplinary research and innovation support programme aims to strengthen scientific collaboration between FWB researchers and Benin as well as other countries in the West African region, notably Togo, Niger and Burkina Faso.

UNamur Bénin

L’objectif spécifique de l’instrument AI est de renforcer les capacités individuelles et collectives des intervenants d’institutions partenaires dans leurs missions essentielles que sont l’enseignement, la recherche et le service à la société.  Par ailleurs, l’ambition de cet instrument est de soutenir l’émergence et la consolidation de hubs géographiques ou thématiques, qui permettent des approches interinstitutionnelles, à une échelle nationale, régionale ou internationale.

C’est la première fois que l’UNamur assure la coordination d’un tel programme au Bénin depuis plus de 27 ans de coopération entre l’ARES et l’UAC.  Le Professeur Romain Houssa, qui collabore avec l’UCLouvain et l’ULiège, a été nommé coordinateur en juin 2022, après une mission d’identification du nouveau programme en avril dernier.  Le programme se concentrera sur la nutrition, la santé et l’alimentation tout en impliquant diverses disciplines scientifiques. La mission de formulation a connu plusieurs ateliers thématiques au cours desquels les équipes belges et béninoises ont coconstruit ce nouveau programme. Elles ont a été aussi reçues aux cabinets du Recteur de l’UAC et de la ministre de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique du Bénin.

De retour de la mission de formulation du programme de janvier, Romain Houssa soumettra un rapport à l’ARES.  Il s’agit d’identifier le périmètre d’action en approfondissant la compréhension de la problématique, en créant le réseau et en préparant le terrain pour des échanges de chercheurs et d’enseignants Nord-Sud et Sud-Sud.  Un projet de 5 ans devrait débuter en avril prochain.  Il sera concrétisé par des appels à projets mobilité et recherche et d’activités de renforcements de capacités techniques, financés par l’ARES à hauteur de plus d’1 million d’euros.  Une belle récompense pour un investissement institutionnel de longue date.

L'école doctorale d'économie Vodoun

Durant ce séjour, Romain Houssa a également coordonné l’« Ecole doctorale d’économie du Vodoun », une réunion scientifique annuelle qui s’inscrit dans le cadre des collaborations institutionnelles qui existent entre l’UNamur et l’UAC.  Une délégation du Département d’économie de l’UNamur (Jean-Marie Baland, Catherine Guirkinger, Romain Houssa, Christian Kiedaisch, et Perrin Lefebvre) était présente pour échanger avec leurs homologues de l’Ecole doctorale des Sciences économiques et de gestion de l’UAC sur des thématiques variées dans les domaines de l’économie du développement, de l’environnement institutionnel, de la croissance économique, de l’alimentation, et du commerce international. 

Une occasion exceptionnelle de discussion des travaux de recherche au profit des doctorants et post-doctorants du Bénin.

Il est aussi prévu qu’après l’étape du Bénin, les chercheurs prioritaires de l’UAC seront accompagnés pour faire des séjours de recherche à l’UNamur. Cette mobilité sera financée avec les appuis de la Commission Européenne (ERASMUS +) et de l’Académie de recherche et de l’enseignement supérieur (ARES).

Contact : Romain Houssa

Better prediction of climate extremes

Mathematics

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.

Photo de la banquise et de la mer

This article is taken from the "Impact" section of the December 2024 issue of Omalius magazine.

On the night of January 31, 1953, the North Sea suddenly rose by almost four meters, submerging parts of the Netherlands and Belgium. The disaster caused the death of over 2,500 people, as well as considerable damage. According to Anna Kiriliouk, lecturer in statistics at UNamur's Department of Mathematics and EMCP Faculty, this exceptional event truly marked "the beginning of the development of extreme value theory, with the development of the first extreme value construction project"

The Delta Plan, as it is called, is a system of dikes that protects the Netherlands against the risk of flooding, with these dikes overtopping once every 10,000 years. A rare danger, certainly, but not zero, which "could not have been calculated using conventional statistics, which are very poorly adapted to rare events", believes the mathematician.

While climate change is often discussed in terms of averages, such as rising temperatures and sea levels, it also has the consequence of increasing the frequency of extreme weather events, with significant repercussions for our societies. "In other words, the risk increases along with the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere", summarizes the researcher. "Thus, a flood calculated in 1953 to occur only every 10,000 years does not have the same significance as today. The latter could happen more frequently, for example every 1,000 years."

Attributing extreme events

While extreme weather events are on the increase, it's difficult in practice to attribute any particular flood or drought to climate change. With this in mind, Anna Kiriliouk has just been awarded an interdisciplinary research project,named EXALT, in collaboration with UCLouvain. "It involves both climatologists and statisticians, she reveals.

Image
Photo d'Anna Kiriliouk

"This collaboration is very important, because answering this question of the attribution of extreme events can only be done through the development of a common language between our two disciplines, which currently operate separately. We have a lot to learn from each other"

Anna Kiriliouk Lecturer in Statistics, Department of Mathematics and EMCP Faculty, UNamur

In practice, the EXALT project will therefore calculate the probabilities of an extreme event occurring, and compare this probability with that of the same situation in a world where GHG emissions would not have increased. "Of course, we don't have real data from such a world", says Anna Kiriliouk. "We are therefore basing ourselves on alternative climate simulations, the quality of which we will moreover compare, with a focus on extreme events."

Divided into three working groups, the EXALT project will seek in particular to determine the role of climate change in the occurrence of floods, as well as heat waves and drought in Europe. And to do so as realistically as possible: "One of the things we want to incorporate into climate models concerns the dependency between data," explains Anna Kiriliouk. "For example, if a heat wave hits Namur, there's a good chance that the same temperatures will affect Louvain-La-Neuve. We therefore say that there is a strong spatial dependency between these two data. However, this dependence is probably not at all valid for rain, which is much more heterogeneous. By taking into account all these variables, both spatial and temporal, we hope to improve existing models."

A third working group will study much more distant areas, located in Antarctica. "Until 2016, the extent of the Antarctic ice pack was increasing, before abruptly decreasing", the researcher illuminates. "Or, according to the models, this event was considered almost impossible. But with one of EXALT's partners, we began to analyze the evolution of pack ice extent using extreme value theory. With the latter, this sudden drop was no longer so improbable. This gave us confidence in our approach, which is all the more important when the state of the pack ice has such a strong influence on other climate variables."

Compound events

This interaction between several climatic processes is, moreover, the subject of a second project just obtained by Anna Kiriliouk and funded by an FNRS Mandat d'Impulsion Scientifique. "The aim is to make it possible to study what we call compound events", explains the researcher. "During extreme climatic situations, we usually associate very high or low values simultaneously, such as a lack of rain and high temperature, resulting in an intense drought. But in the case of compound phenomena, we find that the combination of several variables, albeit in a moderate state, results in a severe and unusual event."

In 2017, for example, Hurricane Sandy, which struck the US coastline, is considered a compound event. While North Atlantic hurricanes usually dissipate in mid-ocean, this one coincided with onshore winds and a high tide, leading to massive flooding of New York and the surrounding area.

"In this project, we will therefore try to include more flexibility between the different variables, by introducing different degrees of dependence, the mathematician elaborates. "We're also going to try, as a second step, to group the dependencies together, in order to lighten the models, which become more and more complex as we add nuances to them. And once these models have been modified, we'll apply them to recent events to test their realism."

EXALT - ARC project (FWB)

Funded by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (FWB), ARC projects are Concerted Research Action projects that aim to develop university or inter-university centers of excellence in basic research areas and, where possible, that carry out basic and applied research in an integrated way and aim to add economic and social value to research results.

Logo FWB

Mandat d'impulsion scientifique (MIS) - FNRS

The aim of the funding granted is to support young permanent researchers wishing to develop a scientific unit within their academic institution in a promising field. This mandate has earned Anna Kiriliouk a fellowship from Namur Research College (NARC).

Logo FNRS

This article is taken from the "Impact" section of Omalius magazine #35 (December 2024).

Visuel de Omalius #35 - décembre 2024

Former UNamur doctoral student featured in The Economist

Economy
ODD #10 - Reduced inequalities

The research of Dr. Nitin Bharti, a former PhD student in the Economics Department of the EMCP Faculty at the University of Namur, is covered in "The Economist", the prestigious international business magazine. The article deals with one of his favorite research themes: understanding the development of education systems and their link with economic growth and long-term inequality.

India-China locator on the globe with a picture of Nitin Bharti ant the logo of The Economist

Nitin Bharti is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Economics Program of the Division of Social Sciences at New York University Abu Dhabi. He is also coordinator of the World Inequality Lab for South and Southeast Asia. He received his PhD in economics from the Paris School of Economics (PSE) and the University of Namur in September 2022 under the supervision of his promoters, Thomas Piketty (PSE) and Guilhem Cassan (UNamur).

His doctoral thesis at UNamur studied different dimensions of inequality in India:

  • Inequality of access to education (covered by the article in the Economist),
  • Inequality of income and wealth,
  • Inequality of treatment in the face of justice.

For each of these projects, he conducted extraordinary data collection work, searching for new data in historical archives, or using new website data-mining methods to collect large-scale contemporary administrative data. He then exploited this data via cutting-edge econometric methods.

More about Dr Nitin Bharti

These topics are also at the heart of the themes developed at UNamur, for both teaching and research.

In fact, the DeFiPP Institute has recognized expertise in development economics and environmental economics. Its researchers are very active internationally. Some of DeFiPP's members, for example, have Jim Robinson, Nobel Prize 2024 for his research on the role of institutions in economic development, as a co-author on their articles.

These issues are also at the heart of many of the Economics Department's courses, at both bachelor and master levels. The Department of Economics is keen to offer its students an education that enables them to gain a better understanding of major contemporary societal issues. The Department also has a very long tradition of teaching issues related to the management of environmental resources, inequalities and sustainable development in general.

The Economist | "Bureaucrats, not bridge-builders"

In the article published by The Economist, Nitin Bharti and his co-author Li Yang answer this question: are educational policy choices in India and China at the root of these two countries' economic divergence? The researchers tracked the evolution of education in India and China between 1900 and 2020. According to their study, educational policy is an important and underestimated factor in explaining the trajectories of these countries.

Logo de "the Economist"

At the beginning of the 20th century, less than 10% of Indian and Chinese children attended school; today, almost all do. But the path to universal education has been remarkably different, and has had profound effects on the development of both countries' economies.

EMCP Faculty | Studies in the Department of Economics

Comprendre la dimension fondamentale du fonctionnement des entreprises et de notre société pour conseiller et agir en expert et décideur responsable.  

21 new F.R.S.-FNRS grants for research at UNamur

Institution

The F.R.S.-FNRS has just published the results of its various 2024 calls. Equipment calls, research credits and projects, FRIA doctoral grants and Mandant d'Impulsion Scientifique (MIS), there are many instruments to support fundamental research. Find out more about UNamur's results.

Deux chercheurs dans un laboratoire

The "research credits and projects" call resulted in 14 grants for ambitious new projects. These include two "equipment" grants, five "research credits (CDR)" grants and seven "research projects (PDR)" grants, including one in collaboration with the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland. The FRIA doctoral research support call will fund 6 doctoral fellowships.

A prestigious Mandat d'Impulsion Scientifique (MIS) has also been obtained. This 3-year funding supports young permanent researchers wishing to develop an original and innovative research program while acquiring scientific autonomy within their department.

Results in detail

Call for Equipment

  • Max Collinet, Institut ILEE
  • Catherine Michaux, with Stéphane Vincent and Guillaume Berionni, co-sponsors, Institut NISM

Call for Research Credits (CDR)

  • Thierry Arnould, Institut NARILIS
  • Thomas Balligand, Department of Medicine
  • Danielle Leenaerts, Institut PaTHs
  • Denis Saint-Amand, Institut NaLTT
  • Elio Tuci, Institut NADI

Appel Projets de Recherche (PDR)

  • Nathalie Burnay, in collaboration with "the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland", Institut Transitions (Subject to acceptance by SNSF Switzerland)
  • Catherine Guirkinger, Institut DEFIPP, co-promoter in collaboration with UCLouvain
  • Luca Fusaro, Institut NISM
  • Laurence Meurant, Institut NaLTT
  • René Preys, Institut PaTHs
  • Stéphane Vincent, Institut NISM, co-promoter in collaboration with UCLouvain
  • Johan Wouters, Institut NISM, co-promoter in collaboration with UCLouvain

Fonds pour la formation à la Recherche dans l'Industrie et dans l'Agriculture (FRIA)

  • Alix Buridant - Promoter: Henri-François Renard, Institut NARILIS ; Co-sponsor: Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck - Austria -
  • Constance De Maere d'Aertrycke - Promoter Nicolas Gillet, Institut NARILIS
  • Noah Deveaux - Promoter: Benoît Champagne, Institut NISM
  • Nicolas Dricot - Promoter: Muriel Lepère, Institut NISM; Co-promoter: Bastien Vispoel, Institut NISM and Université Grenoble Alpes
  • Laurie Marchal - Promoter Thierry Arnould. Co-promoter: Patricia Renard. Institut NARILIS
  • Léa Poskin - Promoter: Catherine Michaux, Institut NISM; Co-promoter: Jean-Pierre Gillet, Institut NARILIS

Mandat d'Impulsion Scientifique (MIS)

  • Arthur Borriello, Institut Transitions

Congratulations to all and sundry

!

F.R.S.-FNRS missions

The mission of the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique - FNRS is to develop basic scientific research through initiatives presented by researchers. It promotes the production and development of knowledge by supporting individual researchers on the one hand, and by financing research programs carried out in laboratories and departments located mainly in the universities of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation on the other.

Based on the sole criterion of scientific excellence, financial support from the F.R.S.-FNRS is provided in several ways. Numerous calls for funding are launched each year to support fundamental research at all levels of researchers' careers.

A new collaboration with Benin

Economy
Institution

In January 2023, Professor Romain Houssa of UNamur led a Belgian delegation to formulate a new ARES Institutional Support (IS) programme at the University of Abomey-Calavi (UAC) in Benin. This multidisciplinary research and innovation support programme aims to strengthen scientific collaboration between FWB researchers and Benin as well as other countries in the West African region, notably Togo, Niger and Burkina Faso.

UNamur Bénin

L’objectif spécifique de l’instrument AI est de renforcer les capacités individuelles et collectives des intervenants d’institutions partenaires dans leurs missions essentielles que sont l’enseignement, la recherche et le service à la société.  Par ailleurs, l’ambition de cet instrument est de soutenir l’émergence et la consolidation de hubs géographiques ou thématiques, qui permettent des approches interinstitutionnelles, à une échelle nationale, régionale ou internationale.

C’est la première fois que l’UNamur assure la coordination d’un tel programme au Bénin depuis plus de 27 ans de coopération entre l’ARES et l’UAC.  Le Professeur Romain Houssa, qui collabore avec l’UCLouvain et l’ULiège, a été nommé coordinateur en juin 2022, après une mission d’identification du nouveau programme en avril dernier.  Le programme se concentrera sur la nutrition, la santé et l’alimentation tout en impliquant diverses disciplines scientifiques. La mission de formulation a connu plusieurs ateliers thématiques au cours desquels les équipes belges et béninoises ont coconstruit ce nouveau programme. Elles ont a été aussi reçues aux cabinets du Recteur de l’UAC et de la ministre de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique du Bénin.

De retour de la mission de formulation du programme de janvier, Romain Houssa soumettra un rapport à l’ARES.  Il s’agit d’identifier le périmètre d’action en approfondissant la compréhension de la problématique, en créant le réseau et en préparant le terrain pour des échanges de chercheurs et d’enseignants Nord-Sud et Sud-Sud.  Un projet de 5 ans devrait débuter en avril prochain.  Il sera concrétisé par des appels à projets mobilité et recherche et d’activités de renforcements de capacités techniques, financés par l’ARES à hauteur de plus d’1 million d’euros.  Une belle récompense pour un investissement institutionnel de longue date.

L'école doctorale d'économie Vodoun

Durant ce séjour, Romain Houssa a également coordonné l’« Ecole doctorale d’économie du Vodoun », une réunion scientifique annuelle qui s’inscrit dans le cadre des collaborations institutionnelles qui existent entre l’UNamur et l’UAC.  Une délégation du Département d’économie de l’UNamur (Jean-Marie Baland, Catherine Guirkinger, Romain Houssa, Christian Kiedaisch, et Perrin Lefebvre) était présente pour échanger avec leurs homologues de l’Ecole doctorale des Sciences économiques et de gestion de l’UAC sur des thématiques variées dans les domaines de l’économie du développement, de l’environnement institutionnel, de la croissance économique, de l’alimentation, et du commerce international. 

Une occasion exceptionnelle de discussion des travaux de recherche au profit des doctorants et post-doctorants du Bénin.

Il est aussi prévu qu’après l’étape du Bénin, les chercheurs prioritaires de l’UAC seront accompagnés pour faire des séjours de recherche à l’UNamur. Cette mobilité sera financée avec les appuis de la Commission Européenne (ERASMUS +) et de l’Académie de recherche et de l’enseignement supérieur (ARES).

Contact : Romain Houssa

All news

Agenda

  • 13
  • 14

DEFIPP - EUDN Annual Conference

Colloquium

DEFIPP - EUDN Annual Conference

Economie
13
09:00 - 14
15:45
Université de Namur - Auditorium E13 - 5000 Namur
Contact person :  Baland Jean-Marie

The DEFIPP institute is organizing the annual EUDN (European Development Economics Network) conference on February 13 and 14.

.

Program

FEBRUARY 13

9.00-9.30 Registration Auditorium E13

Chair: Jean-Marie Baland

9.30-10.15 Catherine Guirkinger (University of Namur) - Height, parental investments and marriage payments in sub-Saharan Africa

10.15-11 Clément Imbert (Sc Pos Paris) - Dry Lives: Climate Adaptation and Mortality in the Semi-arid Regions of Brazil

11-11.30 coffee break

11.30-12.15 Karlijn Morsink (Utrecht University) - Keeping the Peace while Getting Your Way: Information, Persuasion and Intimate Partner Violence

12.15-13.00 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 Meeting

Chair: Guilhem Cassan

14.15-15.00 Christelle Dumas (University of Fribourg) Informal labor exchange teams and participation on the labor market: Evidence from rural Tanzania

15.00-15.45 Andreas Madestam (University of Stockholm) Credit Contracts, Business Development and Gender: Evidence from Uganda

15.45-16.15 Coffee Break

16.15-17.00 Salvatore di Falco (University of Geneva) Farming, Non-Farm Enterprise, and Migration Under Incomplete Markets

17:00-17:45 Jadnith Kaur (University of Glasgow) How Much Do I Matter? Teacher Self-Beliefs, Effort, and Education Production

18:15 EUDN General Assembly

19.30 Conference Dinner

FEBRUARY 14

Chair: Sylvie Lambert

9.30-10.15 Yannick Dupraz (University of Paris Dauphine) A century of language and migration in India

10:15-11:00 Laura Montebruck (Stockholm University) Fiscal exchange and Tax Compliance: Strengthening the the Social Contract Under Low State Capacity

11-11.30 coffee break

11.30-12.15 Justine Knebelmann (Sciences Po, Paris) Discretion versus Algorithms: Bureaucrats and Tax Equity in Senegal

12.15-13.00 Imelda (Geneva Graduate Institute) Crime in the Dark: Role of Electricity Rationing

13.00-14.00 Lunch Break

Chair: Catherine Guirkinger

14.00-14:45 Rieger Matthias (Erasmus School of Health Policy & Management, Rotterdam) Shaken, not Stunted? Global Evidence on Natural Disasters, Child Growth and Recovery

14.45-15:30 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

  • 23
  • 27

Academic writing" training

Formation

The 5-session program

  • Session 1: Friday, May 23, 2025, 10:00-13:00 | Improving structure and style
  • Session 2: Friday, June 6, 2025, 10:00-13:00 | Writing an introduction and literature review
  • Session 3: Friday, June 13, 2025, 10:00-13:00 | Writing a methods, results and discussion section; peer review of participants' papers
  • Session 4: Friday, June 20, 2025, 10:00-13:00 | General and individual feedback
  • Session 5: Friday, June 27, 2025, 10:00-13:00 | Communicating your research to a wider audience

Space is limited and priority will be given to early registration.

Price: 200€

Deadline for registrations: 31/01/2025

All events

Les points forts de DeFiPP

  • L'intégration de domaines de recherche et d'approches qui différent mais sont liés, tant en économie qu'en finance.
  • L'importance des trois centres de recherche de l'institut. En particulier, le CRED est considéré comme un centre de pointe en économie du développement en Europe, et est notamment soutenu par l'Union européenne à travers le European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant. Le CERPE est connu pour son rôle de conseil dans les politiques publiques belges. Quant au CeReFiM, il a récemment collaboré avec des organisations du secteur privé dans le cadre des chaires de recherche Ageas et BNP Paribas Fortis consacrées à la gestion des risques systémiques et des risques d'actifs.
  • L'organisation de diverses activités de recherche qui rassemblent les membres des différents centres de recherche. Ces activités se répartissent en deux catégories : les activités de DeFiPP, par exemple les séminaires hebdomadaires d'économie et les workshops de DeFiPP) et les activités co-organisées avec d'autres universités (par exemple l'atelier de doctorat co-organisé deux fois par an avec l'UCLouvain et l'Université Saint-Louis).
  • La participation des trois centres de recherche de la DeFiPP à une école doctorale commune, avec d'autres universités belges, qui permet aux membres de la DeFiPP de suivre des cours de doctorat de haute qualité.

Contact

Présidente de DeFiPP

Catherine Guirkinger

Secrétaire : jeanick.pignolet@unamur.be