In the picture, from left to right: (top) Pierre Louette, Director of the Physics Department; François Briard, Head of the Science Portal Group (CERN); Julien Colaux, IBA specialist, physics researcher; Boris Hespeels, biology researcher; Alexandre Mayer, physics researcher; Anne-Catherine Heuskin, physics and biophysics researcher. (bottom) André Füzfa, astrophysicist and mathematics researcher; Serge Mathot, Applied Physicist (CERN) and Michaël Lobet, physics researcher.

The love affair between CERN and UNamur goes back a long way. CERN's accelerator complex and experimental program are very different and much larger than those of UNamur's Physics Department, but the fields in which the two institutions work have much in common.

In addition, both guests have a personal history with UNamur. The Physics Department was pleased to welcome Serge Mathot, Referent Applied Physicist (CERN) and alumni of the UNamur Physics Department (1992), as well as François Briard, Group Leader Science Portal (CERN), and alumni of the UNamur Faculty of Computer Science (1994).

The activities began with a meeting between the guests, Rector Annick Castiaux, Vice-Rector for Research Carine Michiels, Physics Department Director Pierre Louette and several other members of the Physics and Biology Department. After a general presentation of the University, the participants pointed out the missions shared by both institutions: research and the transfer of technology and knowledge, service to society, scientific popularization and education and training.

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Physics lunch - CERN presentation

The physics lunch is the monthly meeting between students and members of the physics department and a professional, alumni or not, coming to explain his or her background and what he or she does on a daily basis as a physicist.

During this meeting, attended by around 80 people, François Briard and Serge Mathot presented CERN, the world's largest laboratory for particle physics. CERN's mission is to understand the most elementary particles and the laws of our universe.

At the end of the seminar, the students came away with stars in their eyes. Indeed, opportunities for internships or even first jobs at CERN are possible for physicists but also in many other fields.

Some internship programs at CERN are particularly well suited to the needs of young Belgian students.

The vast majority of physicists working with CERN (over 13,000) are in fact sent to CERN for varying periods of time by their employing national research institutes. CERN offers an exceptional opportunity to develop international experience under excellent conditions, in an environment that is unique in the world! What an inspiration for our young students!

The projet d'Action Recherche Concertée (ARC) PHOENIX aims to renew our understanding of medieval parchments and ancient coins. Artificial intelligence will be exploited to analyze the data generated by material characterization.

This joint study between the Department of Physics and the Namur Institute of Structured Matter (NISM) and the Department of History and the Institut Patrimoines, Transmissions, Héritages (PaTHs) will address questions relating to the production chain and use of these objects and materials in past societies.

At the same time, Serge Mathot presented a seminar in heritage science attended by some 50 people. In particular, he presented his research and the brand-new ELISA accelerator: a miniaturized gas pedal capable of delivering a 2 MeV proton beam used to perform real measurements at the Science Portal.

Having the opportunity to exchange views with François Briard, Group Leader of the CERN Science Portal is a rare opportunity. Comparing outreach activities has opened up new avenues, discovering and sharing approaches, assessing what works and what doesn't, depending on the target audience. A highly satisfying enrichment for the members present from Confluent des Savoirs (CDS), the University of Namur's research outreach and dissemination service.

Professor Anne-Catherine Heuskin and Dr. Boris Hespeels are currently working on the BEBLOB project, a Belspo project with ESA support, as part of the UNIVERSEH (European Space University for Earth and Humanity) alliance. They are particularly interested in its astonishing ability to withstand high doses of radiation.

Anne-Catherine Heuskin also works in radiobiology. Particles are used to irradiate cancerous cells in order to destroy their genetic material and prevent them from proliferating: this is the basis of radiotherapy and proton therapy.

The meeting confirmed the willingness of FaSEF and UNamur to get involved in coordinating the Belgian National Teacher Programme in French-speaking Belgium, which CERN intends to relaunch in 2026. Consideration was also given to other avenues for teacher training, such as CERN's forthcoming involvement in the "Salle des Pros", the training venue for the various players involved in teacher training at UNamur.

The TRAKK is Namur's creative hub supported by 3 complementary partners in the field: BEP, KIKK, and UNamur. In addition to the venue, François Briard was able to visit the ProtoLab , which bridges the gap between ideas and industry by being a decentralized research and development hub accessible to SMEs and project leaders by offering advanced support in prototyping products or services.

Graduating in law and information technology management (DGTIC) in 1994 after his bachelor's and master's degrees in computer science in 1993, François Briard works at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Geneva, the world's largest particle physics laboratory.

During his school career, which was 100% at UNamur, he was vice-president of the Régionale namuroise and student delegate during his years as a candidate in economic and social sciences, computer science option.

Thanks to the multidisciplinary training provided at UNamur, he was able to seize several opportunities to redirect his career at CERN, where he was an information systems engineer from 1994 and then, from 2014, redirected his career until he became Group Leader of the Science Portal, which is CERN's general public communications center.

Serge Mathot obtained his doctorate in applied sciences from UNamur in 1992, following his bachelor's degree in physical sciences in 1985.

He then carried out a post-doctorate at the Joint Research Center (EU science hub) in Geel, which aims to bring together multidisciplinary skills to develop new measurement methods and tools such as reference materials.

He perfected his expertise in physical metallurgy before joining CERN in 1995 as a Referent Applied Physicist. He has worked on numerous research projects (CLOUD, MACHINA, ELISA...) and developed numerous parts for the manufacture of CERN's gas pedals.

CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is one of the world's largest and most prestigious scientific laboratories. Its vocation is fundamental physics, the discovery of the constituents and laws of the Universe. It uses highly complex scientific instruments to probe the ultimate constituents of matter: the fundamental particles. By studying what happens when these particles collide, physicists understand the laws of Nature.

The instruments used at CERN are particle gas pedals and detectors. Gas pedals carry beams of particles at high energies to collide with other beams or fixed targets. Detectors observe and record the results of these collisions.

Founded in 1954, CERN is located on either side of the French-Swiss border, near Geneva. It was one of the first organizations on a European scale and today has 25 member states, including Belgium.

In her doctoral thesis, Julie Duchêne (PhD in History UNamur/FNRS-FRESH) has brought out of the shadows the unexplored history of the relationship between humans and wolves in the Walloon and Luxembourg territories during the pivotal period that saw the extinction of the species there (18th-early 20th century).

What's at stake in this research?

• To understand the complexity of this coexistence in our regions,
• To identify the influence of human activities on the lives of wolves and of wolves on human activities,
• To decipher the mechanisms that led to the extinction of Canis lupus.

To achieve this, the researcher has deployed a pioneering multidisciplinary methodology in Belgium, combining on the one hand historical and documentary analyses, and on the other morphological and DNA analyses of naturalized 19th-century wolves preserved within a dozen partner institutions, museums and venues in Wallonia. Thanks to collaboration between the E-BIOM laboratory and the University of Namur, 13 specimens were thus studied according to a rigorous protocol, respectful of the integrity of the historical pieces.

While ancient DNA is often degraded by time, conservation conditions or the products used during naturalization, 9 out of 13 samples yielded results.

• Species confirmed : All the specimens analyzed belong to the species Canis lupus lupus, ruling out the hypothesis of dogs or hybrids.
• Kinship identified : Two wolves, including one kept by the de Bonhome family in Mozet, present a proven kinship.
• Dominant haplotypes: The majority of wolves belong to haplotypes H4 and H8, from a metapopulation historically present from western France to Germany.
• Discovery of an extinct haplotype: The Habay wolf, preserved by the de Beaulieu family, has a unique genetic profile, probably from a now-extinct population.
• Higher past genetic diversity: Wolves from the 18th and 19th centuries show greater genetic diversity than current populations.
• Wallonia, a historical crossroads: Even then, the region was at the crossroads of two major lupine dispersal routes: one from France, the other from Germany.

This study highlights the importance of heritage collections for better understanding the evolutionary history of species and contemporary conservation issues.

Deconstructing preconceived ideas about the wolf for a better-informed debate

The historical and scientific analysis carried out by Julie Duchêne also helps to qualify certain preconceived ideas about the wolf, often relayed in current debates.

• Attacks on human beings have existed, but they remain marginal and to be put into perspective. Complaints mainly concerned the loss of livestock (sheep, cows, horses, etc.).
• The wolf doesn't just live in the forest. Historically, it also frequented fields, roads, ponds and moors. Its presence depends on many factors, not a single habitat.
• The confrontations are not one-sided. They are also the result of human expansion into natural environments, not just wolf incursions.
• Populations did not seek to exterminate the species. They aimed for regulation, integrating lupine nuisances as well as other natural hazards.
• The wolf plays a positive ecological role, regulating populations of large herbivores, which promotes forest regeneration.
• The wolf's extinction is not due solely to eradication policies. It is the result of a combination of factors, including increasing human pressure on natural environments.

Julie Duchêne's research was also used to set up the exhibition "Même pas peur! Une évolution de l'image du loup à travers les siècles", developed by third-year history bachelor students as part of the Cultural Project course. The exhibition makes stops at :

• From May to early June 2025: Floreffe Seminary
• From June to September 2025: Pairi Daiza
• From October 2025 to May 2026: Gaumais Museum

180 seconds to present their thesis topic clearly and concisely to a varied audience (including several high school classes): this was the challenge taken up by the 10 candidates in this new edition of the MT180 UNamur competition. Introduced by Carine Michiels, Vice-Rector for Research and Libraries, and presented by Aline Wilmet, this 2025 edition brought together 10 candidates from the Faculties of Science, Medicine, Philosophy and Arts, who once again distinguished themselves in this popularization exercise: Petra Manja (microbiology), Laëtitia Riss (philosophy of history), Nicolas Gros (heritage sciences), Jenny Ha (organic chemistry), Audrey Verhaeghe (microbiology), Margaux Mignolet (neuroscience), Lindsay Sprimont (neuroscience), Marine Ote (microbiology), Thomas Rouma (immunology) and Bastien Tirtiaux (microbiology).

This year, it was once again difficult to decide between our candidates, whose performances were always of a very high standard. They were evaluated by a jury made up of personalities from within and outside UNamur, drawn from the worlds of research, teaching and scientific communication.

• Géraldine Tran - Editor-in-Chief of Athéna, the popular science magazine of the Walloon Public Service
• François-Xavier Fiévez - Pedagogue and didactician at UNamur, actor and improviser, Vice-rector for social, student, gender, sports and cultural affairs
• Charlotte Benedetti - Director of Pavillon de Namur, KIKK asbl's exhibition, experimentation and innovation center. This venue dedicated to digital cultures breaks down the barriers between disciplines, simultaneously embracing art, science and technology.
• Nathan Uyttendaele - Mathematician, popularizer and YouTube videographer of the Chat Sceptique channel, former candidate in the MT180 competition and holder of a science popularization prize from the FNRS Fond Wernaers

The public prize was awarded to Petra Manja for her pitch "Dormir pour ne pas mourir". The second jury prize was awarded to Thomas Rouma for his pitch "Comment se débarrasser d'un pique-assiette?!". Thefirst jury prize was awarded to Margaux Mignolet for her pitch "Dory's world the antibody"!

In order to prepare them optimally for the demands of the competition and those of their thesis or conference defense, candidates have benefited from training in popularized communication, in the construction of a structured pitch, as well as in public speaking enabling them to master natural body language and manage the stress provoked by such an exercise. This training course is organized by Aline Wilmet, scientific mediator at Confluent des Savoirs and scientific communication coach, and by Jacques Neefs, actor, director and teacher at the Brussels Conservatory. The training, which is spread over three months as part of MT180, is also available in a short format (from 1h to 2 days' training) for the university community and also offered on an inter-university basis.

Aline Wilmet describes the training experienced by candidates:

"Each year, Le Confluent des Savoirs offers in-depth training to prepare candidates for clear and concise communication. Our aim is to give young researchers the opportunity to practice a difficult communication exercise that is communicating to the general public. It's all about communicating a clear, concrete message, rooted in everyday life, or using storytelling that appeals to emotions, shared experience or the daily grind of research... There's no magic formula. You have to adapt your message without distorting your research. It's a meticulous job to choose the message that will strike a chord with the audience, while conveying in a clear and accessible way the objectives, challenges and working methods of the researchers involved in their doctoral thesis. Obviously, it's not possible to cover all the subtleties of a multi-faceted research project in just three minutes. But for me, the challenge goes far beyond the competition: it's an exercise in communication, a first step that opens the door to other popularization activities: a journalist interview, taking part in a conference, a meeting with the public, a workshop at the Printemps des Sciences, a popularized article, etc. Who better to talk about your research than your doctoral thesis? Who better to talk about your research than a researcher? Having myself taken part in the competition with my thesis during the 2nd edition in 2015, the exercise enabled me to approach my subject differently, to give it more value because I realized that it could be of interest to a wider audience than just specialists. It's rewarding, it's motivating, it's challenging, you learn and share lots of things. It's a great human adventure, and one that's valued as part of doctoral training!"

The strength of disciplinary know-how within PaTHs makes possible bold openings into the exact sciences, which have already been initiated by most of the 5 centers and groups affiliated to the institute: AcanthuM (Monumental, archaeological and artistic heritage), aRaiRe (Recherches namuroises en histoire Rurale), Fontes Antiquitatis, HiSI (History, sounds and images) and PraME (Medieval written practices).

The mammisi or birthing house is a typical architectural feature of Egyptian temples from the Greco-Roman period. The Roman mammisi at Dendera, dating from the Nerva-antonine period (2nd century CE), is the last specimen of this type and embodies the synergy of 400 years of tradition and innovation. The mammisi was dedicated to the child-god and celebrated his (re)birth as a guarantee of natural cycles and thus of Egypt's prosperity.

This project aims to reconstruct the intellectual and material processes that had to be put in place to realize the architectural project. From the priests who gathered theological ideas to the hierogrammatists who wrote the texts and designed the decoration on papyrus, from the architects and workers who erected the walls to the engravers who transferred the concept of decoration from papyrus to the walls, this project sets out to study this monument from different angles in order to identify the operational chain of an architectural project.

The missions in Egypt will produce a new publication conforming to modern standards of epigraphy and a translation of all the texts. This will make it possible to study the arrangement of the monument's decoration made up of offering scenes and texts according to the rules that Egyptologists have called "temple grammar", and to understand the relationship between image and text.

The project will thus provide the first detailed study of the theology of Dendera's two child-gods. It will analyze the hieroglyphic system, characteristic of texts from the Roman period, and examine the walls to define the engraving techniques of the ancient craftsmen. Finally, he will place the mammisi in a wider context to highlight the architectural strategies of the emperors of the Nerva-antonine dynasty in Egypt.

Over the past twenty years, several works by photographic artists have given visibility to the effects of radioactivity - mainly following the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear disasters - or to the risks associated with the burial of radioactive waste.

Series by Japan's Takashi Arai, Switzerland's Julian Charrière, France's David Fathi, Guillaume Herbaut, Jacqueline Salmon, Anaïs Tondeur and Lucas Chastel, Germany's Jürgen Nefzger and Wim Wenders, and Belgium's Cécile Massart have been selected.

Five objectives are pursued in this research:

• analyze the contexts of these artistic productions;
• define the intentions of their authors, with regard to their body of work and their contribution to a nuclear culture;
• study the aesthetics of their creations, in relation to the materiality of photography, its nature as imprint, trace, testimony or even representation ;
• evaluate the public reception of these distinct works;
• contribute, through the dialogical linking of these works, their analysis and dissemination, to a nuclear culture nourished by artistic expression.

A comparative method will be applied to the study of the different series in the corpus to identify their specificities, convergences and/or divergences, assessed against the scientific literature available in the field of visual arts and the humanities on nuclear power and its representations. Fieldwork will be undertaken through interviews conducted with each photographer.

From a cultural studies perspective, this research is part of an approach to analyzing the construction of representations and knowledge, free from bias but invested in societal debates in which the art center and publishing house partners in this research project are also involved, through their respective activities, and which will disseminate the results via:

• an exhibition scheduled at the Le Delta art center (Namur, March-July 2026)
• a study day involving some of the exhibited artists (UNamur, March 2026)
• a book to be published by La Lettre Volée editions (Brussels) (spring 2026)

FNRS funding will enable interviews to be conducted with the artists concerned, in Belgium, France and Germany, but also to guarantee the dissemination of this research, by funding part of the book and exhibition communication in which it will take shape.