For the MSCA Doctoral Networks 2025 call, 1,616 proposals were submitted and 141 were selected, representing a success rate of 9.6%. In this highly competitive environment, the selection of three projects involving UNamur sends a strong signal: it confirms the scientific excellence of Namur’s teams and their ability to build high-level international partnerships in support of doctoral training and innovation. Six doctoral dissertations will be eligible for funding.

In many neurological diseases, both inflammation of the nervous system and imbalances in the gut microbiota are observed. GlycoAxis aims to go beyond simple correlations by identifying the molecular “messengers” that link the gut, the immune system, and the brain. The project focuses on complex sugars found on the surface of certain bacteria (glycans), which are suspected of playing a key role in immune activation and neuroinflammation. The goal: to better understand these mechanisms and pave the way for new diagnostic tools, imaging techniques, or biomarkers for brain health.

In the face of climate change, pollution, and habitat fragmentation, some ecosystems weather the shocks… while others collapse. ReDiLeep focuses on a key driver of this resilience: response diversity—that is, the fact that different species (or ecological functions) do not all react in the same way to a disturbance. The project aims to better measure and model this mechanism in order to link research more directly to the needs of conservation, restoration, and public policy regarding biodiversity.

Our digital communications rely on light: optical fibers, sensors, and photonic circuits capable of processing information. But with the explosion of data, the rise of AI, and the advent of ever-faster networks, it is becoming crucial to control light dynamically—much faster than is possible with current components, which are often “static.” SPARK is exploring a new approach: combining spatiotemporal metamaterials (nanoscale structures designed to shape light) with light that is itself “structured” in space and time. The result: reconfigurable photonic technologies for computing, imaging, and ultra-fast communications.

Giacomo Lopopolo is studying the effects of oxidative stress caused by radiation therapy and the damage it inflicts on cellular mitochondria, particularly in the treatment of lung cancer. Objective: to determine the necessary doses in treatment plans for conventional radiotherapy or proton therapy to ensure effective treatment while improving the patient’s quality of life. This interdisciplinary project also benefits from the expertise of Professor Thierry Arnould, co-supervisor (URBC). 

For her part, Keïla Openge-Navenge is attempting to decipher the mechanisms of radiation resistance at work in breast, lung, and colorectal cancers, and in particular the role of lipid metabolism, ferroptosis, and mitochondria within cancer cells. 

Jade Nichols, who has just joined UNamur, is launching a Télévie project to understand the response of macrophages—which play an essential role in shaping the tumor microenvironment—to ultra-high-dose-rate (UHDR) radiation, a phenomenon that has not yet been explored and whose results could eventually help optimize treatment strategies that leverage both radiation and the patient’s own immune responses.

Inès Bourriez focuses her research on skin cancers, which account for 40% of all cancers diagnosed today. She is interested in the impact of skin aging and the accumulation of so-called senescent cells on tumor development and progression. 

Understanding how cells react to radiation is also the focus of projects led by Emma Lambert, on the one hand, and Manon Van Den Abbeel, on the other, through a collaboration with Anne-Catherine Heuskin at LARN. Manon Van Den Abbeel is studying the irradiation conditions that induce the strongest possible immune response to circumvent the various immunosuppressive mechanisms developed within tumors, thereby enhancing the immunogenicity of tumors and thus their recognition and destruction by the immune system. 

Emma Lambert, meanwhile, is launching a project on glioblastoma, an aggressive and currently incurable brain tumor, to better understand the resistance mechanisms that develop during combination treatments using chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or proton therapy. 

As for Eloïse Rapport, she is interested in a third form of radiation therapy, using alpha particles—that is, ionized helium atoms—to increase the death of cancer cells within tumors. In particular, she is studying the different forms of induced cell death and their potential immunogenicity. 

Pancreatic cancer, particularly pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), remains one of the deadliest cancers, with a five-year survival rate of only 13%. Because the disease is often asymptomatic in its early stages, it is frequently diagnosed at an advanced stage. This situation, coupled with the lack of effective treatments and the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment that limits the efficacy of immunotherapies, explains the poor prognosis of PDAC. Early detection of this type of cancer is therefore crucial, but current diagnostic tools have limited sensitivity and specificity. 

As it has done every year for the past 23 years, the UNamur community is organizing a series of events to raise funds for the Télévie campaign. In 2026, students have been particularly active through three initiatives.

On March 12, the Student General Assembly brought the house down at the Arsenal during the second edition of the Grand Blind Test at UNamur. It was a fun-filled evening that brought together some thirty teams of staff and students to compete on the biggest hits of the past 30 years, and, thanks to the support of sponsors, raised €6,338.91. 

Finally, the Namur Computer Club dedicated its 24-hour charity livestream on the Twitch platform. Over the course of the hours, and thanks to the generosity, activities, and challenges taken on by the Club’s members, a generous sum of €1,831.91 was donated to Télévie. 

Well done to everyone! 

For several years now, heritage sciences have been experiencing a particularly significant boom. This deeply interdisciplinary field of research aims to foster dialogue between the humanities and natural sciences with a view to improving our knowledge of heritage objects, whether they be parchments, works of art, or artifacts discovered during excavations.

Manuscripts bear witness to ancestral practices and know-how, which unfortunately are poorly documented. It is still unclear why legal documents were preferably written on sheepskin parchment in England from the 13th century until 1925. Among the hypotheses put forward is the fact that sheepskin is whiter, and therefore more attractive, but above all that documents written on it were considered unforgeable due to the tendency of sheepskin to delaminate (any malicious attempt to erase the text would thus be revealed). This delamination property was exploited because it allowed the production of high-quality writing surfaces. It was also used to prepare strong repair pieces used to fill any tears that appeared during the parchment manufacturing process. Understanding why sheepskin delaminates is of interest in the context of traditional parchment preparation techniques, offering valuable insights into the interaction between animal biology, craftsmanship, and historical needs.

Delamination is the phenomenon whereby the inner layers of the skin separate along their interface as a result of mechanical stress. The diagram (a) below shows the structure of the skin, which consists mainly of the epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis. The dermis is divided into two layers, the papillary dermis and the reticular dermis, which contain hair, hair follicles, and sebaceous glands. 

During the parchment manufacturing process, a step following liming involves scraping the skin to remove the hair. This step crushes the sebaceous glands, releasing fats and creating a void where the hair was located (diagram b). 

The study showed that delamination occurs within the papillary dermis itself, in this structurally weakened area, rather than at the papillary-reticular junction as previously assumed. 

The unique nature of the delamination process in sheepskin is highlighted by the skin structure, which differs from that of other animals (calves, goats) used to make parchment, as it has a high fat content associated with a large number of primary and secondary hair follicles. In the study, the presence of fats was confirmed using Raman spectroscopy.

This study combines experimental archaeology and advanced analytical techniques, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and micro-Raman spectroscopy, to characterize the delamination process and the adhesion of repair pieces on experimentally produced sheepskin parchment. It benefits from the expertise in archaeometry, biology, chemistry, and physics of the researchers involved.

Beyond its visual and structural implications, delamination has contributed to promoting the use of sheepskin for prestigious documents, improving the surface properties of parchment. The study of the interaction between metal-gallic ink and delaminated sheepskin (wetting experiments) showed that ink diffusion and writing quality are improved, a key finding that provides insight into how surface morphology and composition influence writing performance.

At UNamur, Marine Appart, a PhD student in physics, is conducting this multidisciplinary research on the archaeometry of delamination and repairs on a sheepskin parchment under the supervision of Professor Olivier Deparis (Department of Physics, NISM Institute). 

Also part of the UNamur team are:

• Professor Francesca Cecchet (expert in Raman spectroscopy), Department of Physics, NARILIS and NISM Institutes
• Professor Yves Poumay (skin specialist), Department of Medicine, NARILIS Institute
• Dr. Caroline Canon (histology specialist), Department of Medicine
• Nicolas Gros (PhD student in heritage sciences), Department of Physics, NARILIS and NISM Institutes

Other international experts

• Professor Matthew Collins (world expert in biomolecular archaeology, Department of Archaeology, The McDonald Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK)
• Jiří Vnouček (curator and expert in parchment production, Preservation Department, Royal Danish Library, Copenhagen, Denmark)
• Marc Fourneau (biologist) 

This study and the resulting article were inspired by the delamination experiments conducted in 2023 by Jiří Vnouček during a symposium in Klosterneuburg, Austria, in which Prof. Olivier Deparis participated. The symposium was organized by Professor Matthew Collins as part of the ABC and ERC Beast2Craft (B2C) projects.

But it all began in 2014, when the Pergamenum21 project, dedicated to the transdisciplinary study of parchments, was launched.  Pergamenum21 is a project of the Namur Transdisciplinary Research Impulse (NaTRIP) program at the University of Namur. The project received an additional grant in 2016 from the Jean-Jacques Comhaire Fund of the King Baudouin Foundation (FRB).

The projects and events followed one after another, including: 

• May 2014: a transdisciplinary seminar on parchment, the scientific techniques used to characterize this material, and historical questions at the Mauretus Plantin Library (BUMP)
• May 2017: "Autopsy of a scriptorium: the Orval parchments put to the test of bioarchaeology," a transdisciplinary research project co-financed by the University of Namur and the Jean-Jacques Comhaire Fund of the King Baudouin Foundation
• April 2019: a publication in Scientific Reports, Nature group - Jean-Jacques Comhaire Prize: discovery of an innovative technique based on measuring the light scattered by ancient parchments. This technique makes it possible to characterize, in a non-invasive way, the nature of the skins used in the Middle Ages to make parchments
• September 2020: a residential workshop on making parchment from animal skins at the Domaine d'Haugimont – a first in Belgium
• July 2022: a new project on parchment bindings for the restoration workshop at the Moretus Plantin University Library (BUMP) thanks to the Jean-Jacques Comhaire Fund of the King Baudouin Foundation.
• September 2024: a residential symposium-workshop at the Domaine d'Haugimont on the theme of the physicochemistry of parchment and inks using experimental and historical approaches 

Overall, the work of Marine Appart and her colleagues clarifies the structural and material factors that make sheepskin parchment susceptible to delamination and offers new insights into the surface properties of this ancient writing material. UNamur is now establishing itself as a major player in parchment research.

Professor Olivier Deparis, along with several of the researchers involved in this research, are also working on the ARC PHOENIX project.  This project aims to renew our understanding of medieval parchments and ancient coins. Artificial intelligence is used to analyze the data generated by the characterization of materials. This joint study will address issues related to the production chain and the use of these objects and materials in past societies. 

Astronaut Raphaël Liégeois will be carrying some rather unusual passengers in his luggage: dried blob samples, some of which have been irradiated with X-rays at UNamur. What are the Namur scientists hoping to achieve? They want to observe how this organism responds to the space environment and is able to repair its DNA in microgravity, and compare these results with those obtained in a similar experiment carried out on Earth. "In our laboratory, we simulate the stresses that the blob could undergo in space in order to assess its ability to survive and repair itself," explains Anne-Catherine Heuskin, professor in the Department of Physics.

While awaiting the rocket launch scheduled for 2027, researchers at UNamur are already actively preparing for the mission. For several months, they have been conducting a series of tests to ensure the reliability of the experiment: reaction to temperature variations, power failures, transport to the launch site in Florida, assembly of the mini-spacecraft that will house the samples, etc. "Every detail counts: even the choice of bags that protect the samples from light can influence the results," emphasizes Boris Hespeels.

Once on the ISS, Raphaël Liégeois will rehydrate the samples, culture them in a cabin on the station, and finally place them in a freezer at -80°C. "This procedure, which seems simple, becomes complex in zero gravity. We also have to ensure the stability of our samples, regardless of the timing of the experiment," continues Boris Hespeels. Inside the ISS, Raphaël Liégeois will have to carry out various experiments selected by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO). "And the order in which they will be carried out has not yet been determined," the two Namur-based researchers explain.  

Post-mission analyses will identify cellular protection mechanisms under extreme conditions. These results could inspire the development of protective molecules for astronauts or patients undergoing radiotherapy. "Space remains a hostile environment. Understanding how living organisms adapt to it is essential for preparing future exploration," Boris Hespeels points out.

Finally, the BeBlob project also has an educational component: activities based on the blob will be offered in schools to raise awareness among young people about scientific research and space exploration. An ambitious project is also under consideration to enable students aged 8 to 18 to work directly on samples that took part in Raphaël Liégeois' mission aboard the ISS.

The University of Namur is establishing itself as a key player in the study of the blob. Researchers at the LARN (Laboratory for Nuclear Reaction Analysis) and the ILEE (Institute of Life, Earth and Environment) and NARILIS (Namur Research Institute for Life Sciences) institutes have been conducting research into radiation resistance and DNA repair for several years. The BeBlob project builds on experience gained during previous space missions and active collaboration with ESA and BELSPO. The BeBlob project is one of three Belgian scientific experiments selected from 29 projects to be carried out during Belgian astronaut Raphaël Liégeois' mission scheduled for 2027. This scientific expertise places UNamur at the heart of space biology and fundamental research on life in extreme environments. The project is part of UNIVERSEH, the ERASMUS+ alliance of European universities that aims to build a "European university" focused on the space sector, of which UNamur is a member.