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! 

Over the past two decades, Carine Michiels, professor of cell biology at UNamur and member of the radiobiology group at UNamur's life sciences research institute (NARILIS), has significantly advanced our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the interaction between radiation and cancer cells. Within the Institute's cancer center, her research is based on a strong integration of cell biology and radiation physics, supported by a long-standing collaboration with the Institute's physicists, Professor Stéphane Lucas and Professor Anne-Catherine Heuskin. By bridging the gap between biology and physics, his team has conducted cutting-edge interdisciplinary research with the aim of improving the effectiveness of radiation therapy for cancer. 

One of their main achievements is the development of innovative therapeutic approaches that combine advanced irradiation techniques, such as proton therapy, with unique nanohybrid compounds. These compounds, consisting of gold nanoparticles coupled with targeted antibodies, act as radiosensitizers, increasing the sensitivity of cancer cells to radiation while limiting damage to surrounding healthy tissue.

By paving the way for more precise and personalized cancer treatments, Carine Michiels' research is fully in line with the objectives of the SCK CEN Chair. Her achievements illustrate how fundamental research in radiation sciences can translate into significant advances in medicine and public health.

The University of Namur and SCK CEN have been collaborating for many years, notably through joint research projects and co-supervision of theses, including most recently that of Naomi Daems, for which Carine Michiels and Stéphane Lucas were co-supervisors alongside Professor Sarah Baatout (SCK CEN).  Thanks to the latter, Carine Michiels joined the group of experts of the Belgian delegation to UNSCEAR (United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation), an international UN committee set up to assess the effects of ionizing radiation on human health and the environment.

In addition to receiving a personal award, the SCK CEN Chair holder will give an inaugural lecture and a series of lectures for students, SCK CEN researchers, and the Belgian nuclear community in general during a scientific visit to the Research Center in Mol, Belgium. The series of lectures will be organized in collaboration with the SCK CEN Academy.

Brendan Reid comes from New Jersey, USA.  He was appointed Professor of Biology at the University of Namur in September 2025 and became a member of the Institute of Life, Earth and Environment (ILEE).  His research focusses on changes in aquatic and semi aquatic organisms and communities. He is particularly interested in fish and herps.  To carry out his research, he uses (meta)genomics and field research, as well as demographic and genomic data.  The goal? The preservation and management of diversity.

Brendan Reid's research combines cutting-edge genomic sequencing in space and time with habitat and demographic data, and computational methods.  The aim is to understand the evolutionary responses of species and communities to environmental change over time and to propose conservation solutions to ensure their sustainability. He is particularly interested in using genetics and museum collections to understand the basis of species responses to new stresses and to preserve biodiversity in the current era of global climate change.

In a mid-January seminar, Brendan Reid presented his research to his new colleagues: the members of the ILEE Institute and members of the Department of Biology, URBE.

How can genetics teach us about biological diversity? 

He carried out a postdoc research project about the genetic barcoding and identification of marine and freshwater turtles.  Another research project enabled him to analyse environmental DNA to assess different communities in highly human-impacted environments: reef monitoring, rivers in urban environments.

Photo: A Blanding's turtle (Emydoidea blandingii) from one of the populations studied in Wisconsin © Brendan Reid 

How does loss of genetic diversity and inbreeding affect small populations?

He investigated this question in 2 postdoc research projects: one about the genetics of freshwater fish and another one about the inbreeding and fitness in endangered rattlesnakes.

How do populations respond to increasing human impact over time?

His PhD was about turtles and roads.  There is still ongoing work on turtles thanks to a USFWS grant.  He is currently leading a large-scale project to create a genomic database for the endangered Blanding's turtle, which will be used in USA conservation planning and forensics.

Postdoc research was carried out on historical genomics of fish to investigate how genetical diversity has changed over time. The “fisheries-induced evolution in cod project” used historic and contemporary samples from Norway and from Newfoundland, Canada. 

Photo: Brendan Reid in the Lofoten Islands, Norway, with drying racks used in Norwegian cod fishing—one of the studies in which researchers used samples from 1907 paired with samples from the 2010s to understand how cod have adapted to overfishing. © Patrice Escandon

The article “Detecting parallel polygenic adaptation to novel evolutionary pressure in wild populations: a case study in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua)” is available in open access.

For historical samples, this was made possible in particular through the ARC Albatros recollection project (in the Philippines) refers to the USS Albatros expedition in 1908-1909, which brought back a huge collection of specimens conserved in ethanol (high powered rum 😊), not formalin.  More than 10.000 specimens were paired with contemporary sampling taken from 60 sites between 2017 and 2022. 

The ongoing PIRE project in the Philippines investigates changes in tropical (not temperate) regions, though a main goal is to determine whether the trends are similar across different climatic zones.  It links museum specimens collected in the early 1900s to contemporary populations to understand how habitat changes have influenced the neutral and adaptive genetic diversity of fish.

All of this research has led to the general conclusion that insect, bird, mammal, and fish populations have declined and lost between 6% and 16% of their diversity to date. Genomics confirms a recent collapse in populations, probably linked to habitat change caused by human activity. There has also been a 4% loss of diversity in areas with high human density, and stronger selection in areas of greater development. Finally, tropical fish are losing their genetic diversity overall.

Brendan would also like to look into historical genomics (mainly in insects) to identify signs of change and adaptation in communities based on data collected from specimens.

And work on the renaturation of Europe in general, mainly rivers and canals.

Brendan would like to determine species conservation needs and issues by analyzing breeding programs in zoos. He also wants to continue genetic analysis of populations and collect data in the field in order to maintain consistency between theory and practice and, above all, to accurately target the species most in need of protection. 

Given his wealth of research, cutting-edge expertise, and motivation, it is no surprise that Brendan Reid was chosen to join the URBE team in the Department of Biology.

Welcome, Brendan!