UR SPHERES General Assembly in Mont-le-Soie
Researchers from the 24 laboratories belonging to UR SPHERES met at the end of the year in the Ardennes to take stock of the activity in 2024, as well as to reflect on new projects. Scientists from the Arlon and Sart-Tilman campuses responded to the invitation of the management team - Serge Schmitz, Anne-Claude Romain and Emmanuel Mahieu - to spend a day of exchange at the European Horse Center in Mont-le-Soie (Vielsalm). Created in 2000 by the Walloon Regional Government, the association works closely with the University of Liège (ULiege) and the Walloon-Brussels Equestrian League (LEWB), promoting the horse as an element of life and identity in the rural environment, whether through research, or through sport, tourism and training.
The General Assembly began with presentations of several doctoral theses that are close to completion or have recently been defended, in the world-renowned format of the My Thesis in 180 seconds competition. The list of speakers and their theses proves the diversity of research branches within UR SPHERES:
Géant CHUMA BASSIMINE - How Rural Communities Relate to Nature in Sub-Saharan Regions: Perception of Ecosystem Services Provided by Wetlands in South-Kivu
Didier BIRIMWIRAGI NAMOGO - Géologie et minéralisation aurifère dans les plages Kibaliennes d'Isiro et Ngayu au nord-est du craton Congolais en République démocratique du Congo
Josip BRAJKOVIC - Étude de l'impact du réchauffement climatique sur les extrêmes de précipitation en Belgique en utilisant la modélisation régionale
Claudia FALZONE - Développement d’un indicateur de la qualité de l’air comme outil d’aide à la décision dans le cadre du développement urbain
Mamoudou KOUYATE - Exploitation minière et développement touristique en Guinée : quelles synergies ?
Charlotte BERNIER - Comment concilier une limitation de l’artificialisation et l'accessibilité au logement en Wallonie ?
Souheila AYOUN - Effet de lieu de vie sur le comportement de consommation verte en Belgique
Miriam BAUDEWYN - Forêts sous pression : Cartographie et analyse de l’évolution passée et future des sécheresses
Guillaume TIMMERMANS - L'impact de l'hydrologie supra-glaciaire sur le bilan de masse en surface de la calotte du Groenland
Sanda-Elena NICOLA - Territorial resilience of post-mining regions within the just transition framework
Phuong BUI - Reducing the Indoor Air Pollution of Housings in Ho-Chi-Minh City
Mauri ROSIERS - Monitoring of agricultural ammonia emissions by satellite and ground in-situ measurement techniques
Taking a well-deserved break from their own scientific concerns, UR SPHERES members stepped into the universe of research in the fields of equine locomotion, reproduction and selection. Mont-le-Soie participates in EUNetHorse, a European thematic network funded by the European Commission to intensify the exchange of knowledge and good practices between 9 European countries: France, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Romania, Poland, Finland and Switzerland. The primary research objective of EUNetHorse is to increase the resilience and performance of equine farms to face environmental, social, health, economic or political crises. Mont-le-Soie is the Belgian coordinator of this innovative sustainable development project.
In the second part of the General Assembly, the implementation status of the projects funded by UR SPHERES was reviewed and the financial-accounting situation was discussed. The inventory of articles published in scientific journals authored by the unit's researchers also gave rise to a debate on predatory journals. Valuable ideas were launched for a much-needed update of the paper submission policy, therefore the members of UR SPHERES committed themselves to continue this debate in 2025.
