Université Libre de Bruxelles

Principal applicants

• Prof. Shukry James Habib, Faculté de biologie et médecine, UNIL
• Prof. Amin Shavandi, École polytechnique de Bruxelles, ULB

Project outline

Half of all people will break a bone during their lifetime, and bone healing can take years in some cases, limiting mobility and placing a significant burden on the individual and health care system. Therefore, developing treatments to improve bone repair, particularly for elderly patients, is critical. This project aims to engineer a vasculiarised osteogenic tissue for in vitro studies, modelling diseases, drug screening and for bone repair in vivo.

Main applicants

• Dr Patrick Maxime Michel, Faculté des lettres, UNIL
• Prof. Laurent Tholbecq, Faculté de Philosophie et sciences sociales, ULB

Project overview

This joint project takes two forms:

• a field operation (Pétra, Jordan) designed to refine a procedure for recording, studying and restoring religious, movable (stèles) and immovable remains (rock niches, a prehistoric bétyle rupestre, a prehistoric bétyle béti and a half-rupestral, half-built naos) and to restore their frameworks of use;
• a round-table discussion to present the results obtained and compare them with similar contextual studies carried out by various teams in the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula over the long period from the Neolithic to the emergence of monotheistic systems.

This project combines a digital approach, research in the human sciences and conservation and enhancement issues. It enables two complementary areas of expertise relating to the standing stone as an object of worship to be exchanged: philological and digital expertise from UNIL and archaeological and religious science expertise from ULB.

Principal applicants

• Prof. Pirmin Bundi, Faculté de droit, des sciences criminelles et d'administration publique, UNIL
• Prof. Nathalie Brack, Faculté de philosophie et sciences sociales, ULB

Project outline

The rising importance of the internet and social media has heavily affected the relationship between news media, politics and citizens with digital communication becoming the central tools for political campaigning. Several scholars have argued that the prevalent adoption of social media as a tool in the permanent campaign thus has been conducive to a rise in negative campaigning.

We aim to address this element in this project by arguing that the interplay between negative campaigning and its effects on democratic attitudes is affected by the type of political issues that are being emphasized.

The objective is to conduct a pre-study in which we investigate the campaign tone and affective polarization in order to prepare a larger project submission to a European funding agency. Two physical workshops between ULB and UNIL will help us to further concretize this proposal, and discuss the pilot experimental study.

Principal applicants

• Prof. Patrick Schoettker, Faculté de biologie et médecine, UNIL
• Prof. Turgay Tuna, Faculté de médecine, ULB

Project oultine

The objective is to design a specific protocol aimed at assessing performance of OptiBP (a software-driven blood pressure management solution comprising a mobile app that transforms smartphone cameras into clinical-grade blood pressure monitors) on a cohort of 50 volunteers with 8 recordings through a 4 weeks period and using two phone models. This will allow quantifying OptiBP’s long-term performance through the acquisition of longitudinal data on a dedicated population within the Erasme hospital.

This preliminary study will be the pilot study for an upcoming international project designed to collect data on various types of population and specific diseases.

Main applicants

• Prof. Raphaël Baroni, Faculty of Letters, UNIL
• Prof. Fabrice Preyat, Faculté de lettres, traduction et communication, ULB

Project overview

The study of comics in the academic field has made it increasingly urgent to broaden the study of comics;eacute;tude du médium beyondà de ses cadres institués and to reéserver une place de choix à la bande dessinée numérique.

The project will focus on the following activities:

• two study days dedicated to the uses of digital technology in heritage policies;
• a joint participation that will feed into the special feature of the magazine Comicalités, entitled « Ce que le numérique fait à la bande dessinée »;
• a virtual exhibition focusing on the well-known heritage of punk comics in Belgium and Switzerland;
• the treatment of issues related to the digital environment in the teaching of comics at ULB and UNIL;
• an invitation to an international conference on the digital environment in Belgium
• an invitation for a day of lectures and a round table of researchers and professionals in the field of publishing and creation, corrée à a joint séance of the éED3 and ED4 doctoral programmes with the FNRS, in order to raise researchers' awareness of the issues and methods involved in safeguarding, heritage preservation and the policy of digitising printed works.

Main applicants

• Prof. Jennifer Foucart, Faculté des sciences de la motricit&eute;, ULB
• Prof. Yasser Khazaal, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, UNIL

Project overview

The population of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is chronically exposed to a war situation that constitutes a considerable moral and traumatic burden. The aims of the project are:

1. Design, in a pilot project, video clips explaining the effects of exposure to traumatic situations, which can be used as a basis for interventions with the general public or carers.
2. Create, in a pilot project, video clips explaining the effects of exposure to traumatic situations, which can be used as a basis for interventions with the general public or carers.
3. Create, in a pilot project, video clips explaining the effects of exposure to traumatic situations, which can be used as a basis for interventions with the general public or carers.
4. Design a larger-scale intervention based on this project, which will consist of distributing these video clips to a representative sample of the general public;This will involve distributing the videos to a representative sample of the general population and assessing the level of knowledge about mental health before and after exposure to the videos.

Principal applicant UNIL

Prof. Jacques Ehrenfreund, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies

Senior lecturer ULB

Prof Stefan Goltzberg, Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences

Description

The aim of this project is to contribute to the development of the centre of gravity of an entire flourishing discipline: Jewish history. The aim is to integrate a widely under-represented, under-exploited, yet central parameter: the rôulation of the workings of the law, of its évolution in order to understand the course of Jewish history in a éminutely contextualised, transdisciplinary and innovative manner.

The history of Europe is the result of the combination of a progressively secularised law without religion (Roman law) and a religion without law (Christianity). This picture is blurred by the existence of Judaism, which is certainly a religion, but above all a law. Yet Judaism is often studied as if it were little or no law. In Europe, this ancient, casuistic law has evolved in parallel with European rights. The ultimate aim of this project is not only to gain a better understanding of the role of law in Judaism, but, more profoundly, of the legal and philosophical history of Europe.

Activities

The aim of this research project is to contribute to à réhabilitating Talmudic law in the écriture of the history of Judaïsme. This objective is based on a twofold requirement:

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• not to overlook the legal mechanisms at the heart of Judaism (in particular, the evolution of the prêt à intérêt, tax law, the banning of hétérodoxes)
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• consider reading Jewish culture, including aspects of culture that pass for détach of any legal edifice, through the grid of Talmudic law.

This second requirement assumes that in Judaism, culture and law are mutually presupposed. We try to think them together – without réductionism.

The specialisation of the Brussels initiator (comparative history of legal interpretation, including Talmudic) and the Swiss initiator (Jewish historiography of the 19th century) will enable us to carry out this project successfully.

Timetable

• February 2022: preparatory meeting à Brussels.
February 2023: international colloquium à Brussels (10 invited researchers).
• September 2023: closing seminar
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Principal applicant UNIL

Prof. Manon Jendly, Faculty of Law, Criminal Sciences and Public Administration

Principal applicant ULB

Prof. Damien Scalia, Faculty of Law and Criminology

Description

Since 2015, most European countries have developed instruments to deal with the phenomenon of politically and ideologically motivated violence, alternatively labelled terrorism(s), radicalisation(s), or extremism(s). In view of the speed with which laws, policies, programmes and measures have evolved in recent years in Belgium and Switzerland, it is necessary to take stock of the situation and establish the current state of play in order to provide a comprehensive analysis of counter-terrorism measures and practices.

The study is based on the results of a survey conducted by the European Commission in 2008.

The project has two objectives. The first is to provide a map, for each of the countries, of the actors, institutions and programmes that make up the so-called arsenal in the fight against politico-ideological violence. The second is to use a case study to illustrate how the shift towards the preventive sphere can be rationalised in concrete terms and at the micro level;In this context, it is necessary to examine the preventive sphere (pre-crime) and its political, social, legal and ethical implications (post-terrorism). The aim will be to explore in situ and, from the perspective of the main prerequisites for the deployment of actions, the preventive logics at work.

Activities;

Calendar

• January 2022: Faculty of Law, Criminal Sciences and Public Administration reflection day
• February – May 2022: Finalisation of the literature review; mapping and analysis of legislation, documents and players (Switzerland & Belgium), identification of structures and rérent·e·s
• June-July 2022: Rédaction and publication submission
• October-December 2022: Case studies in Switzerland and Belgium
• January 2023: Interdisciplinary Séminary à l’ULB
• February – June 2023: Discussion and restitution of research results, drafting and submission of publication

Principal applicant UNIL

Prof. Tobias Mettler, Faculty of Law, Criminal Sciences and Public Administration

Principal applicant ULB

Prof. Vincent Mabillard, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management

Description

Public organisations are making increasing use of new information and communication technologies (NICTs) to increase the interactive potential of their échanges with beneficiaries and other stakeholders, as well as to achieve efficiency gains. In a context marked by greater citizen participation and greater pressure on public spending, public authorities are tending to take advantage of technological tools to improve their operations and increase their productivity. The literature is full of research into e-government and the adoption of digital platforms such as websites and social networks. However, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) is still subject to a number of questions that have yet to be addressed in the scientific literature.

Our aim here is to launch a research project dealing directly with these issues, more specifically in the healthcare sector. Numerous questions remain as to the impact of NICTs and AI on the relationship between public organisations and users/patients (humans replaced by machines, social acceptability, relationship of trust). Secondly, from a more managerial perspective, the massive collection, storage and sharing of data, and even more so artificial intelligence, are triggering organisational changes that are still under-studied. The question of coordination in the use of technological tools and platforms, and the involvement of stakeholders, are also fundamental management issues. Lastly, the modes of governance and major strategic orientations relating to the use of NICTs and AI are often lacking, both in practice and in the literature, and are still under-commented.

Activity;

As part of this project, we want to bring together the various skills that can be mobilised at both UNIL and ULB. In both institutions, there is a clear interest in connected health issues.

At the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, several professors are interested in digital transformation, and the Faculty actively collaborates in the operation of theI3h (Institute for Interdisciplinary Innovation in healthcare) initiative, whose expertise in innovation and digitalisation in healthcare would be very beneficial to the research project we wish to launch.

At the Institut de hautes études en administration publique (IDHEAP) of the UNIL, several professors, gathered around the co-promoter of this project, Tobias Mettler, has the ambition to launch a research project around artificial intelligence in a multidisciplinary perspective (law, social and political sciences, information systems).

Interactions between specialists in medical innovation and public management should thus enrich our understanding of digital transformation in health policies. On a more operational level, the aim is also to strengthen the know-how of applicants in their institutions in managing international research projects.

Timetable

• January-March 2022: First working meetings between applicants
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• March-June 2022: Organisation of a workshop with the professors involved
  . July-December 2022: Development of a research project mobilising the skills of those associated with the project and preparation of an application for Weave funding
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• January-March 2023: Préparation of a joint conference paper that may lead to a joint publication
• April 2023: Presentation of an initial paper at the IRSPM (International Research Society for Public Management) conference
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UNIL principal investigator

Prof. Gretchen Walters, Faculty of Geosciences and Environment

ULB principal investigator

Prof. Thomas Drouet, Faculty of Science

Description

In Gabon, where environmental variables alone hardly explain the floristic variability, observations from 15 years of field experience indicate that past land-use (PLU) is an auspicious factor to explain community assembly. The study of forest succession can thus provide insights into the process of community assembly through time, and therefore provides an optimal setting to infer the drivers and mechanisms that underlie the structuring of biodiversity.

The main objective of this collaboration will be to mutually support joint projects aiming to investigate the interaction between historical human activity and the present-day floristic composition of tropical rainforests in Gabon.

Activities

The project will focus on Gabon where we aim to study forest communities in space-for-time chronosequences of secondary succession at the local scale (< 1 ha) by choosing sampling sites for which information about the site history (i.e., type of disturbance and age of the regrowth) can be obtained either a priori or posteriori. We will track three distinct SSPs, comprising the most dominant land-use types, i.e., selective logging and post-cultural regrowth as well as tree-fall gaps as a natural reference. The following hypothesis is to be tested: PLU causes alternative pathways of secondary succession that differ from natural succession in their (a) taxonomic, (b) functional and (c) life-history strategy composition.

Floristic data will be sampled in the field using standardized MBG vegetation transects. On a surface of 5 x 200 m (0.1 ha), all (± 100) trees with a diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 5 cm are identified at the species level, if possible, and measured in DBH. Additionally, 100 dominant trees will be sampled to balance the record between the forest strata.

We will assign each sampling unit to a secondary successional pathway (SSP) based on descriptors of human activity related attributes. Therefore, we will compile a prioriori and/or posteriori information on past land-use type, intensity, frequency, duration and spatial extent for each transect.

Schedule

• Preparation reunion: 16-18 March 2022
• Archive works: 10-13 May 2022
• Field mission: 20 November - 12 December 2022

UNIL principal investigator

Prof. Ludovic Telley, Faculty of Biology and Medicine

ULB principal investigator

Dr Jérôme Bonnefont, Faculty of Medicine

Description

Our research proposal aims at understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the generation of different cortical neuron populations and we postulate that, as for motor neuron specification, at least part of this diversity relies on stochastic cell fate decisions driven by transcriptional bursting/stochastic processes.

Activities

To investigate this, we propose to develop the proof of concept of a new methodology allowing the simultaneous comparison of total transcriptional abundance and ongoing transcriptional bursts.

Apical progenitors and its progeny will be labelled and tracked using a high temporal resolution approach called “Flashtag”. Specifically, we will perform CFSE in utero ventricular injection in E12 and E15. Presumptive somatosensory area will be collected after 1, 3, 6, 24 hours post FlashTag in order to cover sequential stages of specification. The cells will be then FAC-sort as single cell pools prompt to generate dedicated single-cell library allowing quantification/comparison of mRNA level and active transcriptional burst. Interestingly this transcriptional burst can be estimated by measuring the recruitment of RNA-pol II (phosphorylated on Ser 2) on the chromatin using a recently developed protocol called CUT&Tag. We propose to adapt this protocol in order to combine it with the high throughput 10X Genomics single cell platform. To do so we will modify the current multiome protocol from 10X Genomics (which allow simultaneous coverage of ATAC and mRNA profiling) in order to allow the simultaneous quantification of RNA-pol II (phosphorylated on Ser 2) recruitment and mRNA total production.

With this pilot experiment, we expect to define, at a cellular resolution, patterns of gene bursting allowing to precisely identify the diversity of committed progenitor subpopulations at two embryonic time points of neurogenesis known to lead to the generation of different neuron populations with specific morphological, laminar and hodological properties.

Schedule

• 10.2021-01.2022 collection of the first samples at ULB, library preparation/sequencing at UNIL
• 02.2022-05.2022 bioinformatic analysis
• 06.2022-09.2022 collection of complete sample series at ULB, library preparation/sequencing at UNIL
• 10.2022-01.2023 bioinformatic analysis

UNIL principal investigator

Dr Jean Yannis Perentes, Faculty of Biology and Medicine

ULB principal investigator

Prof. Etienne Meylan, Faculty of Medicine

Description

Cancer research is a fast-moving field, which translates into new possibilities for current and future treatments to an unprecedented level. Because research collaborations are necessary for a more profound understanding of the disease, it becomes important to increase the awareness of the cancer science performed in other Institutions than only our own, especially at an early career level.

We propose, through an educational PhD summer course in cancer biology, to bring together young scientists from ULB and UNIL who will, through this program, learn about cancer-related programs – from fundamental to clinical research – performed in both institutions. This course will be unique because it will take place in two consecutive summers, enabling UNIL PhD students to come and visit ULB in the first year, and ULB students to come to UNIL in the second year. Through the dynamic structure of this course, we believe it will act as a proof-of-concept and a catalyzer to initiate new research and teaching collaborations in cancer research.

Activities

This 2-times 1-week course will take place in the summers of 2022 and 2023. Ten PhD students per Institution will enroll and will participate on both years. Preference will be for PhD or MD-PhD students in their first, second or third year, in order to be sure they will still be a PhD student the year after. Based on the number of interested participants, a selection from their motivation letter might be implemented.

To reach a strong attractiveness, dynamism and usefulness, the course will contain several types of interventions. These will include:

• Seminars from local Faculty including:
  • Basic scientists to present their laboratory research,
  • Clinical oncologists to discuss new clinical development and clinical practice,
  • Scientists from local cancer-oriented pharma to discuss about their career paths. Landmark paper discussions:
  • Local Faculty will propose landmark papers to be prepared and presented by pairs of students, each pair made from a UNIL and a ULB student.
• Research presentations by PhD students. This will enable them to directly present their data in front of their peers.

Schedule

• Summer 2022: 1^st part of the course during one week at ULB.
• Summer 2023: 2^nd part of the course during one week at UNIL.

Main applicant UNIL

Roberta Antonini Philippe, Maître d'enseignement et de recherche, Faculté des sciences sociales et politiques

Senior lecturer ULB

Jennifer Foucart, Lecturer, Faculty of Motor Sciences

Thematics

Sport Science

Activity

Création d'une formation continue en préparation et gestion mentale du sportif à l'ULB 

Description

This new training course will cover the knowledge linked to à preéparation and mental management of the sportsperson throughout their careerère. It will focus more specifically on dimensions other than just coaching and performance: recruitment, injury, the end of career, dual careers and reorientation. The course, which will last between 9 months and a year, will be made up of modules delivered in Lausanne and Brussels.

Calendar

• <2020: préparation of training
• September 2021: launch of training
• <2021-2022: programme rollover

Full presentation

Principal applicant UNIL

Prof. Gilbert Greub / Ordinary Professor / Faculty of Biology and Medicine

Principal applicant ULB

Olivier Vandenberg, Lecturer, School of Public Health

Activities

Creation of a joint website by students from ULB and UNIL

Description

The project will provide an opportunity for 12 Belgian and 12 Swiss students to work together to create a website on microbes. The students will meet twice to work in pairs on certain pages of the site.

This initiative will be extended to virology and parasitology during the 2nd year.

Timetable

• September 2020: first meeting to prepare and put the site online
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• Late 2020 - early 2021: site evaluation and improvements
• June 2021: second meeting and production of new pages

Principal applicant UNIL

Prof. Thomas Bouchet , Faculty of Social and Political Sciences

Principal applicant ULB

Prof. Laurence Rosier, Faculté de Lettres, Traduction et Communication

Thematics

Social sciences

Activities

Joint teaching

Description

Often dismissed as futile and unworthy of serious attention, or far too violent to make argumentative analysis possible, the insult emerges as another site of politics that is utterly fascinating.

The project aims à to consider the process of insult during two joint seminar-courses to be held successively à ULB then à UNIL. Around 25 students enrolled at ULB or UNIL in their 3rd or 3rd year of a Bachelor's degree will take part in the course. The focus will be on the French-speaking areas of Belgium, Switzerland and France from 1830 to the present day.

Calendar

• 2020: préparatory unions à l'UNIL et l'ULB
• Autumn 2020: first teaching session à l'ULB
• Spring 2021: second teaching session at UNIL
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Main applicant UNIL

Prof. Martina Avanza, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences

Senior lecturer ULB

Prof. Andrea Rea, Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences

Thematics

Social sciences

Activities

Setting up a school of education

Description

The programme will address four aspects of ethnographic work:

• methodology according to the notes in the so-called « classic » works in ethnography.
• observation (participatory and non-participatory)
• added value of an ethnography for comparative approaches
• data analysis

The course will be held in English and French and will include lectures, case studies and practical workshops. It is aimed at masters and doctoral students.

Calendar

• June 2021: école d'été à l'ULB

Main applicant UNIL

Prof. Monika Salzbrunn, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies

Senior lecturer ULB

Prof François Foret, Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences

Thematics

Arts of scène as a pedagogical technique in the social sciences

Activities

Field camp and joint seminars

Description

ArtObOut aims to support the setting up and running of a joint teaching project to explore the interactions between the arts in general and, more specifically, what relates;ve arts of scène, performances in public spaces and other forms of artistic expression mêlant performance and politics, conçues as spectacle and/or ritual.

Calendar

• May 2020: field camp
• December 2020: joint seminar in Lausanne
• April 2021: joint seminar in Brussels

UNIL main applicant

Dr Angela Ciuffi, Faculty of Biology and Medicine

ULB main applicant

Prof. Carine Van Lint, Faculty of Sciences

Field

Medicine

Activity

Joint research project

Description

In the past few years, the field of epitranscriptomic collected promising data highlighting the important role of mRNAs modifications in modulating several molecular and biological processes such as stability, splicing, export and translation of mRNAs, underlying the versatile coding, structural and catalytic functions of RNA (Zhao et al., 2017). The term epitranscriptomic was coined in analogy to epigenetic regulation mediated by modifications of histones and DNA.

So far, over one hundred post-transcriptional modifications of RNA molecules have been described, occurring at almost every position of pyrimidine and purine rings, including methylation, hydroxylation, acylation, glycosylation, isomerization, sulfation and adjunction of amino acids or nucleotides, enriching for the nucleotide repertoire, and which vary between different species of RNA molecules (mRNA, tRNA, rRNA, lncRNA, sncRNA...), between cellular locations or organelles, and across different organisms of all domains of life (Machnicka et al., 2013). Despite this, the field of epitranscriptomics remained largely uncharted, mainly due to technical limitations and constraints. The development of novel biological tools and technologies, such as specific antibodies and next-generation sequencing (NGS), are helping to overcome some of these limitations.

m6A is currently the most investigated epitranscriptomic modification thanks to the availability of an antibody recognizing specifically this modification. m6A is commonly found in both eukaryotic mRNAs and viral RNAs, with unique distribution patterns along the molecule (Dominissini et al., 2012; Schwartz et al., 2014). Indeed, m6A is mostly abundant at translation start sites, stop codons and 3’UTRs, thereby affecting stability and translation efficiency (Dominissini et al., 2012; Schwartz et al., 2014). However, individual RNA molecules of the same primary sequence are not all modified equally, providing additional diversity and potentially diverse fates or biological functions.

m5C modification in RNA is more challenging to detect than its DNA counterpart, but uses a similar approach with bisulfite conversion. Recent studies suggest that the m5C/C ratio in mRNAs is extremely low, pointing to a more targeted modification of specific cytosines (Squires et al., 2012). Despite the under-representation of m5C in mRNAs, these modified bases are mostly located in untranslated regions (UTR), and rarely found in coding sequences (Schaefer, 2015). The impact of m5C on mRNA fate or function remains to be defined, but seems to be linked to RNA degradation and translation efficiency (Squires et al., 2012).

Therefore, our research project aims at characterizing in detail the major epitranscriptomic modifications of viral RNAs of different retroviruses, assessing their implication on viral replication, and comparing the epitranscriptomic strategies used among the different retroviral genera. A better understanding of viral epitranscriptomics will provide additional knowledge on retroviral life cycle and pathogenesis, as well as potentially identify novel therapeutic strategies. We will concentrate at first on m6A and m5C post-transcriptional modifications, and on three retroviral genera: lentiviruses (HIV and SIV, human and simian immunodeficiency viruses), the oncogenic deltaretroviruses (HTLV and BLV, human T-lymphotropic virus and bovine leukemia virus), and the oncogenic gammaretrovirus (MLV, mouse leukemia virus). In order to do this, we rely on the expertise of the main applicants, renowned in the field of HIV-1 research. The two laboratories implicated in the present proposal have a strong experience in different fields of retroviral biology and pathogenicity, as attested by their publications.

To summarize, the present research project aims in a multidisciplinary approach to decipher the post- transcriptional modifications of retroviral RNAs. As it has been demonstrated that mRNAs post-transcriptional modifications modulate expression of viral genes, it clearly appears that a better understanding of the epitranscriptomic mechanism implicated in viral life cycle is necessary to improve our knowledge of viral pathogenicity.

Timeline

• July 2018: organization of the first workshop in Lausanne in order to define precisely the schedule of the experiments to do and describe in detail the protocols to apply.
• January 2019: organization of the second workshop in Belgium with both teams in order to analyze the first results, brainstorm all together and discuss the essential points required for the application to the Lead Agency Procedure 2019.

Main applicant UNIL

Prof. Danielle van Mal Maeder, Faculty of Arts

Senior applicant ULB

Prof. Emmanuelle Danblon, Faculty of Letters, Translation and Communication

Thematics

Rhetoric

Activity

Élaboration d’un projet de collaboration institutionnalis&e;around l’enseignement de la rhétorique

Description

In Grèce and à Rome, préliminary exercises – called progymnasmata – trained élèves à the délibérative, judicial and épidictic loquence. They trained them to develop a coherent discourse, to structure it, to order their arguments, to anticipate objections, to express themselves clearly and to develop their critical faculties.

More specifically, the progymnasmata followed an order of progressive difficulty to lead à the deéclamation, which was the crowning achievement. Designed to train citizens capable of establishing their position in society thanks to their education, they had an important moral dimension. The chrie, for example, involved commenting on an evil deed or word. Other exercises dealt with more general issues, which are still relevant today.

However, the effectiveness of this learning was largely based on its playful component. The themes of the exercises were generally drawn from myth and history, or were based on sensational fictional situations: The reason for this was that the extra-ordinary offered greater freedom to discuss the norms and values of society, while at the same time allowing serious artists to explore the limits of exaggeration. This blend of the serious and the playful in the learning of sequence is a large part of what makes today's experiments so successful. One of the exercises, for example, is the paradoxical loge, which consists of praising what doesn't appeal to me (the loge of Thersite, the loge of baldness, the loge of laziness). This observation invites à questioning the place of laughter in rétoric learning and the relationship between entertainment and éthique.

The two applicants, specialists in rhetoric, have for several years been developing a project to apply rhetorical exercises developed by the Greeks and Romans at school, university and extra-university level. The aim of these experiments is to verify the relevance of this educational system for developing argumentative, communicative, cognitive and social skills. The project presented here therefore consists of combining these experiences and working together to address the problems encountered, the questions raised and subsequent developments, both scientific and educational.

Calendar

• Autumn 2018: a first meeting to cross-reference respective experiences
• Winter 2019: 2-3 day colloquium/workshop to address the issue of the opposition between rhetoric and ethics
• Current 2019-2020: 2-3 day colloquium on progymnasmata and their réception à l’époque contemporaine

Principal applicant UNIL

Dr Grégory Quin, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (SSP)

Principal applicant ULB

Prof Jean-Michel De Waele, Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences

Thematics

Sport (football)

Activities

• Joint setting up of an interdisciplinary research group focusing on the theme of professionalism in football
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Description

In Belgium and Switzerland, the establishment of professional football « intégral » - in other words the reémunute;In other words, it is the players in the game who are rewarded for their activity, which took place between the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1990s. There were regular debates in civil society about this status, and it was not uncommon for it to be called into question (by politicians, journalists or supporters). As well as moral arguments (such as whether it is reasonable to pay individuals so much money to kick a ball), there are also economic arguments (such as the economic dualisation of football) put forward by various commentators.

As a subject that has not yet been dealt with much in studies of management, history, political science and the sociology of sport in the two countries, the aim will be, à the occasion of two research seminars (organised; respectively at the two universities) to take stock of the dynamics inherent in the transition to professionalism in Swiss and Belgian football over the last 50 years. In particular, the aim is to learn about the changes in the status of those involved in the game (contracts, sponsors, corporatisation), but also more broadly what this professionalisation means for football structures (national associations, national leagues, funding, organisation of competitions).    

Calendar

• Autumn 2018: Contact between the two applicants and possible speakers and publishers.
• Winter 2019: Organisation of the first study day at UNIL (second half of February).

Principal applicant UNIL

Prof Mathis Stock, Faculty of Science and Environment

Senior lecturer ULB

Prof. Anya Diekmann, Faculty of Science

Thematics

Tourism

Activities

• Organisation d’un workshop réunissant des doctorants de ULB et de l’UNIL pour échanger autour des critical tourism studies

Description

The project will aim to address three main issues:

1. What thematic problems arise in critical tourism studies and how can theory and empirical work be articulated? Indeed, we note that the problems of ecological crisis and social responsibility in tourism are certainly addressed, but the articulation in a doctoral work between theory and empirics remains problematic.
2. What methodological problems arise in a context of « tourism 2.0 » where tourism practices are connected to social media? There is no longer any tourism (practices, business models, services, policies, marketing, etc.) without computational assistance, and several methods are being proposed to researchers to understand this new situation, such as net ethnography, scraping, big data analysis, image analysis, etc.
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3. What contemporary empirical problems can we identify? Today, the problems of the economic crisis and sustainable tourism, overtourism in major European cities, and the link between digital lives and tourism are being debated.

The workshop therefore aims to identify a promising theme for future collaboration between ULB and UNIL. The exchange around a future joint research project is thus at the heart of the project.

Timetable

• Autumn 2018: workshop presentation
• February 27-28, 2019: workshop held (meeting in Sion)
• Autumn 2019: preparation of a research project
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UNIL main applicant

Dr Eric Giannoni, Faculty of Biology and Medicine

ULB main applicant

Dr David Vermijlen, Faculty of Pharmacy

Field

Medicine

Activity

Joint research project

Description

This collaboration – with the expertise of Dr Gianonni (UNIL) and Dr Vermijlen (ULB) – propose to design and develop new research projects in order to improve the understanding of the immune system in early life.

Indeed, invasive bacterial infections are a leading cause of childhood mortality worldwide, with newborns and young children being at the highest risk of developing severe or lethal infections. The vulnerability to infection observed in early life is associated with a developing immune system characterized by a limited ability to mount protective immune responses to pathogenic microorganisms. Due to the lack of exposure to antigens in utero, the adaptive immune system is not fully developed at birth, leading to a reduced capacity to mount efficient B cell and γδ T cell responses, and the need to rely on innate immune responses to fight against infections. Attempts at modulating the neonatal immune system to prevent or treat infections have only yielded limited benefits. Therefore, extensive characterization of host-pathogen interactions in early life is required to develop novel preventive and therapeutic strategies.

Two specific aims have been identified for this common UNIL-ULB application:

1. Sharing results of current projects on early life immune responses to infection conducted at both institutions through seminars held at the UNIL and the ULB, setting up meetings to discuss and develop new research projects, and plan future common grants applications.
2. Investigation of γδ T cell activation during neonatal and pediatric sepsis. The aim is to generate preliminary data, using a sequencing service that will allow us to apply for external funding (national, European and other international funding).

In this common project, the highly complementary expertise of Dr Vermijlen and Dr Giannoni will be combined and highly integrated and will allow to develop novel approaches to improve our understanding of the immune responses to invasive infection in early life.

Timeline

• Autumn 2018: Technical test by the laboratory of Dr David Vermijlen and his visit to UNIL in order to discuss the technical test result.
• Winter 2019: pilot experiment
• Spring 2019: analysis of HTS data, relation with clinical data and visit of Dr Eric Giannoni to ULB to discuss the HTS data and their relation to clinical and microbiological data.

Main applicant UNIL

Dr Cynthia Kraus, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences

Principal applicant ULB

Prof. Dr Méd. Sophie Alexander, School of Public Health

Thematics

General plastic surgery

Activities

Development of a joint research project protocol and a seminar

Description

According to the latest report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), 200 million women worldwide are living with female circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation (FGM), and around one million of them are migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, who reside in high-income countries. In this context, a range of reconstructive surgery, known as clitoral reconstruction, has developed. In some host countries, this service is provided on a voluntary basis and is covered by the social security system; in others, the service is limited and in yet others, it does not exist at all. The surgical culture of clitoral reconstruction has subsequently dissolved in certain African countries. In parallel, and at the same time, there is a growing supply of (and demand for) so-called "cosmetic general surgery" on women who have not undergone FGM as children, known as "intact surgery". Both types of surgery are poorly evaluated. For clitoral reconstruction surgery, the WHO position is that the level of evidence is insufficient to support it. During two colloquia organised as part of the G3 de la francophonie (ULB, UNIGE, Universit& ́ de Montréal) on the different methods of treatment (surgical and non-surgical) offered to women living with FGM, the WHO stated that the level of evidence was insufficient to recommend it;e for women living with FGM, it emerged that the practitioners who perform it enthusiastically endorse clitoral reconstruction, and seem to ask few questions.

The aim of the research project is twofold:

The first objective is to make explicit the representations as well as the concepts underlying the action, among both carers and women. For carers, it is a question of clarifying the logic of their offer. For example, concepts such as "giving back to the woman who has been circumcised what has been unjustly taken from her" or "acting for the fight against female genital mutilation" are all important;These are common reasons to justify clitoral reconstruction surgery, but they need to be analysed with a careful methodology. For the women concerned, the aim is to gain a better understanding of their experiences, particularly when they have undergone reconstruction surgery. To do this, standardised indexes for assessing sexual function will be used, as well as tools for measuring overall satisfaction.

Here, the hypothesis made consists in saying that the type of FGM management is directly linked to the modality of FGM prohibition specific to the country;The most policing methods are associated with a more extensive range of réparation / normalisation services. But also, the project will study women requesting cosmetic genetic surgery with here a symmetrical hypothesis to see if the demand for this type of surgery is a function of the possibilities of reimbursement (by social security or private insurance).

This comparative analysis will ultimately make it possible to assess sexual satisfaction and overall post-operative satisfaction in the two types of surgery.

The second objective is to organise a seminar for those interested in the sociological aspects of general plastic surgery including ritualised forms of FGM. This seminar would be aimed at people already involved in reflection on these themes and would go beyond the theme of the research project since it would address all the sociological aspects (anthropological, gender) and in particular the question of the ritualisation of FGM.

It is important to know that the WHO condemns all forms of FGM, whether invasive (e.g. infibulation) or symbolic (e.g. pricking), mutilated or not, consented to or undergone, practised on a child or an adult woman. Tolerance is known as "zeacute;ro". This strategy is intended to be comprehensive and to promote respect for women's physical integrity and rights. However, it carries the risk of a Western-centric representation that would unequally distribute the right to control one's own body according to the ethnic origin of the women concerned.

Finally, the overall aim of the joint research project is to consolidate and formalise interdisciplinary collaborations that are in the making and whose humanities and social sciences aspect is essential to ensure quality reflection in a theme often left to the biomédical. In other words, the major contribution of the collaboration proposed here is the integration of the humanities and social sciences (represented here by two members of the research group) into the research process;es ici par les deux membres de l’UNIL et une membre de l’ULB) dans une équipe de recherche et un réseau G3 composés quasi exclusivement de médecins à ce jour.

Calendar

• 2018 October to January 2019: finalisation and submission of the’article in progress
• February 2019: two working days in Lausanne with the possibility of interaction with UNIL students
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• May 2019: one-day seminar associated with the G3 MGF conference with finalisation of the research protocol

Senior lecturer ULB

Prof Jean-Philippe Schreiber, Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences

Principal applicant UNIL

Prof Jacques Ehrenfreund, Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies

Theology

Science of religions

Activities

• Development of a joint research project with a view to submission to several funding bodies
• Mobility of professors·e·s and students·e·s

Description

The project has two components:

As far as research is concerned, a joint research project will be designed and implemented during or at the end of this impetus phase. The project will aim to highlight a comparison between Judaism and Islam in Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The aim is to assess the capacity and limitations of religious law to adapt to the primacy of civil law. In an acute contemporary context, where the law sees rites considered fundamental for these two religious traditions (male circumcision and the ritual slaughter of sheep and cattle) coming up against a consideration of the rights of the child or the well-being of the human being, it will be examined how religious law is able to adapt to the primacy of civil law;It is therefore essential to examine the capacity and possible plasticity of the domestic law specific to these two religions. This research will be both socio-legal and historical, with the ambition of tracing the history of this complex relationship à the law of the State, from the Great Sanhédrin convened by Napoléon in 1807, to the most contemporary battles.

The partners will develop a structured research project, the completion of which will be entrusted to a third-party service provider in order to bring it into line with the selection criteria of the prospective funders.

With regard to teaching, this impetus phase will aim to set up mobility for teachers and students between the two universities. Professors will be exchanged in areas where one of the two universities can fill the gaps left by the other. These exchanges should be used to provide regular teaching, master classes and certification courses in the host university. In addition, a selection of courses will be podcasted and promoted as part of a joint e-learning programme aimed at countries in the South with which the partners are actively collaborating. The impetus phase described here will be used to test both the exchange with a view to structuring it and the feasibility of a portfolio of resources with a view to disseminating it in southern countries.

Timetable

• Academic year 2017-2018: joint research project development
• Academic years 2017-2018 and 2018-2019: exchange of professors and students
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Senior lecturer ULB

Prof Jean-Benoit Pilet, Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences

Principal applicant UNIL

Prof. Oscar Mazzoleni, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences

Thematics

Political Science

Activities

• Setting up an international school of education
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Description

This project for an international summer school on « Political participation democracy » is part of contemporary reflections on the profound metamorphoses of democratic government in our complex societies. The model of representative government is currently facing a number of signs that citizens are losing interest in it. The rise of populism but also the decline of traditional political participation and its transformation towards new participatory registers are all new phenomena that put the routine function of contemporary democracies under strain.

This context has led many doctoral students to begin theses on these subjects. The aim of the proposed international summer school is to offer French-speaking doctoral students a week of meetings and intense dialogue between them and some of the best international specialists in the field.

This is a context that has led many doctoral students to begin theses on these subjects.

Each day will be devoted to a specific theme. In the morning, an outside speaker who is an expert on the topic will come and present one of his or her recent research projects and discuss with the participants the results, but also the way in which the research was constructed and conducted. In the afternoon, 3 or 4 participants will present their work to receive comments and recommendations from the guest speaker and other participants.

The expert speakers will be both guest researchers and teacher-researchers from UNIL and ULB. Both universities have considerable expertise in research on democracy and political participation.

The speakers will be both guest researchers and lecturers from UNIL and ULB.

The main aim of this project is to strengthen links between specialists, students and interested parties in 4 French-speaking countries. The advantage of this collaboration is that it will help to integrate UNIL with a summer school already in place between ULB, the University of Bordeaux and Laval University.

The project will be carried out in collaboration with the University of Bordeaux and the University of Laval.

Timetable

• Eté 2018: first édition à Brussels
• Andé 2019: second édition à Lausanne

ULB main applicant

Prof. Serge Aron, Faculty of Science

UNIL main applicant

Prof. Michel Chapuisat, Faculty of Biology and Medicine

Field

Biology

Activity

• Joint research project

Description

Animal societies vary greatly in their organization, from simple family groups to more complex societies. The causes underlying this variation are still largely unknown. The Alpine silver ant Formica selysi is an ideal system to study variation in social organization, because single-queen and multiple-queen colonies co-exist within populations. Furthermore, individuals from these two social forms differ in multiple morphological, behavioural and life-history traits.

Recently, it has been shown that the social organization of colonies in the Alpine silver ant is controlled by a supergene, i.e. a large group of linked gene. There is ongoing gene flow between both social morphs, as there is no sign of genetic differentiation between them in the rest of the genome. The mechanisms allowing for the maintenance of this genetically-based social polymorphism remain enigmatic.

This collaborative research project aims at studying whether male fertility differs between the monogynous and polygynous social forms, with the hypothesis that males originating from monogynous colonies produce more sperm than males originating from polygynous colonies, and that this difference in male reproductive potential plays a role in the maintenance of the genetic polymorphism in nature.

In order to test this hypothesis, a rapid, efficient and reliable method will be used for assessing sperm number and viability from males emerging from each social form: flow cytometry. Furthermore, how male fitness affects the maintenance of the social polymorphism will be studied, using behavioural experiments and genetic analyses. Ultimately, this research will reveal if differences in male fertility are associated with social organization, and if they contribute to maintaining polymorphisms in animal populations.

This proposal strongly capitalizes on the common research interests of both groups, and on the complementarity of the methods developped in Lausanne and Brussels respectively.

Timeline

• Summer 2017: Collection of males in the field
• Autumn 2017: Research internship at ULB
• Autumn 2017 to autumn 2018: Processing of samples in Brussels and Lausanne
• Academic year 2018-2019: Meetings in Lausanne and Brussels for data processing and analysis.

Senior lecturer ULB

Prof David Paternotte, Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences

Principal applicant UNIL

Dr Marta Roca Escoda, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences

Thematics

Gender Studies

Activities

• Setting up a francophone gender studies school
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Description

The aim of the project is to set up a Francophone doctoral school in gender studies, in partnership between the Centre en études genre at UNIL and Striges at ULB. It will take place in June and will last 5 days. Its aim is to offer a thematic training course on an annual basis, aimed primarily at doctoral students from French-speaking countries (mainly France, Belgium and Switzerland), as there is currently only one school of this type, in Angers (France). It will also make it possible to promote the work of doctoral students from both institutions. In the long term, it may be possible to open up some or all of the modules of the School of Engineering to professionals in the hospitality industry. In addition, once the school has stabilised, it is planned to offer grants to encourage the participation of doctoral students from southern countries, in particular the Maghreb, Lebanon and French-speaking Africa.

In addition to offering intensive training in gender studies in French, this graduate school also aims to improve the visibility of gender studies in France;improve the international visibility of the gender studies structures at UNIL and ULB, particularly at scientific level, by publicising their respective research. It will also enable doctoral students to build up an international network and forge strong links with the two research teams.

It is planned that this summer school will be held first at UNIL and then the following year at ULB, thus ensuring rotation and parity between the two institutions.

Calendar

• Autumn 2017: identification of themes, preparation of the pre-programme
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• January 2018: final programme design, creation and printing of promotional material
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• Spring 2018: definition of educational objectives, budgeting
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• June 2018: first edition of the UNIL school

ULB main applicant

Dr Sabine Costagliola, Faculty of Medicine

UNIL main applicant

Dr Gerasimos Sykiotis, Faculty of Biology and Medicine

Field

Medicine

Activity

• Joint research project

Description

A new collaborative research project between the lab of Dr Sykotis and the lab of Dr Costagliola is proposed.

The Sykiotis lab has been studying the roles of the antioxidant response pathway in the thyroid gland in health and disease. Using mice and traditional 2D cell cultures, new factors have been identified that mediate responses of thyroid cells to various forms of stress encountered both during normal physiology of the thyroid gland and also during extreme conditions associated with thyroid disorders. These findings are completely original and very innovative because they address the long-standing questions of how oxidation is coupled to the metabolism of iodine, and how the protective mechanisms of thyrocytes against oxidative stress are linked to protective mechanisms against iodine overload. Nevertheless, certain aspects cannot be fully resolved with the aforementioned experimental models; specifically, differences in iodine organification cannot be modelled in 2D cell cultures, because it requires the 3D structure of the normal anatomical units of the thyroids, the sphere-shaped follicles. In addition, the developmental roles and the evolutionary conservation of the antioxidant response pathway in the thyroid remain unknown.

These issues can be addressed very efficiently via two ground-breaking models developed in the Costagliola lab. One is a method for in vitro differentiation of thyrocytes and 3D culture of follicles starting from mouse embryonic stem cells. The other is the use of a new zebrafish model to investigate in vivo thyroid development in a non-invasive manner.

In this context, we have outlined a project with the overall goal to combine the respective strengths and expertise of the two labs to elucidate the physiological and developmental functions and evolutionary aspects of the stress response pathway in the thyroid. The specific aims are the following:

1. To transfer to the Sykiotis lab the 3D follicle model established by the Costagliola lab in order to perform cell-based studies on the role of stress response pathways on iodine metabolism.

2. To transfer to the Costagliola lab expertise on the Nrf1 and Nrf2 pathways and their manipulation with pharmacological compounds.
3. To investigate in parallel the functions of these pathways in mice and in zebrafish using genetic means.

There is also added value beyond the specific research project: At ULB, and in Belgium more broadly, there is a vibrant thyroid research community. The Sykiotis group will thus come into contact with a broader network of thyroidologists, which will have a lasting structural effect on both partners, leading to new collaborations, both research and clinical. Conversely, UNIL is currently in the process of establishing a zebrafish platform, for which Dr Costagliola could be a precious advisor and a model for successful implementation of this versatile system.

Timeline

• Autumn 2017: Visits of UNIL researchers to ULB
• Autumn 2017 to summer 2018: Implementation of the 3D model at UNIL and implementation of the zebrafish model at ULB
• Spring 2018: Meeting at UNIL to present results, coordinate publications and grant applications.
• Autumn 2018: Visit of one ULB researcher to UNIL

Senior lecturer ULB

• Prof Jean-Michel Decroly, Faculty of Science

Principal applicant UNIL

• Prof. Céline Rozenblat, Faculty of Geosciences and Environment

Thematics

Geography

Activities

• Organisation of two joint seminars in Lausanne and Brussels

Description

The aim of the project is to change on the issues and practices of inter- and transdisciplinary research and teaching à from the expériences of the Institut de géographie et de durabilité (UNIL) and the Institut de gestion de l’environnement et d’aménagement du territoire (ULB). Urban issues, spatial planning, the environment and, more broadly, sustainability are complex and require a systematic analysis. They raise technical, scientific, economic, political and social issues that need to be taken into account by a range of disciplines. They are the subject of public policy, economic strategies and social mobilisation, and are often controversial or even conflictual. The research produced in such a context and its results are likely to be appropriated by actors, integrated into political agendas, which requires other forms of flexibility on the part of researchers than those that would be applied in a more strictly theoretical field.

The project consists of sharing experiences on this theme through two seminars, organised respectively in Lausanne and Brussels, leading to the writing of a joint article and a training module;a training module on inter- and trans-disciplinarity, in the form of a training school for young researchers to be offered at the respective doctoral schools of the two institutes.

Calendar

• Late 2017: first seminar at UNIL
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• Spring 2018: second seminar l'ULB

Senior lecturer ULB

Prof. Laurence Brogniez, Faculty of Letters, Translation and Communication

Principal applicant UNIL

Prof. Philippe Kaenel, Faculty of Arts

Thematics

Literature

Activity

• Organisation of two study days à Brussels and Lausanne

Description

The teams at UNIL and ULB both have recognised expertise in the field of comic strip analysis and would benefit from closer links, which would ensure that they are able to contribute to a richer, more interdisciplinary scientific field;interdisciplinary scientific enrichment (sociology, history of art, history of literature, history and aesthetics of film, sociology, narratology, etc.) in the field of comic strip analysis..), in the field, and increased visibility within specialised international research networks.

The project is based on two study days, one in Brussels and the other in Lausanne, providing an opportunity to change points of view, communicate research results and outline concrete avenues for future collaboration. The aim is to consolidate an initial nucleus of collaboration, and to define future scenarios, including other partnerships around the issue of French-language comics: with France and possibly with Quebec. The intention is to create an international research network on French-language comics. This project affirms the ambitions of ULB and UNIL, not only in terms of scientific knowledge and symbolic recognition of the comic strip medium, but also in terms of enhancing heritage collections and promoting contemporary creation.It would strengthen the structural and scientific links between the counterpart centres of the two universities in terms of intermedia and cultural studies.

Calendar

• Autumn 2017: study day at ULB
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• Spring 2018: l'UNIL study day