Three ULiège projects selected for Welbio Investigator Program funding
As part of the Welbio Investigator Program call for projects, two FARAH projects and one GIGA project were selected for funding at the Université de Liège.
As a public university open to the world and is anchored in the scientific, cultural and economic development of its region, the University of Liège relies on its three pillars: teaching, research and civic engagement.
ULiège trains responsible citizens who are provided with cutting-edge knowledge and critical thinking, are able to share knowledge and can push forward an increasingly complex world.
ULiège develops and promotes excellence in research, multidisciplinary and direct engagement with its instruction.
Global exposure is a top priority at the University of Liège. The institution offers a wide range of international mobility opportunities to students, researchers and staff, enabling them to enhance their cross-disciplinary skills and language knowledge.
ULiège: an experience of daily living. Located in 3 cities and 4 campuses, the university is a key player in terms of the environment and mobility.
Michaël Gillon, FRS-FNRS Senior Research Associate in the Department of Astrophysics, Geophysics and Oceanography (ASTROBIOLOGY Research Unit), has been selected to receive the coveted ERC Starting Grant from the European Research Council. Named SPECULOOS - Search for habitable Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars - the young researcher's project consists of installing 2 telescopes to detect planets similar to our Earth.
T
he €2 million ERC Starting Grant, awarded to the SPECULOOS project (Search for habitable Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars to search for habitable planets eclipsing ultra-cold stars), will enable the installation of two new ULiège telescopes in the Atacama desert in Chile. These telescopes will be used to search for terrestrial exoplanet transits of Earth-like sizes around ultra-cold stars. To date, no such transit has been detected, while ultra-cool drwarf stars, due to their lower mass, size, brightness and temperature, increase the possibilities of detecting atmospheric biosignatures of habitable exoplanets from Earth, using transit technology. The interest and validity of this technique has been demonstrated by studies on about fifty ultra-freezing stars conducted by the ULiège astrophysics team using the TRAPPIST telescope, also installed in the Atacama. The "first light" of the SPECULOOS telescopes is scheduled for 2015. In the field of "Physical Sciences & Engineering", only slightly more than 8% of the projects submitted in this call, including the two from ULg, were selected (126 out of 1486).
ERC Starting Grants are major instruments deployed by the European Research Council to fund frontier research projects in Europe, stimulating scientific excellence and creativity among young researchers. The highly selective procedure selects only the best researchers and research projects of the highest level, combining audacity and competence to tackle new avenues of research likely, if successful, to substantially enrich knowledge.
As part of the Welbio Investigator Program call for projects, two FARAH projects and one GIGA project were selected for funding at the Université de Liège.
2026 marquera les 200 ans de la cristallerie du Val Saint Lambert. L’Université de Liège a décidé de réaliser une exposition portant sur le verre dans la société actuelle.
Coordinated by the University of Liège, the project aims to continue to position the Greater Region as a European model for the efficient management of technological resources and waste.