ULiège creates the Transitions Laboratory
On 22 January, the ULiège Board of Directors created the Transitions Laboratory, a new teaching and research support centre designed to promote collaboration between all the scientific disciplines within ULiège and to increase interaction with civil society in order to mark out the paths towards just transitions and a society in tune with planetary limits.
The Transitions Laboratory has been allocated an initial budget of €3 million over five years. This budget will provide substantial funding for research projects based on a transdisciplinary, participatory and forward-looking approach. The first call for projects has just been launched, and by the summer of 2025 will result in the selection of two research projects, each funded to the tune of 750,000 euros. Two other projects will be selected in 2026, receiving the same funding.
The creation of the Transitions Laboratory is one of the priorities of ULiège's Strategic Plan.
The ULiège Board of Governors has also appointed Professor Sébastien Brunet to chair the Scientific Council of the Transitions Laboratory. A recognised specialist in the study of risks and emergency planning, science-society interactions and foresight methods, Sébastien Brunet is Professor Extraordinaire at ULiège's Faculty of Law, Political Science and Criminology. He is also General Administrator of the Institut wallon de l'évaluation, de la prospective et de la statistique (IWEPS), Wallonia's statistical authority. He is also a director of the Institut Interfédéral de la Statistique (IIS).
Anne-Sophie Nyssen, Rector of the University of Liège (ULiège): ‘ The inevitable transitions towards more sustainable societies must be able to count on the strong commitment of universities and their researchers. This is not just the mission of a few scientific disciplines, but of all of them, because the challenges are global and everything is interconnected. This is also why we want to anchor the Transitions Laboratory in a statistical and forward-looking approach . To anticipate, document and quantify in concrete terms the scenarios of a desirable future. Professor Brunet's skills match these ambitions, which is why we are entrusting him with the scientific direction of our Transitions Laboratory.
Also worth reading: "A new tool at the service of faculties and research units" (Le Quizième Jour)
