1.2 2024-2025 ACHIEVEMENTS CREATION OF THE TRANSITIONS LABORATORY Created on 22nd January 2025, the new ULiège Transitions Laboratory's mission is to support research and teaching at the University in all the transformations necessary to face this changing world. The chair of its scientific council, Sébastien Brunet, associate professor and general administrator of IWEPS, discusses the essence of this new tool. This one-of-a-kind laboratory was created at ULiège in 2025 and has a specific place in the University's Transition Roadmap. "This laboratory is considered a centre for supporting research and teaching across all areas of the University, covering the Liège, Arlon and Gembloux campuses," reveals Sébastien Brunet. "And this support must be provided in a truly interdisciplinary manner." Sébastien Brunet emphasises this interdisciplinary approach because, for him, it is closely linked to the transitions we need to make in our societies. "Transitions in energy, food and mobility must be considered together in all their diversity," he explains. "That is why they cannot be considered from a single disciplinary perspective. We need to multiply the aspects and perspectives, including those that are not scientific and are referred to as user expertise. The idea behind the Transitions Laboratory is therefore to bring together research teams from very different disciplines, as well as members of civil society, to work together in order to have an impact on the ground." "Today, we have all the information we need," says the political scientist. "Now we must transform reality, territories and institutions and influence stakeholders, with a long-term vision." As general administrator of the Walloon Institute for Evaluation, Forecasting and Statistics (IWEPS), Sébastien Brunet has long sought to put foresight back into the heart of public debate, a discipline he also teaches at ULiège. "Foresight, through anticipating possible futures, is a very powerful tool for escaping short-termism and the tyranny of the present, with the aim of collectively identifying the future that we want and thus take the necessary steps now to make it happen," he assures us. "And it is with a view to integrating a forward-looking methodological dimension into the Transitions Laboratory that I have joined the chairmanship of its scientific council." Innovative Projects With an operating budget of €3 million over five years, the Transitions Laboratory will also fund four to six major research projects in 2025 and 2026. "A first call for projects has been launched for 2025," reveals Sébastien Brunet. "Once selected, the first projects should start in October. Then, in a second phase, we will analyse them in order to refine the process for 2026, in terms of the themes chosen, for example." 6 | REPORT SUSTAINABILITY AND TRANSITION AT ULIÈGE | 2024 – 2025
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