The Adrien Bauchau Fund celebrates its 35th anniversary

This article is taken from Omalius magazine #29, June 2023.

"Dazzling intelligence, non-conformist thinking, captivating presentations..."(1).  The portrait of Adrien Bauchau can be seen in the words of those who worked with him during his long career as a biology professor at the Facultés universitaires de Namur, between 1947 and 1983.

A Jesuit and priest, Adrien Bauchau was also a brilliant scientist in the field of animal endocrinology, which he taught to students in the Faculties of Medicine and Science. As early as 1974, he spearheaded the creation of the Biology Department as we know it today: equipped with state-of-the-art laboratories and offering the entire university curriculum, from bachelor to doctorate level. These laboratories enable fundamental and applied research to be carried out in a wide range of areas, from environmental and organismal biology to cellular and molecular biology.

"The first initiative funded in 1989 was the Adrien Bauchau Prize," continues Pierre Devos. "Today, it is open to Master's students in biology at universities in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, and rewards their final year work. The winners selected by the jury are invited to present their work at a competition. "The aim is not so much to produce a large number of results, but rather to present them, justify them and communicate them, thereby testing the abilities of young researchers," explains Pierre Devos. The Bauchau Chair was created in 1994. "Every two years, a renowned Belgian scientist is invited to UNamur to give several lectures on a theme, alternating between ecology and the environment on the one hand, and cellular and molecular biology and microbiology on the other. Finally, 5 years later, the Fund introduced the Bauchau Congrès grants, this time for doctoral students in biology at UNamur. "They give these young scientists more resources so that they can take part in an international scientific conference, in the USA or Canada for example".

While this jubilee is an opportunity to look back over the road we have travelled, we are above all looking to the future. "Support for young researchers and internationalisation are the two key words that define the new initiatives announced by the Bauchau Fund", says Frédéric Silvestre, Director of the Department of Biology and member of the Fund's Board. These include a new international scholarship. Thierry Arnould, also a professor in the Department of Biology and a member of the Fund's Board of Trustees, explains: "It will encourage young scientists or academics to set up in the field to facilitate the development of their research activities, in both directions: either a foreign scientist who wishes to develop his or her work at UNamur, or a scientist trained at UNamur who sets up in an international laboratory and establishes a structural collaboration with our department, through the hosting of trainees, the co-promotion of dissertations or the co-supervision of theses, for example".

A second initiative will be to invite a leading international figure (a Nobel Prize winner, for example) each year to meet with students and members of the Biology Department, to discuss the activities of the laboratories and to give a lecture that will also be open to the public. "Finally, the Fonds Adrien Bauchau could act, in partnership with UNamur, as a facilitator for the acquisition of major laboratory equipment, a prospect that is still under development," adds Thierry Arnould. Frédéric Silvestre concludes: "It's a real opportunity to benefit from this support, in terms of the visibility, influence and excellence of biology research at an international level."