What projects do you want to promote as a Dean?
Rather than talking about projects, I propose to be particularly attentive to several issues likely to have important repercussions on the life of the Faculty, such as the redefinition of the financing law, the reform of initial teacher training, and the new version of the "Landscape" decree.
We also have, within our faculty, several new accreditations that must be consolidated or perpetuated, or even that will be created.
It seems to me that the role of the dean is to maintain a united faculty to meet these challenges.
How do you see teaching and research in your Faculty?
Precisely in the context of the reform of initial teacher training, it seems to me appropriate to cultivate what constitutes, in a way, the Namur 'trademark' in Philosophy and Humanities, namely a teaching characterised by a strong disciplinary anchorage. This should be an important asset within the range of Baccalaureate courses in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.
As for research, the specificity of the Humanities is that it is very often solitary, or the work of small groups. The challenge (and it is a big one) is to federate these active forces in order to develop synergies that provide real added value. I would also like colleagues to be able to make greater use of the fruits of their research in their teaching, which is not easy when you only have the baccalaureate training.
How do you see your role as a Dean?
Like that of an orchestra conductor. If he can be at the origin of the impetus, I see the dean rather as the spokesperson and the support of the interests as well as the projects of his Faculty within the Institution, but also the one who, the case necessary, can oil the wheels of faculty institutions.
Under which sign do you wish to place your deanship?
A dynamic and human faculty.
A word for David Vrydaghs?
David is "the quiet force" to me. He is the one who has managed to run the faculty admirably for six years without ever saying a word out of line.
A word for the students of your faculty?
One often undertakes studies in Arts out of passion. If the end point is obviously the degree (which is much more 'professional' than is often said), the journey that leads to it is extremely rich in discoveries, knowledge and fulfilment, but also in encounters with fellow students and teachers that can really change a life.
Isn't it said that the journey is often more important than the destination? It seems to me all the more essential, after the two difficult years that we have experienced, to put the human being back at the center and to revitalize faculty life in order to cultivate the family character that defines us so well and that makes former students who, years later, when they push open the doors of the Faculty, still feel "at home".
Express biography
At the age of 45, Christophe Flament was first an FNRS research fellow at UCLouvain, then a scientific collaborator, then a lecturer and finally a professor at UNamur in the Department of Classical Languages and Literatures.
He has held several positions as department head and also as vice-dean. His field of specialisation is the economic and financial history of the ancient Greek world.