Invest in a Research or Teaching Chair

UMONS wants to encourage and support the establishment of Chairs to develop, structure and consolidate interactions between the university and the socio-economic environment.

As a result of two parties collaborating, the Chair aims to create a centre of expertise on a theme, and develop a kind of ecosystem which encourages socio-economic investors to be at the heart of our research and training at the university.

The Chair takes various forms, e.g. a Research Chair or an Academic Chair, and may focus on funding a research team, creating an innovative curriculum with the commitment of a teacher, attracting or retaining a top-level researcher, or creating a meeting point between academics and industry.

Resulting from a mutual commitment of the university and the socio-economic environment, the Chair will be built on a multi-year collaboration, and will therefore be structured over time. The Chair will truly be a win-win partnership with a shared benefit of knowledge, openness to diverse audiences, and contribution to the brand image of both parties.

Teaching Chair

The main objective of a Teaching Chair (or Academic Chair) is to reinforce a team of teachers to complete an existing training programme (through an Option or a Specialist Focus) or to provide a new training programme (a Master’s or Advanced Master’s course), tackling socio-economic issues that the university and the partner wish to overcome together.

The Teaching Chair can support teaching activities by hiring a lecturer for a fixed period and by welcoming visiting professors.

Like any UMONS teacher, teachers recruited from the Teaching Chair also commit to promoting research in their field in order to enrich the theme developed by the Chair.

Research Chair

A Research Chair helps to promote research and innovation in a specific field and supports research activities mostly by funding doctoral scholarships and, in some cases, post-doctoral researchers or visiting professors and experts. UMONS students can also be associated with the scientific activities of the Research Chair for their dissertations, projects and placements.

A Chair brings together UMONS professors and researchers who agree to share their scientific expertise with the contributor, bringing their own knowledge and seeking to co-finance the activities of the Chair (applications for scholarships to the UMONS Research Council, submission of projects to the FNRS, etc.).

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Some examples :

ORES Chair: “Smart Grids – Smart Metering” (2011-2018): promoter of studies on electrical networks (particularly network design, reactive energy management, data analysis, demand management, and electric storage) and on telecommunication networks (particularly design and IP-based network development, securing telecommunication networks, devices, etc.).

 

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ECRA Chair: Promoter of studies on CO₂ capture/purification processes applied to the cement industry, and CO₂ conversion/reuse, in which the European Cement Research Academy (ECRA) and UMONS share the concern for sustainable industrial technologies.

 

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The amount to be financed for a Teaching or Research Chair will depend on its ambition and duration.

Depending on the type of Chair, agreements may also include prize funding, the organisation of events (seminars, workshops and conferences), and the publication of scientific reports and results in scientific literature (congresses, national and international journals).