ULB, UCLouvain, Université de Montréal
" OBJ: 1) Observe interprofessional and interorganisational collaboration "in the making" in crisis situation: how professional groups organize and collaborate (within and between professional groups) in different organizational contexts (liberal practice, primary care delivery services, hospitals, nursing homes, etc.) especially for vulnerable groups. 2) Analyse the role of regulatory bodies governmental agencies, professional associations) in managing healthcare professions and interprofessional collaboration in crisis situations 3)Improving future care and the resilience of health systems METH: Collection and analysis of documents (instructions, tools, etc.), qualitative interviews, in situ observations. Developing Grounded theory "
Funding: Research team is part of BeHive - Interdisciplinary primary care Chair, funded by the King Baudouin Foundation (Fund Dr. Daniel De Coninck)
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ULB

Sphère publique, sphère privée : Impact du port du masque sur la reconnaissance des personnes et de l'expression émotionnelle de leur visage. " Le déconfinement approche. Bientôt la population belge sillonnera à nouveau les rues, les transports et l'ensemble de l'espace public mais munie de masques. Quels retentissements sur la capacité des personnes à en reconnaître d'autres sur base de leur visage et à en extraire l'expression émotionnelle ? Sera-t-on toujours capable de juger, de manière efficace, de l'intention d'autrui à notre égard même si cette dernière porte un masque ? A tous les âges ? Ou, au contraire, a-t-on raison d'avoir la suspicion que le port du masque pourrait nous empêcher de reconnaître quelqu'un sur base de son visage et d'en lire les émotions de manière efficace ? "
Publication References: de Heering, A., & Rossion, B. (2008). Prolonged Visual Experience in Adulthood Modulates Holistic Face Perception. PlosOne, 3(5): e2317. de Heering, A., &amp...

Read more: Adélaïde de Heering, Post-doctoral Fellow

ULiège
" Study of the legal consequences of Covid 19 on the execution of construction contracts in Belgium "
Publication References: B. KOHL, "L'épidémie de Covid-19 et l'exécution des marchés de construction", Journal des Tribunaux, Brussels, Larcier, 2020, pp. 361-371
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

ULB
"Our objectives are: • To study maternal and neonate COVID-19 information in the Belgian-Obstetric Surveillance System database: clinical presentation and natural history of disease, pregnancy-related basic information, pregnancy outcomes, birth characteristics, infant morbidity and mortality. • To study the core socio-demographic information to potentially identify groups at higher risk of complications • Build a more informative dataset thanks to data mining of public databases This study will enable us to understand the impact of COVID-19 on pregnant women and their offspring in Belgium, and in the world via the contribution to the INOSS multicenter study. It might allow us to define an at-risk population among pregnant women and their offspring, and tailor epidemiologic and clinical interventions for these more vulnerable individuals."
Funding: Pending (FNRS)
Publication References: "1. The International Network of Obstetric Survey Systems study of uterine rupture: a...

Read more: Caroline Daelemans, Professor

ULB
" French-speaking international network: PoSoc 19. The network will analyze the political and legal recompositions of states and political regimes in the face of Covid 19. Already 170 colleagues from 45 countries on 5 continents participate in this network. "
Funding: Seeking funding
Contact: Jean-Michel De Waele Professeur de science politique CEVIPOL Université Libre de Bruxelles. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Comment: French-speaking international network: PoSoc 19. The network will analyze the political and legal recompositions of states and political regimes in the face of Covid 19. Already 170 colleagues from 45 countries on 5 continents participate in this network. Six workshops: 1 - Multi-level (national, regional and local) anti-pandemic and anti-crisis policies, in their political, economic and social dimensions, taking into account public and private actors and the consequences of these policies (freedoms, public finances, reorganisation of work and services, etc.). 2 -...

Read more: Jean-Michel De Waele, Professor

ULB - FNRS - Royal Academy of Sciences, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium
" The "Data against Corona task force" aim is to analyze data on the spread of the virus, making use of telecom- and epidemiological data. Based on this information the task force's goal is to: Take action in containing the rising number of infections, leveling the peak amount, and thus limiting the number of patients in hospital at the same time; Take measures to lower the infection curve; Provide a detailed assessment of the measures taken to contain the contagion. The role of the Ethics committee is to review the output of the "Data Against Corona" taskforce and to provide an ethical advice to the Steering Committee. The committee will highlight potential ethical conflicts arising from decisions taken based on the collection and analysis of the telecom and health data, such as : - Is the collection of information aligned with the concept of data protection ? - Are there potential & actual biases in the...

Read more: Jean-Noël Missa, Professor, FNRS Research Director

UMONS, ULB, Sciensano
" A new type of biosensor to characterize in details antibodies specific for antigens of SARS-COV-2. "
Funding: UMONS
Publication References: E. Gosselin, O Denis, A. Van Cauwenberge, J. Conti, JJ Vanden Eynde, K. Huygen, J. De Coninck, "Quantification of the trichothecene Verrucarin-A in environmental samples using an antibody-based spectroscopic biosensor", Sensor Actuat. B.-Chem., 2012, 166-167, 549-555.
Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

UCLouvain, UNamur
" The measures that governments have taken in response to the current COVID-19 outbreak differ substantially across countries. On the initiative of the Erasmus University Rotterdam, researchers of twelve universities worldwide have been working together to study the response to these measures. Data has been collected of the self-reported behaviour and perception of students related to the COVID-19 measures. How important do they think the Covid-19 measures are, how serious do they take the measures, and to which degree do they follow or violate them? Furthermore, the relationship with perceived risk of COVID-19 and several personality traits will be studied. The success of the approach of governments is entirely dependent on the compliance of the population with the prescribed measures. Therefore, gaining insight in the determinants of compliance is important. The study will improve our understanding of behaviour in times of crisis and advance the development of...

Read more: Marcus Dejardin, Professor - Frank Janssen, Professor

ULiège + Mesylab SRL
" How to securely return to normalcy at work? All countries consider to lift the lockdown, but few have executed it. There are no "best practices". Questions abound: What are the risks? What are the most effective measures? Will communities follow? What are the consequences for our individual lives? Who decides how to proceed? AIMS OF THE PROJECT GIGA aims at defining the best possible approach to opening up again by involving its members. Your opinion matters. GIGA has sought assistance in conducting this real time experiment from political scientists, philosophers, lawyers and medical doctors. "
Contact: This project is supported by the GIGA office and is coordinated by the ad hoc Advisory Committee made up of expert political scientists in participation (Dr. F. Thoreau, Dr. C. Parotte, Dr. P. Delvenne, Dr. C. Fallon), a political and ethicist philosopher (Dr. F. Caeymaex) and doctors (Dr. Y. Beguin, Dr. G. Darcis).

ULiège. ULiège Library
" In order to highlight the Open Access research published by our scholars, ULiège Library has launched a harvesting project (called "Mosa") of existing Belgian and Luxembourgish Open Access publication platforms and academic bibliographies. Mosa aims to act as an aggregator of institutional and federal publication platforms. At this time, Mosa harvests more than 10 repositories from KCE, KU Leuven, UAntwerp, UCLouvain, UGent, ULB, ULiège, UNamur, Unilu, and USL-B on a daily basis. To get integrated into Mosa, harvested records need to have at least one full text in open access or in restricted access. Mosa contains more than 590,000 records (327,000 research articles, 66,000 proceedings, 47,000 dissertations, 40,000 lectures and posters, 35,000 book chapters…). A dedicated search slot containing only Belgian and Luxembourgish research publications and communications around COVID-19 has been created within Mosa. "
Contact: Paul Thirion &lt...

Read more: Paul Thirion, Chief Librarian - François Renaville, Head of Library Systems

ULiège, CHU - Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium
" Nous faisons face à une pandémie d'infection COVID-19. Ce virus pathogène est source de complications pulmonaires aggravant fortement le pronostic de nos patients. De nos jours, tant les mécanismes physiopathologiques en cause que les marqueurs de sévérité de l'atteinte restent indéterminés. Il apparaît donc comme urgent de pouvoir identifier des marqueurs diagnostiques, pronostiques et prédictifs pour nos patients. Dans ce contexte, plusieurs voies rapidement explorables nous apparaissent comme critiques. Le but final de cette étude est de contribuer à une prise en charge plus ciblée des patients porteurs d'une infection au SRAS-Cov-2. "
Funding: Fonds Léon Frederic
Publication References: Dix publications représentatives : 1) Prevention of murine radiogenic thymic lymphomas by tumor necrosis factor or by marrow grafting. HUMBLET C, GREIMERS R, DELVENNE P, DEMAN J, BONIVER J, DEFRESNE MP. J Natl Cancer Inst 88 (1996), 824-831. IF...

Read more: Ph. DELVENNE, FNRS Research Director / Chef de service Anatomie pathologique - J. GUIOT, Chef de...

UCLouvain and ULB
" Research project on the impact of covid-19 on the private and professional life of nurses in Belgium. Data were collected on more than 4,500 nurses (in hospital, nursing home, home care, etc.) on their working conditions during the covid-19 epidemic as well as on burnout with Maslach Burnout Inventory and on the job strain (psychological demands and decision latitude) with the Karasek model. "
Funding: None
Publication References: https://www.lalibre.be/dernieres-depeches/belga/coronavirus-plus-de-six-infirmiers-sur-dix-risquent-l-epuisement-professionnel-selon-une-enquete-5eaca25c7b50a67d2ef882a5
Contact: Pierre Smith, nurse and PhD Student in public health, Institute of Health and Society, UCLouvain: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Arnaud Bruyneel, nurse and PhD Student in public health at ULB, SIZ Nursing: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

UMONS - Faculty of Engineering - ILIA and ISIA Departments
" This study allows an early Covid-19 diagnosis by using AI and explainable based classification and detection methods applied to CT and X-ray datasets. Many datasets form several hospitals in Belgium are used. The goal of the project is to use AI based methods to identify Covid-19 patients. Explainable AI methods are used to provide efficient interpretation and visualization tools for the classification and detection results obtained. The second goal of this project is to create a benchmark dataset composed of chest CT and X-ray database related to Covid-19 disease. To this aim, a semi-automatic annotation tool is developed in order to allow fast image annotation by radiologists. - Explainable artificial intelligence applied to Covid-19 detection based on CT and X-ray images. - Annotation tool development to build a benchmark database. "
Funding: University of Mons - Faculty of Engineering
Publication References: ...

Read more: Saïd Mahmoudi, Professor - Thierry Dutoit, Full Professor - Sidi Ahmed Mahmoudi, Professor- Xavier...

GIGA-Institute, ULiège - FNRS - Royal Academy of Sciences, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium
" The main objective of our research program is the identification of human genetic factors impacting the COVID19 pandemic. Within the COVID-19 host genetics initiative (https://www.covid19hg.org/), we will establish a shared set of phenotypes to be combined with genomic data for standard GWAS and further meta-analysis. Field of expertise of our laboratory : genetics, genomics, bioinformatics, immune-response related diseases. In addition, the GIGA Institute is an interdisciplinary research institute from the ULiege devoted to academic excellence in the biomedical sciences to foster ground-breaking medical innovation. It comprises 583 members attached to six faculties (Medicine, Science, Veterinary Medicine, Engineering, Agbiotech, Psychology) that are organized in four disease-based (neuroscience, cancer, infection-inflammation-immunity, cardiovascular) and two method-based thematic units...

Read more: Souad Rahmouni, Doctor