ULB Research ⤶	Description of the Unit	Projects of the Unit	Composition
Collaborations of the Unit	Protected technologies	Publications	Skills

Justice, Citizenship and Democracy

Justice and citizenship have a major role to play in contemporary society: how to fairly (re)distribute wealth? What is national identity based on? How can democracy and human rights be defended? Are we at risk of being governed by judges? At the ULB, jurists, criminologists, philosophers, sociologists, political scientists and historians are looking at these issues from different angles, ranging from political philosophy and legal theory to the study of institutions in Belgium and abroad. The judiciary and the prison system are also an integral part of the study of democracy, being specifically addressed by several ULB research teams. Electoral systems constitute a special focus, part of a broader research focus on politics. Changes in democracy and social relations and the democratic transition in Eastern European and Mediterranean countries represent further key focuses of the work conducted by our research teams. S imilarly, ULB researchers are conducting in-depth analyses of issues involving gender and minorities. Finally, particular attention is accorded to communication, new information technologies, social networking, and organisation and management of digital information in knowledge sharing and data transfer, many of which have the potential to help construct new forms of citizenship and democracy.

Social Challenges and Sustainable Development

Jobs, migration, integration, work-related burn-out, same-sex marriages, patchwork families, surrogate mothers, the moralisation of capitalism, the protection of minorities, urban mobility, social networks, access to education and healthcare, etc. - the challenges facing our societies are countless and the subject of a lot of work done by our research teams. Over the years, the ULB has built up considerable expertise in the fields of integration and discrimination, with our researchers trying, for example, to better understand - in view of combating them - the causes and mechanisms of discrimination, whether at school or at work, whether ethnic, social, religious or sexual. There are special focuses on schools, work, finding a job, ergonomics, stress management, as well as the evolution of certain occupations and skills in the face of technological developments. These efforts also go hand-in-hand with research in the teaching field. This research includes more specific studies into issues facing cities, and Brussels in particular, and covers such questions as demographics, urban redevelopment, mobility, police and security, public health, urban architecture, etc. A number of multidisciplinary studies similarly address issues involving gender and minorities - studies which also involve questioning universities themselves and the practices exercised there. Sustainable development and, more generally, environmental issues, are the subject of specific research at the ULB, often conducted in a multidisciplinary spirit linking up humanities with other more ''technical'' disciplines. Finally, our research teams are working on a series of ethical and bioethical issues: how to accompany the dying? Should research on embryos be allowed? Do values have a place in a company? How should we go about managing risks (health and nuclear risks, terrorism, etc.) and applying the ''principle of precaution''?