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

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''?

The Environment, Earth Science, Population Science and the Science of Organisms

Preserving biodiversity and fighting the negative effects of climate change are two of the century's major challenges. Free and independent scientific research is essential for tackling the problems and coming up with the right solutions: the critical spirit characteristic of science is concerned with the societal implications, though needs to remain independent of political and business interests. At the ULB, multidisciplinary teams are working on paleoclimatology issues via the study of old polar ice, on the processes at work in the atmosphere using satellite data, on exchanges between the atmosphere, land cover and oceans, and on the evolution of the Earth and volcanology. Research into living organisms covers a wide spectrum, ranging from fundamental research in theoretical biology, the molecular biology of plants and animals (including the emergence of living organisms), up to field studies in various regions of the world, looking at such things as insect communities, marine biology, the ecosystem of tropical mangroves, plant biodiversity in Central Africa (with exceptionally well-stocked collections), or the numerous forms of interaction between human beings and the environment. One of the outstanding ULB names in this field is Paul Duvigneaud (1913-1991), an internationally recognised figure in the field of ecology and in particular the urban environment from the 1950's onwards. The research conducted at the ULB often leads to very concrete projects, looking for instance at the phytoremediation of soils, understanding the migration of plants and animals associated with climate change and human activity, the spread of avian Influenza, or aquaculture in a tropical environment.