Conference Highlights 

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• Julia Cagé is a professor of Economics at Sciences Po Paris, and a Research Fellow at the Center for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), where she leads the Research and Policy Network on “Media Plurality”. She is also a Research Fellow at the CESifo Research Network.
  Her research focuses on media economics, political participation, and political attitudes. She received the Best Young French Economist Award in 2023 and the Yrjö Jahnsson Award in 2025.
• Tabea Bucher-Koenen is a professor of Finance and Chair of Financial Markets at the University of Mannheim. She also serves as the Head of the research area "Pensions and Sustainable Financial Markets" at the Leibniz Center for European Economic Research (ZEW).
  Her main research interests are centered on household finance, the economic consequences of demographic change, and the impact of long-term financial decisions on private and public pension systems. 

Thomas Demeester is an associate professor at IDLab (Ghent University, imec), where he leads research on machine learning, NLP, and AI applications in health. Initially focused on natural language processing, he has expanded his work to energy-based models, neurosymbolic AI and diffusion models among others. He also co-leads the Text-to-Knowledge cluster and has contributed to advances in conversational AI and language model alignment.

HEC Liège

Address: Rue Louvrex, 14 - 4000 Liège
GPS coordinates: 5° 33' 47''/E - 50° 38' 13''/N

Access parking lot: Rue Saint-Gilles, 201 - 4000 Liège
GPS coordinates: 5° 33' 42''/E - 50° 38' 15''/N

HEC Liège is located 10 minutes from the city center.

Getting there on foot: 

Access via the main entrance (rue Louvrex) or via the parking lot (rue Saint-Gilles).

By public transport:

Our school is located in the center of Liège, so there are plenty of options nearby.

By train: Near Liège Carré station (500m) or Liège Guillemins station (1.5km).
For information on ticket prices and timetables: www.belgiantrain.be or download the SNCB application

By bus: Near the Liège HEC or Liège Rue Darchis (Line 21) stops.
To find out more about season ticket prices, lines and timetables:http://www.letec.be or download the LE TEC app

Coming by car:

Parking at HEC Liège is often full. The best option is to park in a pay parking lot (Liège Carré Jonfosse, 350m away, or the Guillemins station parking lot, open 24 hours a day).

https://www.campus.uliege.be/cms/c_9316881/en/liege-city-centre-selection-of-hotels

The first edition of the HYRCE conference brought together PhD students in Economics from Belgium and Europe for a full-day of lively academic exchange at HEC Liège.

The event featured three distinguished keynote speakers: Yann Bramoullé (Aix-Marseille School of Economics) specialising in social and economic networks, Pierre Pestieau (HEC Liège) expert in public economics and welfare-state sustainability; and Jérôme Schoenmaeckers (HEC Liège) whose work focuses on the economics of long-term care and dependency.

The programme included 20-minute paper presentations with discussants, a poster session, and informal networking with a social program. Through these activities the conference provided a platform for early-career researchers to present their work, receive feedback, engage in topical discussions, and build connections for future collaboration.

Program - 2025