Serge Schmitz (PhD in sciences, 1999) is a geographer and professor at the University of Liège (Belgium). In 2007, he founded the Laboratory for the Analysis of Place, Landscape and European Countryside (www.laplec.uliege.be) to compare different realities and practices according to the geographical context. He was co-chair of the International Geographical Union Commission on the Sustainability of Rural Systems. He coordinated the inter-university tourism and recreation management certificate in Marche-en-Famenne (Belgium) for ten years.