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WED 2023: engineers for a sustainable future
The ParisTech network is joining in the celebration of World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development by highlighting the commitment of its researchers, teachers and students in engineering for a sustainable future.
The day was first organised in 2019 at the 40th UNESCO General Conference. It has been celebrated every March 4 since 2020 to raise public and governmental awareness of the importance of engineering in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations.
For this occasion, ParisTech has chosen to highlight seven initiatives led by the staff, students or alumni of the network's schools to show how engineering can play a key role in the development of sustainable solutions at different levels. The aim of this action is to inspire young people by showing them the exciting opportunities and challenges offered by engineering for sustainable development. By sharing the inspiring stories, the ParisTech network hopes to encourage future generations to choose careers in this field.
AgroParisTech
Back from a four-month scientific expedition on a sailboat cruising the Spanish, French and Sardinian coasts, Clara Dubel-Jam, President and Communication Manager of the SEA Plastics 2022 crew, tells us more about this student association founded in 2016 by AgroParisTech students. Its objective is to conduct annual expeditions in the Mediterranean Sea to, on the one hand, study microplastic pollution by collecting data on site and, on the other hand, to protect marine biodiversity, particularly through awareness-raising actions. An expedition lasting several months takes place every year with a new crew composed of motivated students!
Arts et Métiers
Tom Bauer, a senior lecturer at Arts et Métiers, commits personally and professionally to the environment. Since September 2021, Tom has been a senior lecturer in environmental assessment and end-of-use and end-of-life strategy for products on the Chambéry campus.
Chimie ParisTech - PSL
Christophe Thomas - Professor at Chimie ParisTech - PSL and head of the Organometallic Chemistry and Polymerization Catalysis (COCP) team at IRCP - explains how engineering and technology are at the heart of modern life and sustainable development. The engineer is the one who knows the research being done, who knows how to anticipate and develop technologies necessary for sustainable development.
École des Ponts ParisTech
Engineer and civil servant (Corps des Ponts, des Eaux et des Fôrets), responsible for the OCAPI research & action programme. Established in 2014, OCAPI is the first French academic research program on the valorization of human urine as fertilizer. Fabien Esculier and his team are studying and supporting the emergence of separation systems at the source of urine and fecal matter for their recovery. He conducts his research at Leesu laboratory (Water, Environment and Urban Systems) and at Métis laboratory (environmental media, transfers and interactionq in hydrosystems and soils).
ESPCI Paris – PSL
Annie Colin, Professor at CBI lab, is in charge of sustainable development at ESPCI Paris – PSL since 2020. She has to structure and coordinate all school’s actions in this domain.
Institut d’Optique
Holders of a PhD in physics and engineers for education, Guillaume Pakula & Clément Raynaud, two alumni of the Institute d’Optique, founded the « Projet Celsius » in 2020. The goal is to spread scientific consensus in a simple, fun and audible way. Today, the Projet Celsius has offices in Paris and Marseille and brings its expertise in carbon footprinting. The pedagogical methods of its experts make them the reference actors in higher education as well as for companies willing to initiate a sustainable, enlightened and human change.
Mines Paris - PSL
Nadia Maïzi, Director of the Centre de Mathématiques Appliquées Mines Paris - PSL and of the Chair Prospective Modeling for Sustainable Development, and Director of the TTI.5 Institute, co-authored the 6th IPCC report. This report, which intends to enlighten governments on the situation related to climate change, confirms the impact of human activities on greenhouse gas emissions. It includes a section on solutions indicating how to reduce these emissions to limit global warming in the years to come. Present at the COP 27 which took place in 2022 in Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt), Nadia Maïzi granted an interview to i24news.