The EPFL community, and many students in particular, are mobilized within a veritable teeming of associations working for environmental and social sustainability. The Vice-Presidency for Responsible Transformation (VPT) can provide a small amount of financial support to associations wishing to carry out innovative projects linked to the themes of sustainability and equality/diversity.
Support for student projects
A call for projects is launched twice a year at the beginning of each semester: any association or project in need of funding linked to environmental or social sustainability can apply.
→ For any questions, please contact [email protected]
Projects supported in autumn 2024
Financing the purchase of products for the Spice League and for vegetarian cooking classes. The Spice League is a sustainable student cooking competition on March 22 and 23, 2025. The cooking classes are open to all students and free of charge.
180°C is a vegetarian cooking association launched by UNIL-EPFL students.
Financial contribution towards the purchase of 3,000 reusable glass caps.
Balélec is Europe’s largest open-air student festival.
Financial contribution to the organization of an advent calendar with a question on ecology each day.
IDM is an EPFL-UNIL association encouraging students to become responsible engineers for a fair and sustainable world.
Financial contribution to the organization of scientific sailing expeditions with low-tech measuring equipment on Lake Geneva.
Sailowtech is a student project promoting sailing, exploration and awareness of marine biodiversity, using low-tech technologies.
Financing of a series of two interactive workshops events to equip young scientists and engineers with the skills needed to effectively communicate policy recommendations to decision makers for a sustainable and equitable future.
Science Policy Action Network aims to provide a community for early-career scientists to bridge the gap between science and policy
Financial participation for the purchase of menstrual panties and cups, as well as for conferences and workshops, and materials for stands of the Menstruation Week. The Menstruation Week aims to raise awareness of menstruation and combat menstrual precariousness in a sustainable way.
Polyquity is an association dedicated to raising awareness, promoting exchange, cooperation and action in favor of gender equality.
Financing of conferences, discussions, visits and various activities of the Sustainability Week. The Sustainability Week takes place every year in March on the EPFL and UNIL campuses.
UniPoly is the association for ecological solidarity on the UNIL-EPFL campuses.
Funding for a conference on sustainable finance for Swiss university students.
Zero Emission Group is an association working on projects for a zero-carbon society to stay within planetary limits.
Projects supported in spring 2024
Purchase of voting ashtrays to reduce waste on the Festival site. This is a test strategy that will be made available to other festivals on campus.
Balélec is Europe’s biggest open-air student festival.
Amnesty trained the committee to use intervention strategies in situations of sexist and sexual harassment in the public space.
Challenge is a committee of AGEPoly, the general student association at EPFL, which organises an annual ski competition between EPFL and ETHZ.
Funding for the EPFL team to travel by train for the competition.
EPFL Carbon Team organises a student carbon capture competition.
Financing the sustainable prizes for their photo competition, the theme of which is the impact of humans on living things. The exhibition runs all week from 29 April 2024 to Hall SG.
IDM is an EPFL-UNIL association encouraging students to become responsible engineers for a fair and sustainable world.
Le Club Photo is an association promoting photographic art on campus.
Financing second-hand video material to reach a wider audience on sustainability and equality issues.
Le Canard Huppé is the participatory newspaper of the UniPoly association.
Offering free training courses on LGBTIQ+ issues to students on campus.
PlanQueer is an association of queer people on the EPFL-UNIL campuses.
Week on menstruation and related issues, with stands, workshops, lectures and documentaries to inform students on campus.
Polyquity is an association whose aim is to raise awareness, promote exchange, cooperation and action in favour of gender equality.
Helping to fund the 2024 summer expedition.
Sailowtech is a student project promoting sailing, exploration and awareness of marine biodiversity, using low-tech technologies.
Staff training to enable them to respond to any problems that may arise, in addition to the preventive strategies already in place.
Sysmic is a music festival taking place on November 1st 2024 in the EPFL buildings.
General and campus-related knowledge quiz on energy.
TriviaPoly organises quiz competitions on a range of subjects to help EPFL and UNIL students improve their general knowledge.
Plant Based Universities : Campaign to facilitate the sustainable food transition at EPFL.
UniPoly is the association for a united ecology on the UNIL-EPFL campuses.
Involvement of members in a textile fresco to learn more about pollution issues and present these frescoes at their events.
UP Fashionlab organises creative sewing, crochet and customisation workshops, as well as Fix’n replace, to pass on practical knowledge on how to recycle clothes and offer alternatives to the highly polluting textile industry.
Support for a poster campaign on the consequences of global warming and possible actions to contain it.
Zero Emission Group is an association working on projects for a zero carbon society to stay within the planetary boundaries.
Projects supported in autumn 2023
Spice League: a local, seasonal and zero-waste cooking competition for students taking place in March 2024.
180°C is a cookery association set up by UNIL-EPFL students.
Reducing the textile consumption of events by replacing annual T-shirts and jumpers with a single staff uniform badge.
AGEPoly is EPFL’s general student association.
Wax upgrading for candles and embossed wax sheets.
UniPoly – Apiculture has beehives and aims to raise awareness among students and staff on campus of the problem of bee colony collapse disorder and to familiarise them with beekeeping.
Increasingly include sustainability and prevention measures in the festive environment.
Artiphys is a festival organised by students every year in March.
Second edition of the Canard Huppé, UniPoly’s participatory newspaper.
Conférence “Meat the future: A discussion about alternatives to the challenges of animal agriculture.”
Effective altruism is a project that aims to find the best ways to help others, and put them into practice.
Sentience weeks offer films and conferences on the theme of animal rights.
Etudiant·e·s Véganes et Animalistes promotes a vegan lifestyle on campus.
Ecological advent calendar.
IDM is an EPFL-UNIL association encouraging students to become responsible engineers for a fair and sustainable world.
Meubléco market
Meubléco organises a furniture market on the UNIL-EPFL campus, raising awareness of the need to buy second-hand furniture.
MUSICAL concert with narration by PLUME and other artistic associations, in an inclusive context.
Plume is EPFL’s literary association, with a strong sustainability focus.
Menstruation solidarity: distribution of free vouchers for menstruation products.
Polyquity is an association whose aim is to raise awareness, promote exchange, cooperation and action in favour of gender equality.
Alpine Lake Expedition – promoting frugal and low-tech science and raising awareness of the need to protect aquatic environments.
Sailowtech is a student project promoting sailing, exploration and awareness of marine biodiversity.
La Sustainability week hosts conferences, round tables, film screenings and other activities from 4 to 8 March 2024.
Unipoly is the association for a united ecology on the UNIL-EPFL campuses.
Drawing up a preventive plan for the event.
Student’s games are a sporting event held in April on the UNIL-EPFL campuses.
General and campus-related knowledge quiz about sustainability.
TriviaPoly organizes quiz competitions on a mix of topics and the bolstering of general knowledge amongst EPFL and UNIL students.
Purchase of repair equipment.
UP Fashionlab organises creative sewing, crochet and customisation workshops, as well as Fix’n replace, to pass on practical knowledge on how to recycle clothes and offer alternatives to the highly polluting textile industry.
Creation of a low-cost, open-source integrated machine to enable as many people as possible to recycle their waste.
EPFL Xplore is a student-led space robotics project from EPFL, part of the MAKE initiative in Switzerland.
Energy and ressources forum III hosts a conference day on March 18th, 2024, about the sustainable transition.
Zero Emission Group is an association working on projects for a zero carbon society to stay within the planetary boundaries.
Projects supported in spring 2023
Support for the 2nd edition of their cookbook with a focus on vegetarian dishes.
180° is a cooking association launched by UNIL-EPFL students.
Contribution towards the purchase of reusable drinkwatches.
AGEPoly is EPFL’s general student association.
Support for training in the prevention of sexist and sexual violence and invitations to local artists.
Artiphys is a festival organized by students every year in March.
Support for its Vert-Tigo expedition.
Genorobotics is a MAKE project aimed at improving techniques for identifying and monitoring biodiversity.
Sponsorship of its “butterfly effect” photo contest promoting sustainability issues.
IDM is an EPFL-UNIL association encouraging students to become responsible engineers for a fair and sustainable world.
Support for their poetry competition “Rêver dans un monde qui brûle”.
Plume is EPFL’s literary association, with a strong sustainability component in its concerns.
Support for their training needs.
RebuiLT is a materials reuse project to build a low-tech community pavilion in Ecublens.
Sponsoring an event to raise awareness of ocean preservation.
Sailowtech is a student project promoting sailing, exploration and awareness of marine biodiversity.
Sponsorship to make the event more inclusive through preventive measures and improve sustainability aspects (food, public transport, etc.).
The Student’s games are a sporting event held in April on the UNIL-EPFL campuses.
Support for the implementation of respect and sustainability measures (training, safe zone, vegetarian meals, etc.).
Sysmic is a music festival held every year in October.
Support for the Sustainability Week’s conferences, roundtables and film screenings.
Unipoly is the association for ecology and solidarity on the UNIL-EPFL campuses.
Financing organic and farmers’ seeds.
The Unipoly garden offers permaculture activities and shared practices on plots of land close to the Génopode (UNIL).
A selection of projects supported by Act for Change LAB
Act for Change LAB was an EPFL initiative supported by U-Change, a program encouraging sustainable development at Swiss universities. From 2018 to 2022, Act for Change LAB supported members of the EPFL community in promoting sustainable projects on campus. Here is a selection:
Cargo Bike Band is a touring music group traveling on cargo bikes. Anyone can join them to play at their year-round concerts.
Le Castor Freegan is a hub of the Unipoly association preparing vegan meals from unsold food to combat food waste.
Caulys is an automated, hydroponically-powered urban farming space, with the idea of approaching an “agriculture” of the future. Today, it’s a business.
CHEAP is a project designed to offer a second life to wooden pallets and objects to make furniture in a sustainable way.
In 2020, Zero Emission Group presented the “Carbon accounting” project in the context of Act for Change Lab. Eight students were trained by an external company to carry out CO2 assessments of the Cell and Membrane Biology Laboratory and the Time and Segmentation Dynamics Laboratory. The external company also validated the students’ results. The project is now continuing through the development of a CO2 emissions calculator for research activities by the SV School.
→ See the executive summary
→ The full report is also available
D’izi Fruits is a giant fruit press run by the mechanical force of a pedal-powered merry-go-round.
Ecolens is a mobile application project designed to promote sustainable eating on campus through gamification. Today, it is a hub of Unipoly.
Epilibre is a bulk grocery store on campus. Today, it is a hub of Unipoly.
L’Espace-Transitions is a team of staff and students offering a space for exchange in the face of social and environmental emergency, and running workshops on themes linked to emotions and associative commitment. It is an integral part of UNIL’s Centre de Compétences en Durabilité.
Meubléco is a project that organizes bartering of second-hand furniture. Today, it is a hub of Unipoly.
La Pergola is a multifunctional sharing space on campus.
UP Fashion Lab is a thrift shop selling second-hand clothes at low prices at the Vortex. Today, it is a hub of Unipoly.
Verti’SKIL is a project designed to (re)-discover greenery on campus in collaboration with SKIL. The project provided an open-air laboratory for testing the benefits of the green wall.