The Durabilis Award, introduced in March 2007, is given to student projects that explore issues related to sustainability. The competition is open to all Bachelor’s and Master’s students at EPFL and UNIL. Candidates must have obtained a minimum grade of 5 out of 6 to compete, and both individual and group projects are accepted. The Durabilis Award is supported by EPFL’s Vice Presidency for Responsible Transformation and by the Rectorate of the University of Lausanne.
The UNIL-EPFL Durabilis Award grants prizes of a combined total of maximum CHF 10,000 each year. There are two categories of prizes:
- Master’s thesis or Master’s project: CHF 1,000 per winner
- Other Bachelor’s or Master’s work: CHF 500 per winner
The deadline for submitting applications is 31st of August each year, and the awards ceremony takes place in December.
Documents to read and submit
5 Master’s theses awarded on adaptation to climate change
- Alexis Barrou (EPFL): Life Cycle Analysis & Sustainable Technological Roadmap for Photovoltaic Panels: Case Study with the Silicon Heterojunction Technology (PDF, 440 KB)
- Jean-André Davy-Guidicelli (EPFL): The role of Biochar and Peatlands in Reaching Swiss Net Zero (PDF, 633 KB)
- Loé Maire (EPFL): Adaptation des villes au changement climatique : un campus EPFL bleu-vert (PDF, 43 KB)
- Sophie Desbiolles (UNIL): La mise en récit de la transition écologique et le nouveau genre de la transi-fi (PDF, 68 KB)
- Julie Grieshaber (UNIL): L’intégration d’une démarche de durabilité dans une institutionculturelle : rôles, motivations et barrières. Etude du théâtre Vidy-Lausanne (PDF, 169 KB)
Three climate-related projects win the 2021 Durabilis Awards
- Julie Reznicek: Développement d’une stratégie de compensation des émissions carbone de l’EPFL (PDF, 85 KB)
- Alexis Barrou, Blanche Dalimier et Edouard Cattin: Analyse de l’empreinte carbone d’un·e résident·e Suisse et de ses actions (PDF, 1.8 MB)
- Quentin Chiche et Marine Manche: Développement d’un outil de gestion pour monitorer la durabilité d’un système urbain : le cas de la Ville de Fribourg (PDF, 1.4 MB)
The Durabilis Award is awarded to four Master students (link in French)
- Quentin Arnoux: Écouter l’Anthropocène. Pour une écologie et une éthique des paysages sonores (PDF, 636 KB)
- Tijana Ivanović: Life cycle assessment of bio-based synthetic fibers: the case of polyester substitutes (PDF, 179 KB)
- Anouchka Bagnoud et Johann Recordon: Le Sikkim et la révolution biologique (PDF, 128 KB)
The Durabilis competition rewards work on off-grid housing (link in French)
- Cyril Gros: Origines idéologiques et implications écologiques des choix de vie Off the Grid (PDF, 207 KB)