The first EPFL Symposium on Research & Sustainability was held on May 16, 2024, highlighting the diversity and complementarity of scientific and engineering approaches.
Programme
Welcome notes and introductory remarks
by Prof. Gisou van der Goot, Vice President for Responsible Transformation and Prof. Anna Fontcuberta i Morral, Associate Vice President for Centers and Platforms
SESSION I: Invited contributions
Chairperson: Prof. Gisou van der Goot
- Climate Crisis: The urgent need for net-zero CO2 by Prof. Sonia Seneviratne, ETH Zurich, Deputy head of Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science
- The Politics of Sustainability by Prof. Michaël Aklin, EPFL Chair of Policy and Sustainability
- Lighthouse programmes for sustainability research: Why they are needed by Prof. Peter Edwards, SCNAT Swiss Academy of Sciences
SESSION II: School-wide panorama of research projects on Sustainability
Chairperson: Prof. Rüdiger Urbanke
- Multi-Disciplinary Solutions for Sustainable Computing in the Digital Era by Prof. David Atienza, Ecocloud Center & Embedded Systems Lab
- Fungal Factories for Materials by Prof. Tiffany Abitbol, Sustainable Materials Lab
- Solar-driven fuel production using semiconductor photocatalysts by Prof. Kevin Sivula, Laboratory for Molecular Engineering of Optoelectronics Nanomaterials
- Resisting climate change: Using seascape genomics to identify environmentally robust coral genotypes by Dr Ana Maria Jaksic, Experimental Evolutionary Neurobiology Lab
- Aerosol-cloud-climate interactions research by Prof. Athanasios Nenes, Laboratory of atmospheric processes and their impacts
- Presentation of 2 MAKE projects:
- rebuiLT – Eco-construction, reuse and integration of low-techs in urban areas by Catherine Juneau, AR-MA4 et Camille Rieux, AR-MA2
- GenoRobotics – Engineering tools to counter the biodiversity extinction by Maximilian Wettstein, SV-MA4
SESSION III: Selected EPFL Centers
Chairperson: Prof. Katrin Beyer
- eSpace by Emmanuelle David >> presentation
- Energy Center by Dr Yasmine Calisesi >> presentation
- Enterprise 4 Society by Dr Maria Paula Cacault >> presentation
- EssentialTech by Dr Klaus Schönenberger >> presentation
- Center for Worldwide Sustainable Construction by Dr Anne Dekeukelaere >> presentation
- CLIMACT by Dr Nicolas Tétreault >> presentation
SESSION IV: Solutions4Sustainability – Projects I
Chairperson: Prof. Ambrogio Fasoli
- SusEcoCUSS – Energy-efficient carbon capture, usage & storage for sustainable and circular economy by Prof. Kumar Agrawal, Gaznat Chair for Advanced Separations
- Heating Bits – Renewable-supplied data centers integrating heating and cooling by Prof. Mario Paolone, Distributed Electrical Systems Lab
SESSION V: Solutions4Sustainability – Projects II
Chairperson: Prof. Ambrogio Fasoli
- CO2 Monitoring & Reduction in Food Systems Through Circular Economy by Prof. Josie Hughes, Computational Robot Design & Fabrication Lab (via videoconference) >> presentation
- MegaBites – Measuring, modeling, and improving the sustainability of EPFL’s food system by Dr Vincent Moreau, Data Science Lab >> presentation
- New Plasma-based Sterilization Methods by Prof. Ivo Furno, Basic Plasma Physics >> presentation
- Solar steam – for sterilization and conditioning of laboratory animal facilities by Dr Anna Krammer, Scientist, ENAC >>
- H2elios Neurocam by Prof. Christophe Moser, Lab. of Applied Photonics Devices >>
SESSION VI: Invited contribution
Chairperson: Prof. Anna Fontcuberta i Morral
- Science meets the major challenges of sustainability and the climate crisis by Prof. Harry Atwater, Caltech (via videoconference)