Lyon 1 organises the first of two Arqus R&I bridging workshops on green and digital transitions

The Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 organises the first of two Arqus R&I bridging workshops on “Bridging the Green and Digital Transitions”. Academics and researchers from all career stages and all disciplines coming from the Arqus universities will participate. The 2-day conference will take place on 28th and 29th March in Lyon. A second workshop will be organised by Vilnius University on 22nd and 23rd May.

Objective and topics of the workshop

The digital transition influences all dimensions of live, from the people’s home to their environment and work. Meanwhile, climate change is the most pressing global societal challenge of the 21st century, threatening all aspects of human life and life-supporting natural systems. Therefore, it is urgently needed a green transition towards a decarbonized society and an environmentally friendly economy. While ideally the green and digital transitions reinforce each other, they sometimes come into conflict.

Digitalisation uses electricity, and many digital technologies are resource-intensive and create waste. Thus, both transitions need to be proactively and interactively managed as well as supported by research. This calls not only for further research in the natural sciences and engineering, but also in the social sciences and humanities (SSH).

Thus, the objective of this event is not only to foster collaborations between researchers from the Arqus universities, but also from different research fields such as natural sciences and engineering, SSH or computer science. The aim is to bridge insights from different disciplines and connect research on the green and digital transitions in a mutually beneficial manner. Topics shall be open to input from different viewpoints and backgrounds, combining expertise and offering interdisciplinary exchange on selected focus topics.

Examples of addressed topics are presented below:

• Urban Transition: Mobility and transport, urban mitigation and renewable energy, sustainable building and green construction technology, power management and smart appliances, green office and living spaces.

• Management and storage of resources: Protection of natural resources, land management and carbon storage, decarbonisation and energy transition, waste reduction and e-based circular economy.

• Environmental Health: Monitoring and remote sensing of climate change impacts on health, air quality and the need for big data.

• Modelling for Sustainability: Creation of transition pathways, systems-oriented approaches, pollution/traffic/decarbonisation modelling.

• Sustainable Computing: Frugal artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure studies, obsolescence, e-waste, de-digitalisation.

• Civic engagement: Online public participation to ecological debate/actions, digital platforms and social networks, authority and democratic processes, transdisciplinary approaches and participatory design.

Organisation of the workshop

The workshop will be organised in group sessions so as to give participants the opportunity to share interests and goals, exchange ideas and identify common interests that might lead to future joint research activities or enrich existing ones.

As the goals of this event are to develop cooperation between the Arqus European University Alliance members with a particular emphasis on transdisciplinary approaches, plan future consortia for EU funded calls for projects and develop student exchanges (lecture semesters, research internships, PhD co-directions, etc.), presentations will be kept to a minimum, focusing on communication and exchange instead.

Funding, registration process and further information

Limited funding is available for travel and accommodation costs for participants from Arqus universities. A selection process is taking place at each Arqus university. Please contact your local Arqus R&I Officer for further information about the registration:

• University of Granada: luisabern@ugr.es
• University of Graz: luzia.strasser@uni-graz.at
• Leipzig University: gerhard.fuchs@zv.uni-leipzig.de
• Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1: laura.bousquet@univ-lyon1.fr
• University of Padua: barbara.vianello@unipd.it
• Vilnius University: vida.lapinskaite@cr.vu.lt
  

For the Universities of Maynooth, Minho, Wroclaw and Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, please contact Laura Bousquet (laura.bousquet@univ-lyon1.fr).

For further information about the event organisation and content, please also contact Laura Bousquet (laura.bousquet@univ-lyon1.fr).

The Programme can be downloaded here.