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Best case study of an environmental controversy
from the course Description of controversies
May 28, 2024 at 5:30 pm
Mines Paris – PSL, 60 Boulevard Saint-Michel, 75006 Paris
Amphithéâtre Poincaré
The Transition Institute 1.5 launches its second edition of the TTI.5 Award for best study of an environmental controversy. The prize is awarded to the best case study of a controversy dealing with an environmental issue, selected among the papers written by students of the civil engineering program of Mines Paris–PSL. These controversy studies are carried out as part of the course Description of Controversies coordinated by Madeleine Akrich, sociologist and Research Director at the Center for the Sociology of Innovation (CSI).
The prize will be awarded at the 2nd TTI.5 Workshop to the best study project, following a presentation of the three nominated projects, all of which received the highest ratings, reflecting the depth of the analysis.
Registration for the 2nd TTI.5 Workshop is compulsory, please use this link. The event is open only to École des Mines staff and students (researchers, teachers, PhD students, etc.). Download the full program.
Controversy description projects at Mines Paris – PSL
The course Description of Controversies is part of the curriculum for third-year students in the Civil Engineering program at Mines Paris-PSL. This course aims to educate engineering students about the evolution of their professional and civic context. The aim is to introduce them to the uncertain world of scientific and technical research by describing an object: a socio-technical controversy.
The topics proposed to the students have the following characteristics: an ongoing controversy, on a targeted subject (for example: not “GMOs” but “the problems raised by the authorization of the cultivation of a transgenic potato plant which is controversial in a specific period and in a specific territory”), involving a diversity of protagonists (scientists, experts, jurists, institutions, members of parliament, associations, etc.), for which various sources of information are available (general press, scientific press, professional press, discussion forums, blogs, websites, parliamentary reports, etc.).
The controversy study consists in a case study. A group of students follows a controversy in real time to discover its complexity and singularity. A team of sociologists specializing in the analysis of science and technology supervise the students in the development of a pragmatic and argued empirical point of view.
The three projects nominated
The three projects nominated TTI.5 Award for best study of an environmental controversy are:
« Vivre avec le loup ? Une cohabitation est-elle possible ? » [Living with wolves? Is a cohabitation possible?]
Marie-Louise COMMUNAL, Aude GOUNELLE and Adrien MIGNOT will present the group’s work.
« Autoroute A69 : Quand la cause environnementale nationale s’invite au développement local » [A69 Highway. When a national environmental cause gets involved in local development]
Alexa BRUNEAUX, Pauline DELARUE, Matthieu ROYER DE VÉRICOURT and Gabrielle VERNET will present the group’s work.
« La Réutilisation des Eaux Usées Traitées : Quelle place donner à la REUT dans un contexte de stress hydrique croissant ? » [Reuse of treated wastewater: What role can REUT play in a context of growing water stress?]
Elise LEI, Raphaël GARDIES and Quentin SCHMUTZ will present the group’s work.
