The Université Catholique de Lille is committed to the socio-ecological transition and its challenges today more than ever. From 2011, through the Live TREE program, real estate renovation and construction projects were launched, primarily through the Le Rizomm building, in order to demonstrate its energy performance. Discover the magazines published by Live TREE.
Ten years later, the program gained momentum through the signing of the Grenoble Agreement by all the Université Catholique de Lille institutions in January 2022 and the organization of the Convention Université pour le Climat (University Convention for Climate). It had eleven objectives for as many commitments, from reducing greenhouse gas emissions to training students and staff, as well as objectives for research and campus life.
“It is important to have a collective reflection on the signification, the issues, and the consequences of this growth. Under what conditions is it consistent with our educational ambition, our quality requirements, and our identity? ”
Patrick SCAUFLAIRE, President-Rector of the Université Catholique de Lille / Mandate Orientation 2020-2025
Student Education and Experience
The training of students and staff is the object of the first objective of the Grenoble Agreement. A few months after its signature, the University Convention for Climate was held in 2022. It welcomed 145 students, staff members of the Université Catholique de Lille, and inhabitants of the Vauban-Esquermes neighborhood (Lille). This training program resulted in the drafting of 55 proposals.
Another project combining ecological issues, democracy, and experience at the service of pedagogy was created. Having received an observer status at the UN COPs and after having organized an international negotiations simulation at COP 28, the Université Catholique de Lille sent a delegation of students and teacher-researchers to the COP intersessions at the Bonn Climate Change Conference in Germany. A delegation will also be sent to Baku for COP 29.
In order to support education on socio-ecological transition issues, the ODDyssée platform was created. For both students and staff, this gamified training course offers different themes: biodiversity, energies, resources, and health, as well as a systemic vision of these issues. To date, more than 2300 people have used this tool, which will be disseminated more widely through new pedagogical models from the beginning of 2024.
Accessible to all students, the Les Humanités course offers interdisciplinary training modules, certificates, and academic degrees. The latest is the Environmental Humanities module, in partnership with LiDD, the School of Design, which offers a course “towards a strengthened ecological consciousness.”
Research
Research is at the heart of the University’s activities, and in recent years, it has allowed for the creation of several interdisciplinary projects. In January 2023, the Incluniv project was created. Coordinated by the ETHICS EA 7446 research unit with 6 research partners, it focuses on mobilization and inclusion in universities’ ecological transition.
A great Scientific Congress ECOPOSS will be organized within the walls of the Université Catholique de Lille from October 9 to 11, 2024: “Between preservation and transformation, a world to reinvent.” With several research centers, faculties, and schools of the University as well as national and international scientific partners, this convention will be articulated in 4 scientific colloquia focusing on digital, geopolitical, societal, and environmental issues, both now and in the future. The colloquium of the “Science, Technosciences et Foi à l’heure de l’écologie intégrale” (Sciences, Technosciences and Faith in the Era of Integral Ecology) Chair will be transversal and will close the Congress.
Social
The University is committed to supporting students when they need it.
All offers appointments with social workers to address issues of rights of access or any difficulty, be it social, personal, familial, educational, or financial, that students may encounter during their academic life. Subject to professional secrecy, All offers a space for exchange in French or English.
Carbon
At the regional level, the city of Lille committed itself to a low-carbon pact signed by about 100 city actors, including five institutions of the Université Catholique de Lille, in June 2021.
The European Metropolis of Lille has developed its Plan Climat Air Energie Territorial (PCAET–Territorial Climate-Air-Energy Plan), which also aims to reach carbon neutrality by 2050, which will affect university life. Therefore, the University Federation has decided to set up a Comité Trajectoire Carbone (CTC – Carbon Trajectory Committee) to evaluate the University’s contributions to global warming by studying the carbon footprints of distinct entities annually. It determines the direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions of each the ICL institution on poles such as mobility, building, energy, or waste. The second objective of the CTC is to trace a carbon trajectory consistent with the growth of student enrollment. This growth forces the University to be incredibly ambitious in its socio-ecological transition.
