Abstract :

In the context of a global ecological imperative, scientific institutions and individuals are working towards integration of environmental issues in research itself. For nanosciences and nanotechnologies, the European Safe & Sustainable by Design framework requires the development of two research threads. The first one, focused on upstream impacts, ask for more knowledge and assessments of the impacts linked to existing or developing research activities. Since the launch of the Labos1point5 initiative, dedicated tools have been developed for a growing user base in France and beyond, but their relevance stay limited due to the reliance on monetary inventories, which cannot lead to proper assessment of mitigation strategies for laboratories and research projects. This calls for the development of physical inventories, an approach making sense only if embedded in local laboratory experience. The second research thread, focused on downstream impacts, asks for developments in upscaling models of emerging technologies, prospective environmental assessments, and impact characterization models with specific features related to nano-objects. Because nanotechnologies constitute the backbone of most high-tech technologies, the related socio-ecosystemic issues are numerous.

These two research threads thus require deep interactions between experts coming from nano/sustainability sciences altogether. However, despite several calls for these interactions since 15 years, actual progress remains fairly limited. Building on varied inputs from social sciences, the interdisciplinary research project presented here argue that the necessary conditions to go beyond the current locks are (a) T-shaped experts as facilitators and (b) participative action-research (PAR) as an effective binder. T-shaped experts are individuals with background in both fields, thus suited to translate the technicalities from one field to another and facilitate meaningful interactions between researchers on the long-term. On the other hand, a PAR framework promotes involvement of nano/sustainability researchers through a bottom-up approach, starting from their core professional competencies and interests. Aiming at CNRS recruitment with IEMN assignment, I will lay out a synthetic presentation of my personal trajectory building a T-shaped profile, then highlight how such a PAR approach could lead to knowledge and practices improvements for both of the nano and sustainability research areas – i.e. cross-fertilization.