Durabilis Award recognizes projects linking adaptation and inclusion

The Durabilis Award recognizes outstanding sustainability-related projects carried out by bachelor’s and master’s students at EPFL and the University of Lausanne (Unil). All five winners of the 2025 prize are driven by the goal of taking concrete steps towards a positive impact on the environment and society. The students’ enthusiasm and search for meaning came across clearly in their project presentations at the awards ceremony, a public event that was held on 12 March 2026.

This year the awards ceremony also featured improv sketches by The Catalyst theater company, which entertained the crowd with humorous takes on the themes being discussed. The event concluded with an informal reception. “We would like to reach more of the student community and encourage careers related to the study of sustainability,” says Augustin Fragnière, deputy director of Unil’s Competence Centre in Sustainability and chair of the Durabilis Award selection panel. By showcasing the winning projects, which all received a grade of five or higher out of six, the award shows that action is possible on many levels to respond to today’s environmental and social challenges.

Renovating doubly vulnerable neighborhoods

For her EPFL master’s project in architecture, Zélie Cortès looked at “the adaptation and renovation of a residential complex in Nyon.” The goal was to find ways of mitigating the effects of climate change while factoring in the issues of both spatial and social vulnerability. The first step in Cortès’ project was to develop a method for mapping such doubly vulnerable neighborhoods in Lausanne, Vevey, Yverdon-les-Bains and Nyon, with the idea that the method could also be applied elsewhere. This entailed combining data on perceived temperatures with a socioeconomic indicator. “We found that the most affected neighborhoods vary widely in terms of when they were built and their urban morphology,” says Cortès. “I chose to focus on a residential complex on the northern side of Nyon that needs significant renovation work and isn’t listed as a heritage site. My design relies heavily on the use of semi-underground floors, as their stable temperatures are a valuable resource.”

Cortès laid out a plan for refurbishing these spaces to provide local services such as a grocery store, a clinic/social center, a job training and reinsertion center and a community hub. She also envisages planting vegetation throughout the complex, depaving the ground and adding water features, which would all lower the ambient temperature. To prevent residents from having to move during the renovation work, she designed a raised structure made of wood that can be used for temporary housing. “This project showed me how important it is to take a cross-disciplinary approach in addressing environmental issues,” says Cortès. “As architects, we have to also consider social, economic and political aspects.”

Using “beaver dams” to improve river health

Brian Salamin also tackled the problem of climate change in his EPFL master’s project in civil engineering. He examined various options for alleviating the severe water shortages that occur in two Geneva-area rivers – the Aire and the Drize – during the summer months. “This project stems from a need identified by the Geneva Canton water office, which suited me perfectly because I wanted to devote my project to nature and practicable solutions.” In addition to drying up in the summer, the two rivers also suffer from rising water temperatures and contamination “from agricultural, urban and highway-related waste.”

Salamin examined a range of environmentally friendly, low-cost methods for mitigating the desiccation and protecting the rivers’ biodiversity. Both the Aire and the Drize are close to the water table, so one option could be to redirect some of the water when the rivers are running full so that it enters the water table. Then in the summer, this could provide a natural source of cool water for the rivers, and farmers could use the water for their crops. Another method – “inspired by beavers” – would be to build small dams along the rivers so as to restore water to alluvial zones; this water could then flow back into the rivers when they dry up. These dams would also help support biodiversity. Salamin stresses that the shade provided by vegetation is another important factor, as shaded areas generally have a lower water temperature. His project findings have been published in a journal article. Salamin now works as a water and environmental engineer at a civil engineering firm.

Helping grocery cooperatives become less cliquish

Aurélie Fornerod, who recently graduated from Unil’s Faculty of Geosciences and Environment, focused her bachelor’s project on promoting a sustainable food system. She examined cooperative grocery stores and how inclusive they are, using the Coupe-circuit cooperative in Lausanne, of which Fornerod is a member, as a case study. Coupe-circuit sells local organic foods that are mostly sourced directly from the producer. It’s open only to members, who must volunteer at the store for at least three hours per month. It aims to be sustainable and inclusive. But Fornerod identified several problems with how the cooperative operates through her own observations as well as ten semi-structured interviews with other members. Specifically, she found issues related to how visible the store is and the cliquish culture that had formed.

The literature suggests this is a common problem in this type of organization. “Most of the cooperative’s members have a similar socioeconomic background: they tend to be upper-middle-class college graduates,” says Fornerod. “Although it’s true that new members generally come by word of mouth since the cooperative isn’t really advertised. A lot of people also mentioned that they don’t have enough time to get involved.” Fornerod plans to hold a meeting of Coupe-circuit members to discuss her key findings and map out ideas for making the organization more inclusive.

Giving children a voice

Children are the ones who will be most affected by climate change, yet their voices rarely get heard. Nikita Audergon and Célia Fleury, recent Unil graduates in psychology, listened to around 100 nine- and ten-year-old children as part of their master’s project, with the goal of examining how these children perceive and feel about the threats to our planet. “Research indicates that there are few qualitative studies of children’s emotions in relation to climate change – also known as climate emotions,” says the project team. “We worked with the town of La Chaux-de-Fonds to design a series of activities to run at grade schools.” Audergon and Fleury developed the materials for these children in association with Oriane Sarrasin, their project supervisor and a senior lecturer at Unil’s Faculty of Social and Political Sciences.

The two students used a game that encourages class discussion, noting the children’s feelings about climate change as well as their knowledge of the subject, their concerns and their ideas for taking action. Most of the children with whom Audergon and Fleury spoke are strongly attached to nature and animals and concerned about pollution. They demonstrated feelings of sadness, anger and fear, particularly with regard to how global warming is affecting biodiversity, plants and animals. Surprisingly for the project team, the children also brought up the issue of war in their discussions, based on what they had heard at home, on television, in social media and at school. “We found that worries about both natural and man-made disasters tend to blend together in children’s minds to create a vision of a world facing many threats.” The children also expressed positive emotions, especially the hope that taking action will improve the health of the planet. Building on this experience, additional activities were conducted under the supervision of Oriane Sarrasin, at grade schools in La Chaux-de-Fonds and the Lausanne region, to children ranging in age from 4 to 14. In parallel a collaboration with the City of Lausanne led to the production of an informative document on climate emotion for the general public and guidelines for activities on this topic is currently being developed.

The hope that change is possible is what’s also motivating the Durabilis Award winners to pursue their efforts. These young adults, keenly attuned to environmental issues, plan to keep focusing their personal and professional energy on helping build a sustainable future.