Starting everyone off with a solid foundation in sustainability

Sustainability has become an imperative for scientists, engineers and architects as they develop systems and methods for addressing global challenges. But what exactly does “sustainability” mean? And, most importantly, how can it best be implemented? At EPFL, we’ve introduced a mandatory class on sustainability for first-year students to give everyone a solid foundation from the outset. The class is part of the Social Sciences and Humanities (SHS) program. “In today’s world, it’s essential for students to learn what sustainability entails and to develop their critical-thinking and systems-thinking skills, so they can understand the shifts taking place around them,” says Siroune Der Sarkissian, the sustainable education project manager and the coordinator of the new class. “We ran a pilot test of the class this spring and saw there were marked differences in students’ prior knowledge of sustainability issues. There wasn’t enough time to go into each aspect of sustainability in detail, but we were able to plant the seeds for future growth.”

Managed by the Environmental Sciences and Engineering Section (SIE), the class is under the scientific supervision of EPFL professor and glaciologist Jérôme Chappellaz. The results of the pilot test carried out this spring will be used to hone the first version of the class that will be given next spring and better meet the students’ needs and expectations. It will cover topics such as climate change, planetary boundaries and doughnut economics, while placing a greater focus on the technological, political, economic and social approaches to improving sustainability. “Our aim will be to encourage students to think beyond their specific fields and their own experience and take a more holistic, objective view,” says Der Sarkissian. The class will include around a dozen speakers as well as hands-on workshops where students work in groups to apply the material covered in the lectures. It fits in with EPFL’s strategy to train responsible leaders – although organizing it for the approximately 2,300 students who must take it will be a challenge.

A tangible contribution to sustainability

Teaching assistants will run the workshops with the help of facilitators – students from the new master’s class on teaching sustainability. The master’s class will be given through EPFL’s SHS program and will aim to shore up students’ transversal skills – such as active listening, teamwork and systems thinking – so that they’re better equipped to solve complex problems. “The idea is to give master’s students an opportunity to make a tangible contribution to sustainability by helping to educate those in their first year, while gaining skills like team management that will be useful later in their careers,” says Tamara Milosevic, the head of EPFL’s transversal skills and career center (CCTC). “The master’s students will also gain insight into the learning process and how to create learning opportunities.” Milosevic is spearheading the new class along with Helena Kovacs, a CCTC project manager, and Augustin Fragnière, an SHS program lecturer.

Low-tech and low cost

Master’s students eager to apply the concepts of sustainability can also sign up for the Design for Sustainability class given jointly by EPFL’s SHS program and the Vaud University of Art and Design (ECAL). In this class, students work on projects to design a product or system that‘s both sustainable and economically feasible. “We encourage low-tech approaches because products that incorporate a lot of technology often have a heavy environmental footprint,” says Michka Mélo, an EPFL sustainability coach and one of the class teachers. “Of course, the most environmentally friendly option is to not manufacture a new product at all. Solutions that are simple yet effective are often the hardest to engineer – but also the most elegant.” The other teachers for the Design for Sustainability class are Marc Laperrouza, a researcher at EPFL’s College of Humanities; Marius Conti, a designer and head of EPFL’s Future Leaders program; and Margo Clavier, a deputy in the bachelor’s program in industrial design at ECAL.

Dialogue between disciplines

Charlotte Daumal, an EPFL master’s student in life science engineering who took the class, says: “It was a lot of work but a fantastic learning experience, and it opened my eyes to the many different ways of looking at a problem.” Daumal’s group tackled the issue of microplastics in Swiss composts that come from the packaging on unsold food thrown away by supermarkets. “It was tough at first because everyone in our group came from a different background, so we all had a different way of viewing the problem,” she says. “But as the semester went on, we began to understand how each other thinks and got on the same wavelength. I also learned to be resilient, since sometimes we discovered we were headed in the wrong direction and had to come up with another angle of attack.”

Our aim will be to encourage students to think beyond their specific fields and their own experience and take a more holistic, objective view.”

When it comes to sustainability, it’s essential to think beyond the confines of a single discipline and take a big-picture view. “Engineers often find it easier to focus on the technical aspects of a problem, but we want to teach them to consider all the other facets, too,” says Laperrouza. “We know our master’s class is very demanding and sometimes there’s friction, but these are all very important skills for students’ careers.” The same reasoning is behind the class for first-year students. Der Sarkissian adds: “Sustainability issues are closely related to your personal values. When you start university, that’s a good time in your life to think carefully about what you believe in and your professional goals.”