Research: these are the winners of the Thesis Prize for an ecological and united transition

Faced with the scale of the challenges, it is essential to bring together all energies at all levels of society and to break the silos between the different ecosystems: academics, politicians, associations… The Solidarity Foundation contributes to this with this thesis prize that encourages doctors who make an effort to put their thesis research at the service of actors from the field.

Launched just 2 years ago, the Thesis prize for an ecological and united transition is a real success: almost 25 applications received by the Terre Solidaire Foundation. Four winners were selected by a multidisciplinary jury composed of researchers and actors, and chaired by theeconomist Gael Giraud.

The winners illustrate this perfectly the will of the citizen to preserve the territories and commonplace. They wear a vision of a united society and provide new ways of thinking and reproducible solutions to big problems. Examples: the alternatives to current economic thinking, the social consequences of European environmental policy, the understanding of the forest fires in New Caledonia in the light of colonial and postcolonial history or the need to start developing sustainable agriculture with building a strong social base.

Why this price?

Few thesis awards are specifically devoted to the challenges of the ecological and solidarity transition and which making knowledge accessible produced for actors of general interest.

In a scientific institutional context where PhD students are encouraged to promote academic or commercial valorisation of their work, it seemed necessary that the Terre Solidaire Foundationencourage research work that serves action in the field.

The jury concretely illustrates this desire to bring together academic worlds, institutional, economic, associative… It is chaired by economist Gaël Giraud and consists of a sociologist, a vice president of an NGO, a farmer, a local elected official, a network leader of Biocoop, a united engineer …

The originality of this thesis prize is also due to the fact that the prize-winning works cumulatively meet three essential criteria :

  • They have to do with a issue related to the ecological transition
  • They mark a issue of social justice
  • They were carried out in collaboration with actors in the field or they have delivered lessons that can change actions in the field.

Winners, carriers of solutions for blocking issues for the ecological transition

Given the diversity and the very good quality of the applications received, the jury has chosen thise edit make two categories of winners to better distinguish the works that are the result Humanities and Social Sciences work of technical and life sciences.

Category “Human and Social Sciences”

1er Price : Timothée Parrique, ecological economist, for his thesis “The political economy of degrowth”

In a context where we need economic alternatives, the Jury of the Thesis Prize of the Terre Solidaire Foundation wanted to award this work that has the great importance of theorizing the option of degrowth that has always remained on the edge of public debate. In addition, Timothée Parrique’s efforts to make these complex concepts accessible to as many people as possible were highly appreciated by the jury.

2e ex aequo price: Marie Toussaint, socio-anthropologist (PhD), for his dissertation “The test of fire. Natural politics, knowledge, forest fires and decolonization in New Caledonia »

Marie Toussaint documents the collective invisibility of the use of fire in Kanak and the environmental history of the island since colonization and renews the questions related to the political management of this exceptional natural environment. This dissertation takes a new look at long-discredited Kanak practices.

The thesis award jury also wanted to reward this application for the impact this work has had on local environmental policy. The restitution of the dissertation has served to open up the word on the subject of fire and to initiate experiments with new consultation mechanisms on fire risk management. This work ultimately led to a complete reorientation of the environmental policy of the Province of North on this subject.

2e ex aequo price: Leo Magnin for his dissertation “The requalified hedge. Survey on a greening mechanism for the common agricultural policy »

The thesis prize jury was particularly interested in the social effects of the environmental regulations studied by Léo Magnin. For example, by focusing on activities underlying environmental protection, such as digital hedge mapping, Léo Magnin has brought to light the invisible work of thousands of click workers.

The work of photo interpretation, which is not very rewarding, repetitive and has largely moved to countries where the “cost” of labor is lower than in France, can only raise questions about the promises of greening based on supposedly automatic digital tools . From the point of view of environmental justice, it is legitimate to consider that the quality of life of some, by preserving the landscape, should not be equipped with a multitude of dehumanizing and hidden micro-tasks, as they are performed by subordinate social groups.

Category “Technical and life sciences”

1er Price : Gwen CHRISTIANSEN for his thesis “Valuing the diversity of actors’ reasoning in supporting an agro-ecological transition”

The thesis award jury was very interested in this research by Gwen CHRISTIANSEN, which demonstrates the need to start building a strong social base in order to develop sustainable agriculture: creating social conditions in the areas so that farmers, as well as other residents, are able and willing to live there sustainably and develop sustainable projects. Without sustainable social conditions (infrastructures, services, socio-cultural activities, social ties), we cannot imagine an agro-ecological transition.

In front of more informationconsult the special website the thesis prize of the Terre Solidaire Foundation for an ecological and united transition.

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