UGA 2024 Thesis Prize : Baptiste ANDRIEU winner of the interdisciplinary prize

Université Grenoble Alpes has honored ten PhDs graduating in 2023 whose thesis work was judged to be of exceptional quality. Eight academic thesis prizes, including one interdisciplinary prize, and two innovation thesis prizes. This year, one winner also received the social and environmental Responsibility Award. The awards will be presented at the "PhD Ceremony" on June 25, 2024.

Candidates were selected in advance by the thirteen Doctoral Schools of the Université Grenoble Alpes from among the 762 graduates in 2023.. The juries for the Innovation Thesis Prize and the Academic Thesis Prizes were held on May 21 and 23 respectively, and the prizes will be officially awarded at the "PhD Ceremony" on June 25, 2024 from 5:00 pm.

The Université Grenoble Alpes has honored ten PhD students who graduated in 2022 and whose thesis work was judged to be of exceptional quality. These awards recognize the excellence of the research carried out by these young scientists in their respective laboratories.

Thesis prizes :

• The Academic Thesis Prize, awarded to seven people based on criteria of excellence specific to each disciplinary field and represented by the 13 doctoral schools on the site and research departments. This year an eighth thesis prize is awarded for interdisciplinary research work covering at least two significantly different doctoral specialties ;
• The two Innovation Thesis Prizes are awarded to a work of exceptional quality that also includes an approach (special prize) or a project of valorization and transfer.
• This year, a SER Thesis Award rewards among the winners of the academic and innovation thesis awards, a thesis work that respects the criteria issued by the establishment in terms of societal and environmental responsibility both in the conduct of the thesis and in the results. The winner is thus doubly rewarded.

As in previous years, candidates are judged on the basis of the scientific excellence of their thesis, their ability to present their work clearly and concisely, the scientific interest and spin-offs for their discipline, and the quality of their scientific production during their thesis. Additional criteria are added according to the nature of the thesis prize : interdisciplinary, innovation and SER.

Baptiste ANDRIEU : winner of the interdisciplinary academic thesis prize

Thesis title : Modelling energy dependencies : from raw materials to global health

Over the past 70 years, human activities have exponentially increased their impact on the biosphere, mainly due to unsustainable resource use. However, the models used in environmental policy-making often overlook certain real-world dynamics in favor of focusing on monetary flows. They fail to adequately represent raw materials, exchanges between regions, and the depletion of higher-quality resources.

Faced with the limitations of existing models, I took part in the construction of the DyMEMDS model (Dynamic Modeling of Energy and Materials Demand and Supply). This model represents the complex interactions between infrastructure (roads, houses, trains, hospitals, factories, etc.), gross domestic product, population, raw materials, energy consumption and environmental impacts.

I analyzed the development trajectories of every country in the world between 1900 and the present day, and then assessed the feasibility of changing trajectories to achieve social and environmental goals by 2050. For example, I created diagrams representing all possible methodologies for allocating responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions between producers and consumers in different countries : https://sankey.theshiftproject.org/. Another result showed that technological progress will soon no longer be able to compensate for the loss in quality of exploited resources, which should result in a long-term increase in the price of certain metals. I also explored the complex interactions between health and the environment by analyzing 49 health systems around the world. I showed that there was an exponential relationship between the energy footprint of healthcare systems and an index of access and quality of care.

This thesis was funded by The Shift Project, a public interest think tank working for a post-carbon economy. During my thesis, I worked to influence the public debate on energy transition and sustainability. I disseminated my research to a variety of audiences through conferences, podcasts, YouTube videos, interviews and radio appearances, reaching scientists, students, NGOs, ministries, public and private companies.

Key Words : Energy transition, raw materials, dynamic modeling, input output tables, health

Source : Université Grenoble Alpes