Rencontres des transitions

Faced with the pressing challenges of transition, the University of Bordeaux is developing an interdisciplinary, partnership-based and participatory approach. The Rencontres des Transitions illustrates this approach perfectly, pursuing the following three objectives:

• Develop the university’s ties with local socio-economic stakeholders
• Identify innovative projects and experiments to meet on-campus needs and those of local socio-economic stakeholders
• Create favourable conditions for the continuation of these projects, in particular through long-term support from the Institute of Transition.

The Rencontres des Transitions events provide an opportunity for various networks (academics, local authorities, public institutions, associations, businesses, etc.) to discuss and share their expertise and points of view in workshops focusing on particular topics, in order to develop projects that address the regional issues they face.

In addition to the topic-based workshops, networking events (speed meetings, etc.), project presentation stands and workshops open to secondary school pupils as part of the ‘Sciences Avec et Pour la Société’ (SAPS) initiatives have also been organised.

2024: 3rd edition

The third Rencontres des Transitions, held on 17 October 2024 at Cap Sciences, was jointly organised by the University of Bordeaux and the Bordeaux Metropolitan Area, and focused on the following three topics:

• Carbon neutrality: How can an institution reduce its carbon footprint by rethinking the ways in which it organises its work? Workshop organised by the Grand Sud d’Orange Environmental Department.
• Eco-citizenship: How can we better support changes in behaviour (choice, implementation and evaluation of support measures)? Workshop organised by the Bordeaux Metropolitan Area Eco-citizen Centre.
• Water pollution: How can we limit water pollution by micropollutants? Workshop organised by the University of Bordeaux.

2023: 2nd edition

The 2nd Rencontres des Transitions event took place in November 2023, with six workshops focusing on a specific topic (democracy, water, food, the work and study environment, rewilding of cities and the energy transition in buildings), each linked to a leading partner. The point of these workshops? To frame the issue in a given context and enable participants to come up with one or several projects that most closely reflect the specific characteristics and needs of local stakeholders.

Since this event, the project leaders and university teams have been working to implement the projects resulting from the workshops.

This is the case, for example, with a series of experiments in some of the city’s university restaurants, which was launched on 16 October 2024. The project is led by Pascal Mergui and Vincent Chabas, who are both responsible for the CROUS catering sites on part of the campus, and coordinated by Marion Salomé, who runs the food and health living lab at the Institute of Transition. It consists of various experiments carried out by campus researchers in some university restaurants to assess their impact on the uptake of vegetarian meals, so the most successful ones can be rolled out to other sites.

Another example is the creation of a citizens’ network of tree ambassadors in the Bordeaux Metropolitan Area. The result of a workshop on ways to involve citizens in rewilding projects, this network aims to make citizens the points of contact for public and scientific action on the issue of trees in the city. Led by François Durquety, who is responsible for the Bordeaux Metropolitan Area’s 1 million tree plan, and Bastien Castagneyrol, a researcher at INRAE, the project is coordinated by Thomas Caignard, who runs the climate and biodiversity living lab at the Institute of Transition. The project is due to be launched in December 2024, which will allow the first ambassadors to be recruited.

2022: first edition

The very first Rencontres des Transitions brought together over a hundred participants at Cap Sciences (Nouvelle-Aquitaine Scientific, Technical and Industrial Culture Centre) in October 2022.

In addition to the activities designed to bring the various networks together (stands, speed meetings, etc.), participants had the opportunity to take part in six topical workshops. Each of the workshops had been translated into a key issue and brought together several experts to help participants reflect on the matter at hand.