How can the impact of research on the environment be quantified?
ISAE-SUPAERO’s Research Department has commissioned a working group of teacher-researchers to look into this question. Nicolas Gourdain (DAEP), Scott Delbecq, Thomas Planès and Annafederica Urbano (DCAS) have just developed a methodology to quantify the contribution of the Institute’s research projects to sustainable development and the environment.
“Our approach has been to establish a metric to enable us to quantify the Institute’s subjects that have an impact on sustainable development. As far as we know, there was no such metric at European level,” points out Grégoire Casalis, Director of Research. And this is despite the fact that funding for research projects is often linked to their positive impact on the environment.
35% of research topics linked to sustainable aerospace
The evaluation carried out at ISAE-SUPAERO revealed the strong impact of its research on environmental issues. In fact, more than a third (35%) of the projects carried out in 2024 are linked to the transition towards sustainable aerospace.
“What’s also important to note is that the other projects are not destructive: some have low environmental ambitions, while the others (often more related to upstream research) are not concerned by the issue”, explains Grégoire Casalis.
This assessment will be repeated every year for all the Institute’s teaching researchers. “The important thing is to show how the importance of environmental issues and sustainable development changes from year to year,” concludes Grégoire Casalis.
The Institute now wants to make this tool available to other research laboratories.
“The methodology we have used may not be adaptable to all areas of research, but it does provide a basis on which to work,” explains Ludmila Namolovan, Deputy Director of Research, who led the working group.
A single questionnaire for a wide range of subjects
The evaluation method developed at ISAE-SUPAERO takes the form of a questionnaire divided into three themes: the direct environmental impact of the research project; the environmental issues addressed; and any strategies and solutions implemented to reduce the environmental impact.
A coefficient is assigned to each question and an overall mark is given to the project based on the answers provided. “As the research topics carried out within the Institute are very diverse, we had to develop questions that could be adapted to each of them”, explain the teacher-researchers who are members of the working group. “We also had to take into account the fact that some subjects have a direct impact on the environment, while others have a more indirect impact.
To obtain a result that is representative of the wide range of work being carried out at ISAE-SUPAERO, the methodology measures all current projects and each research project is given a coefficient of 1, regardless of its importance (financial, partnership, etc.).
The teacher-researchers in the working group also took care to develop the most reliable evaluation methodology possible. “As the aim is to assess the ambition of each research project, we have favoured a self-evaluation by the researchers, with spontaneous responses.”
This self-assessment also enables all the researchers to raise their own awareness, particularly with regard to the actual drafting of research project proposals.
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