EURECA-PRO Seminar
The European University EURECA-PRO, a key player for SDG 12

12th of June 2024 | Brussels, Belgium

The European Commission, eager to enhance strategic autonomy, particularly regarding supply chain and raw material dependencies, has enacted the Critical Raw Materials Act (2023). The partners of the European university EURECA-PRO, the European University on Responsible Consumption And Production, together with socioeconomic stakeholders contribute to cultivate value chains for EU industrial ecosystems to diminish dependency by increasing extraction, processing, and recycling within the EU. This contributes to enhance clean technologies manufacturing capacities in the EU.

Simultaneously, this transition necessitates significant societal shifts on the consumption front to facilitate a just transition toward a more sustainable and responsible society, as advocated by the Green Deal. This just transition also demands the development of new skills, as highlighted by the UN’s Global Resource Outlook (2024), which identifies skill gaps as a barrier in the framework of the transition. The required new skills could potentially be integrated on the scale of the European higher education area, such as within European Universities.

EURECA-PRO, in collaboration with European partners, is deeply committed to advancing education, research, innovation, and science with and for citizens at both the European and global levels in the field of Responsible Consumption and Production, aligned with the United Nations SDG 12 targets. This seminar presents an opportunity to bolster interdisciplinary dialogue between EURECA-PRO stakeholders and representatives from European and international institutions, as well as the structuring of ecosystems in the fields of research, innovation, and education.

DATE: 12 June 2024

LOCATION: Maison Irène et Frédéric Joliot-Curie, 100 rue du Trone, Brussels, in the European district, Belgium

LANGUAGE: English

There will also be an online option to follow this event!

Registration for in-presence participation is now closed. Thank you for your interest!

Programme

  • Wednesday | 12th of June 2024

  • 9:00 - 10:00 | Keynote session
    Christophe YVETOT, UNIDO Representative to the European Union ( United Nations Industrial Development Organization)
    Serenella SALA, Head of Unit, Sustainable Resources - Land Resources and Supply Chain Assessments, Joint Research Centre (European Commission)
    Susanne FEIEL , Director of International Relations (Montanuniversität Leoben) - EURECA-PRO in a Nutshell
    Fabrice LEMOINE, Vice-President for European Strategy (Université de Lorraine) - EURECA-PRO Strategy on SDG 12
  • 10:00 - 11:00 | Round Table 1 - Management of Natural Resources and Circular Economy for Sustainable Materials
    Moderator: Evan DIAMADOPOULOS, Professor Emeritus, School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering (Technical University of Crete)
    • Milan GROHOL, Policy Officer, Unit of Energy Intensive Industries and Raw Materials, Directorate General Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, DG GROW (European Commission)
    • Carsten DREBENSTEDT, Head of Chair for Mining (Technische Universität Bergakademie) - RCP in Mining
    • Peter MOSER, Rector, (Montanuniversität Leoben) - Sustainable Circular Economy
    • Bertrand LARATTE, Professor (ENSAM Bordeaux) - Life Cycle Assessment
  • 11:00 - 11:20 | Coffee Break
  • 11:20 – 12:40 | Round Table 2 - The Impact of EURECA-PRO on Skills to Operate a Just Societal and Multiscale Transition Towards Sustainability and Responsibility
    Moderator: Prof. Volker TOLKMITT: Rector (Hochschule Mittweida)
    • Ioana DEWANDELER, Policy Officer, Directorate General Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (European Commission)
    • Benoît GRASSER, Vice-President for Scientific Policy, (Université de Lorraine) - Human Resources Management
    • Julia SISHCHUK, (Technische Universität Bergakademie) - Education
    • Agata DUDEK, Project Coordinator (SCIC Kèpos) - Associated Partner
    • Aralia MUNIZ FERNANDEZ - (Universidad de León) - member of the EURECA-PRO Student Council
  • 12:40 - 14:00 | Lunch
Full programme

Keynote speakers

Christophe YVETOT

UNIDO
Bio

Serenella SALA

Joint Research Centre, European Commission

Susanne FEIEL

Montanuniversität Leoben
Bio

Fabrice LEMOINE

Université de Lorraine
Bio

Speakers | Round Table 1 - Management of natural resources and circular economy for sustainable materials

Prof. Evan DIAMADOPOULOS

Technical University of Crete
Bio

Milan GROHOL

European Commission
Bio

Prof. Carsten DREBENSTEDT

Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg
Bio

Prof. Peter MOSER

Montanuniversität Leoben
Bio

Dr. Bertrand LARATTE

Ecole Nationale Supérieure d‘Arts et Métiers Institute of Technology (Bordeaux)
Bio

Speakers | Round Table 2 - The impact of EURECA-PRO on skills to operate a just societal and multiscale transition towards sustainability and responsibility

Prof. Volker TOLKMITT

Hochschule Mittweida
Bio

Ioana DEWANDELER

European Commission | Policy Officer Higher Education
Bio

Prof. Benoît GRASSER

Université de Lorraine
Bio

Dr. Julia SISHCHUK

Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg
Bio

Agata DUDEK

Képos (collective interest cooperative society)
Bio

Aralia MUÑIZ FERNÁNDEZ

Universidad de León
Bio
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Christophe YVETOT

UNIDO

Mr Christophe YVETOT is UNIDO’s Representative to the European Union and Director of the Brussels Liaison Office. In this capacity, he is also responsible for cooperation with the European Investment Bank, the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, Belgium, France and Luxembourg. Legal expert specialising in international economic law, he has over 25 years’ experience in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development within various institutions. After teaching at the Université René Descartes (Paris V Malakoff), he was Chef de Cabinet to the Secretary-General of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) and then head of political affairs in the office of the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). As UNIDO Representative to the European Union, then to Senegal and several countries in West Africa and the Sahel, Mr YVETOT contributed to the development of technical assistance programmes for more than 120 developing countries and took part in numerous international conferences and meetings, as well as drafting international reports and publications.

Susanne FEIEL

Montanuniversität Leoben

Susanne Feiel is in charge for international relations since 2015 and is currently Director for International Relations and European University at the Montanuniversität Leoben (MUL), where she played a leading role in the founding of EURECA-PRO, the European University on Responsible Consumption and Production. Within EURECA-PRO, she is currently Chair of the Executive Board. She is also a founding member of the Sustainable Development Panel and the Diversity Board at her university. In parallel to her current position, she was Interim Head of Marketing and Communications at the University for over a year from 2022 to 2023. Prior to assuming her current position, she led the University’s Resources Innovation Centre (RIC). During her tenure, she promoted MUL’s extensive participation in EIT RawMaterials, a Knowledge and Innovation Community of the European Institute of Technology, and focused her efforts on sustainable resource development, the life cycles of raw materials, climate change mitigation and the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into university practice. With her many years of experience in education, innovation and internationalisation projects at EU level, in leadership and project management, she brings a wealth of knowledge to her current role. She holds a Master’s degree in English and American Studies with a specialisation in Marketing and Economics from the Karl-Franzens University of Graz and a PhD in Sustainable Development of Material Cycles from the TU Bergakademie Freiberg in Germany. Her doctoral thesis focussed on the development of an evaluation scheme for material production cycles based on the Planetary Boundaries.

Fabrice LEMOINE

Université de Lorraine

Fabrice Lemoine is Vice-President for European Strategy and professor in Mechanical and Energy engineering. Director of the national research programme ‘Decarbonisation of the industry” since 2021. Director of the Erasmus Mundus programme Decentralised Smart Energy Systems since 2019. Director of a large research lab (200 people) in Energy and Mechanics from 2009 to 2017.

Prof. Evan DIAMADOPOULOS

Technical University of Crete

Evan Diamadopoulos is Professor Emeritus, School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete (TUC). He has also served for a 5-year term as TUC Rector. He is the TUC Coordinator of the European University Alliance EURECA-PRO. He received a Diploma in Chemical Engineering from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, and a M.Eng. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from McMaster University, Canada. His area of academic interest includes: Water and wastewater treatment; Waste valorization; Production and applications of biochar and activated carbons from waste biomass. He has over 100 publications in international referred journals (Scopus data), and 6300 citations to his published work (h-index: 40).

Milan GROHOL

European Commission

Mr. Milan Grohol, PhD is a Policy Officer in the Unit of Energy intensive industries and Raw Materials at the Directorate-General for Internal market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW), European Commission. Since 2004, he contributes to the EU raw materials policy and initiatives, including the programming of Horizon funding on raw materials. He leads the EU assessment of the Critical and Strategic Raw Materials, and the organisation of the EU Raw Materials Week since 2016. He represents DG GROW in the Bureau of the UNECE Expert Group on Resource Management since 2018. He also contributed to the development of the Critical Raw Materials Act.

Prof. Carsten DREBENSTEDT

Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg

Carsten Drebenstedt has been a full Professor in Mining since 1999. He was acting vice-rector for research twice, as well as dean of the faculty of geoscience, geoengineering and mining. He is member of the Senate and director of the institute for mining and special civil engineering. Before his career at the university, he worked in the German mining industry for 17 years. Fields of teaching and research activities are mine planning, mining technologies and ecology in mining, reclamation, and mine water management. Carsten Drebenstedt initiated three international Master programs with actual 250 students from 40 countries. He is study dean, head of study and examination commissions of these programs and invited lecturer e.g. in China, Kazakhstan, Kenia, Mongolia, and involved in accreditation missions for geology/mining related study programs in Romania and Kazakhstan. He participate in the establishment/ modernisation of mining schools in Kenia, Mongolia and Afghanistan. Professor Drebenstedt supervised 51 PhD students completing their thesis´s and reviewed another 25 thesis´s. He worked in more than 100 scientific, educational and industrial projects.

Prof. Peter MOSER

Montanuniversität Leoben

Peter Moser completed his MSc in Mining Engineering in 1983 and his PhD in 1989. Since 2006 he is the Head of Department of Mineral Resources & Petroleum Engineering and holds the Chair of Mining Engineering & Mineral Economics. In 2011 he was appointed vice rector, responsible for International Affairs and University infrastructure. In Oct 2023, he was appointed Rector of MUL. He has written around 130 scientific papers in the field of technical, economical and societal issues of safe and efficient raw materials production and sustainable raw materials supply. He is a certified expert and works as consulter for the mining industry.

Dr. Bertrand LARATTE

Ecole Nationale Supérieure d‘Arts et Métiers Institute of Technology (Bordeaux)

Dr. Bertrand Laratte is associate professor at the ENSAM Institute of Technology in Bordeaux. He holds an engineering degree in industrial engineering, a master’s degree in environmental engineering and completed his doctorate on the integration of spatio-temporal parameters in life cycle analysis. Today he works more particularly on the environmental impact of the mining sector and works on the problem of the dissipation of mineral resources. This theme includes the loop of trade flows in a spirit of circular economy. A second line of research focuses on the end-of-life issues of complex products such as buildings. The idea is to understand how end-of-life sectors are not better structured and do not allow for optimal circularity of materials.

Prof. Dr. rer. oec. Volker Tolkmitt

Ecole Nationale Supérieure d‘Arts et Métiers Institute of Technology (Bordeaux)

After serving as Vice-Rector for Education and Deputy Rector of Mittweida University of Applied Sciences since 2017, Prof. Volker Tolkmitt assumed the role of Rector on 15 February 2023.

He studied economics and business administration at TU Berlin, where he completed a part-time doctorate on European integration and financial markets at the Chair of International Economic Relations. From 2000 to 2006, he was head of the banking studies programme at the Berufsakademie Sachsen, Staatliche Studienakademie Leipzig. Since 2006, he has been engaged in teaching and research at the professorship “General Business Administration” at Mittweida University of Applied Sciences. 

He has also held the position of Dean of the Faculty of Economics at Mittweida University of Applied Sciences from 2009 to 2015. From 2015 to 2017, Professor Tolkmitt was a member of the University Council at Mittweida University of Applied Sciences.

Ioana DEWANDELER

European Commission | Policy Officer Higher Education

Ioana Dewandeler is a Policy Officer for Higher Education in the  European Commission’s Directorate General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture where she is mainly in charge of the European Universities initiative. Ioana has over 15 years prior experience in various positions within the European Commission in the fields of higher education policy, strategy for the education, youth and sports programme Erasmus+, social sciences and humanities in research and innovation, and the socio-economic dimension of transport research policies.

She studied economic and social public administration and EU law and litigation in Romania and France.

 

Prof. Benoît GRASSER

Université de Lorraine

Benoît Grasser received a PhD degree in economic sciences in 1997. From 1999 until now, he is a teacher and researcher at Université of Lorraine (assistant professor until 2015, full professor after this date). He teaches in a School of Management (IAE Nancy School of Management), more precisely in the field of organization theories and human resources management (HRM). He had been in charge of degrees in HRM (L & M levels) for more than 15 years. As director of degree programs, he has paid particular attention to the development of work-study programs and to relations with the socioeconomic world. Based on his teaching experience, he has also written three manuals for Vuibert, a well-known French academic publisher. In the field of research, he has held direction responsibilities in laboratories or research teams; in particular, from 2016 to 2022 he was the deputy-director of CEREFIGE (European Center for Research in Financial Economics and Business Management), one of the major French laboratories in management sciences (170 members and about 40 PhD students). Between 2020 and 2022 he has been in charge of mission for the Vice-president Research of the University of Lorraine, and in July 2022 he became Vice-president in the research policy field.

Dr. Julia SISHCHUK

Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg

Julia Sishchuk is lead of the Work Package “Propelling educational innovation” in EURECA-PRO. Since 2021 she coordinates the cooperation of the partner universities within the Education Council of EURECA-PRO with a mission of conceptualization, development and implementation of joint/multiple study programmes at Bachelor and Master levels, establishment of the doctoral school and life-long learning academy as a part of educational programme of the alliance. She has a PhD in Linguistics and many years of teaching experience at the university. She was involved in numerous international research, educational and exchange projects.

Agata DUDEK

Képos (collective interest cooperative society)

Agata Dudek is a project coordinator at a cooperative enterprise (SCIC Kèpos) in Nancy, France, dedicated to fostering economic and social transition at the local level. Her responsibilities include enhancing cooperation among local actors and showcasing the tangible benefits of collaboration. With a diploma in sociology and a background in European affairs from the College of Europe, she has made her marks in coordinating international projects and evaluating public policies within the Polish administration. She maintains a keen interest in understanding the mechanisms that drive effective systems.

Aralia Muñiz Fernandez

Universidad de León

Aralia Muñiz Fernández is a third-year Economics student at the University of León, distinguished by her profound commitment to student representation and active involvement in various university and national organizations. At the University of León, she is a member of the EURECA-PRO Student Co-Creation Group/Student Council, contributing to the future of higher education in Europe. As the Secretary of the University Debate Club and a member of the cinematographic debate group, she fosters critical thinking and public speaking skills among her peers. She is also an ESA24 alumna, having participated in panel 3 “Cohesion through budget policies,” where she engaged in high-level discussions on European budgetary cohesion. 

Within her faculty, she serves as the Student Representative of the Economics degree, advocating for her peers’ academic and extracurricular interests, and as the internal and external subdelegate of the Faculty of Economics and Business, playing a pivotal role in liaising between students and faculty administration. Additionally, she is an active member of the Internship Committee and the TFG (Final Year Project) Commission, contributing to the enhancement of academic programs and student opportunities. Her involvement extends to national associations as a member of AEALCEE (Spanish Association of Economic and Business Sciences), working in the communication office and the national debate working group to promote economic sciences and business education across Spain. Representing her faculty on higher platforms within the university, Aralia serves on the Board of the Department of Management and Business Economics and the Department of Economics and Business Administration and is also a member of the Board of Students of the University of León, collaborating on university-wide student issues. 

Through her extensive involvement in student representation, academic committees, and national associations, Aralia Muñiz Fernández exemplifies dedication, leadership, and a commitment to enhancing the educational experience and fostering a collaborative university environment.