From Research to European Action: How EURECA-PRO Has Brought Out a New Collective of Researchers
What motivated you to choose a mobility within the EURECA-PRO alliance, and why this partner in particular?
I have been committed to the EURECA-PRO initiative for more than a year thanks to our local co-creation group which allows to represent the students from Université de Lorraine (UL) into the EURECA-PRO alliance. Through this commitment, I have discovered great opportunities to further my knowledge about the issues of the sustainable transition and I have met fellow researchers, dedicated to related topics of education-research, coming from other European universities of the alliance. In that regard, the EURECA-PRO meeting I took part in Hasselt was a cornerstone in order to put forward a new research agenda, to which I am committed, led by a team of academic researchers from UL and other universities of the alliance. It also helped me to further my thoughts about the pedagogical part of my work, as I am currently leading a doctoral project in order to pursue a career in academia.
This meeting, thanks to the EURECA-PRO initiative, allowed me to reinforce my professional skills and my understanding of what is the role of universities, and researchers, in a sustainable future. I really recommend this experience!
How has your mobility enriched your teaching, research, or professional practice?
The discussions during the different sessions and key-note presentations of this event allowed me to better understand how, as academic researchers, we can contribute to support the European sustainable transition. On the one hand, it helped me to strengthen the research initiative we are currently leading about the topics of “sustainable resources and mining” as we met new researchers coming from other universities of the alliance who are interested by this topic of research. This can lead to new international and interdisciplinary openings for my work. On the other hand, it gave me a perspective on how I can improve my lectures in order to further the knowledge of my students concerning the issues of sustainability. It is one of our fundamental function, as academic researchers, to help our students become more critically aware citizens regarding these issues.
What ideas, methods, or best practices have you been able to bring back to your institution, and what future collaboration opportunities do you see emerging from this mobility?
I must admit that, for the moment, I still need to fully “digest” what I have learnt in order to rethink my approach of teaching. Once I will have managed to translate these new ideas into improved educational practices, I will be able to discuss it with my fellow colleagues from the geography department and to contribute to our collective thoughts on the matter. Concerning research, this mobilty allowed me to represent a innovative research initiative in front of the alliance, to meet new members interested to join us and to obtain an official recognition of our initiative from the alliance, as we are now recognised as an EURECA-PRO “flagship”. We will be able to take advantage of a welcome support from EURECA-PRO to put forward new educational and research actions related to the burning topic of the provision of critical raw materials for the European sustainable transition.
Original Version
This interview was originally published in French by the University of Lorraine.
We are pleased to share the English version with the EURECA-PRO community, making Dorian Maillard’s experience accessible to a wider international audience.
