News
ESR shares knowledge through Circular Economy and Industrial Ecology lectures
Cresting ESR Santiago PEREZ, working at the CREIDD research lab at the Université de Technologie de Troyes (UTT), was invited to participate as a guest speaker during the UTT Summer Program. During the 6 weeks of the Summer Program, the students, coming from different disciplines, engaged in a series of lectures and p
resentations on topics such as Sustainable Studies, Life Cycle Thinking, Circular Economy and Industrial Ecology.
Using a series of games on Circular Economy and Industrial Symbiosis created and adapted at the CREIDD research lab, Santiago proposed a series of reflective discussions with the visiting students. From environmental engineers to data analysts, the students from the University of Michigan, US, and the Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, actively participated of the two 4-hours lectures proposed by the Cresting ESR. The first lecture was on Circular Economy, its limits and opportunities, while the second one was dedicated to Industrial Ecology and its territorial challenges.
Santiago was invited to participate by the Dr Junbeum KIM, Associate Professor at the CREIDD research lab from the UTT, and editor of the international journal Resources, Conservation and Recycling. Both members of the CREIDD research team are committed to empower students to contribute ideas towards solutions to solve society’s more pressing environmental problems by applying the principles of sustainability in areas like Industrial Ecology, Life Cycle Thinking and Circular Economy.
Cresting researcher participates in Ellen MacArthur Foundation Programme – From Linear to Circular
Anna Diaz (Cresting Work Package 2.2), who conducts her PhD research at the Institute of System Sciences, Innovation and Sustainability Research (University of Graz, Austria) will be participating in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation programme “From linear to circular” during May and June 2019. The core element of 
the programme is the development of a circular economy-based collaborative project with international practitioners and the participation in EMF workshops in London. This provides a great opportunity to broaden the impact scope of CRESTING beyond academia by engaging in transdisciplinary knowledge generation with a broad range of stakeholders. We look forward to future updates from Anna and her work with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
Cresting Researchers visit Bärenschützklamm gorge, Mixnitz, Austria
Cresting researchers from the University of Technology of Troyes, University of Hull and the Institute of Systems Sciences, Innovation and Sustainability Research (SIS) at the University of Graz visited Bärenschützklamm, about an hour’s drive from the city of Graz, Austria. Past roaring waterfalls, bizarre rock formations, rare flora and fauna, they hiked through one of the longest active gorges in Austria. 
The exciting ascent involved conquering 350 metres of altitude, 164 wooden bridges and ladders along 1300 metres.
See their journey here.
VIRTUOUS CIRCLES – Building a Circular Economy in Portugal
Tivoli Congress Centre, Lisbon
Last Friday Cresting researchers Natacha Klein and Katelin Opferkuch attended a conference titled “Virtuous Circles: Building a Circular Economy in Portugal” hosted by the European Commission in Lisbon. Speakers from Industry and Government, both Portuguese and international, were invited to discuss the present reality of waste management in Portugal in relation to progress seen in other European Union countries.
The debates centered on achievements made since the development of the Portuguese Action Plan for Circular Economy in 2017, as well as key opportunities for improvement in the coming years. Speakers from non-Portuguese contexts provided valuable recommendations to drive investment for local circular projects such as; adapting traditional Portuguese industrial activities to increase re-manufacturing of materials and implementing a national resource efficiency strategy in order to increase competitiveness of Portuguese industry.
One major takeaway was the urgent need for stronger regulatory bodies to enforce fines for actors who are not complying with waste management legislation. It was repeatedly discussed that non-compliance in Portugal has no consequences for companies.
Currently, Lisbon’s recycling rate is at a low 33% of total waste collected, forcing the city to implement ambitious schemes to improve all stages of waste management. One exciting update will be the increase in the number of local eco-centres throughout the metropolitan region of Lisbon. At these eco-centres citizens can access repair services for household 
items, as well as act as collection points for unusual materials to be recycled. Other Portuguese circular economy initiatives demonstrated how the country is willing to take circularity to the next level.
Overall, there was a strong sense of support for circular economy initiatives from the Portuguese Government. So much so, that the Minister of Environment and Energy Transition – João Pedro Matos Fernande declared that “linearity is no longer an option.”
Cresting researchers share their experience of Workshop 2 in Utrecht, Netherlands
Cresting researchers Katelin Opferkuch, Erik Roos Lindgreen and Anna Walker have written a short feature
in a newsletter (Page 9) of AISME (Italian Academia for Commodity Sciences), published yesterday. The researchers share their experience of the second Cresting Workshop in Utrecht, Netherlands earlier this year.
Cresting researchers at UTT use community mapping workshops at the Barséquanais to explore territorial capabilities for sustainability
The research team CREIDD from the University of Technology in Troyes (UTT), France, in partnership with the Chênelet Institute and the Communaute de Communes de Barséquanais, launched the Grand Chambardement project last week in Bar sur Seine. The project is looking for the sustainable re-dynamisation of the territory of Barséquanais using a participatory and collaborative methodology. As part of the first stage of the project, 
Santiago Perez, doctoral candidate at the UTT and Cresting Early Stage Researcher (ESR), in collaboration with students from the masters IMEDD programme from the same university, designed and put in place four workshop sessions all along the territory of the Barséquanais. The workshops used a participatory community mapping methodology to build a diagnosis of the towns visited and to do an initial exploration of the territorial potential of the inhabitants of each town.
For the second part of the project, another week of workshops will take place in July 2019. Citizens will be invited to identify potential synergies among the different actors that could enable the development of collaborative strategies to empower the community towards their territorial sustainability. The activities planned include conferences introducing the Circular Economy and a Design Thinking workshop to be held by Estephania Delgadillo, doctoral candidate at the UTT and Cresting ESR, where different territorial actors will be invited to conceptualise innovative circular business models for satisfying the needs of the territory.