A "Innovative Training Network (ITN)" project
The "S2S-Future" project, "Signal propagation in source-to-sink for the future of Earth resources and energies", is coordinated by François Guillocheau and Cécile Robin, lecturers at the University of Rennes 1 and the Geosciences Rennes laboratory (CNRS/UnivRennes1), a member of the Observatoire des sciences de l'Univers de Rennes (OSUR).
The "S2S-Future" consortium, bringing together 21 participants (10 academics and 11 companies) from 7 European countries (France, Switzerland, Great Britain, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and a non-European partner, India), will train 15 doctoral students through an original training plan, entirely co-invented by the project's academic and company partners.
Rated 99 out of 100 by the evaluators, this Innovative Training Network project, one of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions supported by the European Commission, is one of only 12 proposals selected this year on the theme of the environment (success rate of 7.4% on a European scale).
Scientific theme and objective of the doctoral programme
The aim of this NTI "S2S-Future" is to describe and model the response of the Earth's surface to tectonic and climatic signals over geological time, from upstream erosion zones ("source") to downstream sedimentation zones ("sink").
The Earth's surface is indeed the domain of complex interactions between humans and their physical, chemical and biological environment, including sediments. These sediments have been produced, transported and deposited on the Earth's surface for at least 4 billion years.
These sediments represent geological resources (water resources, energy, aggregates, metals...) or can be used to store various anthropogenic wastes (CO2, nuclear, chemical) which are of major importance for the development of humanity.
The objective of this NIT "S2S-Future" is therefore to train tomorrow's researchers, who will be able to better predict the location, structures (i.e. heterogeneities) of sediments and their mineralogical/physical properties (particle size distribution, porosity, permeability, etc.). This will be achieved through the complete integration of the sediment system in space and time, from the upstream sediment source to the downstream sediment sink, thus known as Source-to-sink (S2S).
This ambition is fundamental to meet the growing needs of humanity, in a context of significant and rapid changes in societies, with their consequences on the global climate.
Support of the "European Projects" platform
In the success of this project, it is worth noting the decisive role played by the Plateforme Projets Européens (2PE) Bretagne, which, since 2013, has been supporting and promoting the participation of the Breton academic community in the European framework programmes dedicated to research and innovation, particularly in the Horizon 2020 framework.
