Projects

In my work I aim to reduce the environmental impacts of research. Some of my current projects are:

The Sustainable HECAP+ Initiative

The Sustainable HECAP+ initiative is a grassroots initiative consisting of scientists in the High Energy Physics, Cosmology, Astroparticle Physics, and Hadron and Nuclear Physics (HECAP+) communities who are concerned about the climate crisis and advocating for a transition towards fairer and more sustainable practices in our fields. We want to limit the impact of our research on the world’s climate and ecosystems by striving for a sustainable and just future. We formed this initiative after the first Sustainable High Energy Physics workshop that was held back in 2021. We wanted a tangible outcome of the workshop and so came together (completely remotely!) to write a reflection document. 2 years later we made “Environmental sustainability in basic research: a perspective from HECAP+” public on UN World Environment Day 2023, and we expect publication in JINST in the coming months. In the document we aim to reflect on the environmental impacts of our fields, highlight best practice and provide recommendations to individuals, groups and institutions to make positive changes.

Version 2.0 of our reflection document is available to download. It is also possible to endorse the document as an individual or an organisation.

The Open Research Life Cycle Assessment Repository

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as a tool to account for the full range of environmental impacts of resource use in commodities or services is a first step in reducing these impacts. There is an increasing necessity to account for these aspects in the planning, running and end-of-life of scientific experiments and research infrastructure. My colleagues and I present the concept for an Open Research Life Cycle Assessment (ORLCA) repository to support this endeavour. It is designed to comply fully with the principles of findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability (FAIR). We are in the process of applying for funding to kick this project off!