École de Technologie Supérieure
AC-10: Support for Sustainability Research

A bachelor's degree course entitled "Tools for Sustainable Development for Engineers" encourages many students to pursue research projects related to concrete applications of sustainable development for engineers (https://www.etsmtl.ca/Programmes-Etudes/1er-cycle/Fiche-de-cours?Sigle=ING500). ÉTS also offers a master's degree in environmental engineering (https://www.etsmtl.ca/etudes/deuxieme-cycle/maitrise-genie-environnement) and in renewable energy and energy efficiency (https://www.etsmtl.ca/etudes/deuxieme-cycle/maitrise-genie-energies-renouvelables-efficacite-energetique).

In developing its strategy to achieve carbon neutrality, ÉTS has set the goal of increasing the resources allocated to climate change research. As a result, it created the ÉTS Climate Change Research Fund (or FRECC). It is the one and only specific ÉTS research fund and is dedicated to funding greenhouse gas reduction projects/technologies.

The FRECC was created to :
- stimulate research that contributes to the fight against climate change by mobilizing more financial resources
- grow the available funds over time to maximize the impact;
- contribute to the awareness of the ÉTS community on climate change issues.

FRECC issues a minimum of one call for projects per year. The first was issued in June 2021. Specific calls for projects detailing the terms and conditions will be issued at each opportunity. Depending on growth and availability of funds, more than one call per year may occur in the future. Here is a press release on the winner of the first call for projects: https://www.etsmtl.ca/nouvelles/2021/fonds-recherche-ets-changements-climatiques-premier-laureat.

Otherwise, The strategic research plan of ÉTS has 8 research areas, one of which is entitled ""Sustainable development and circular economy and clean energy"". Within this framework, ÉTS is demonstrating its desire to become a leader in this field. First, it hosts and pilots the Centre interdisciplinaire de recherche en opérationalisation du développement durable (CIRODD), a strategic grouping of the Fond de recherche du Québec - Nature et technologies (FRQNT) and Société et culture (FQRSC) that brings together 90 researchers in Quebec, including 15 from ÉTS, who benefit from the support of this grouping and of ÉTS (https://cirodd.org/nous-joindre/). Secondly, it has created the Centre d'études et de recherches intersectorielles en économie circulaire (CERIEC) which offers an important space for experimentation to researchers and engineering students, particularly in terms of innovations designed to facilitate the transition to a sustainable future. CERIEC centralizes and coordinates all research projects in this field throughout the province of Quebec (https://www.etsmtl.ca/recherche/laboratoires-et-chaires-ets/ceriec). CERIEC, in partnership with Desjardins, has also created the Circular Economy Acceleration Labs: certain sectors or business strategies related to the circular economy, identified as priorities (e.g. plastics, construction, agri-food, economy of functionality, etc.), will be the object of accelerated deployment through devices called ""Acceleration Labs"". Based on the model of living labs, they are developed and managed in an ecosystem approach. ÉTS also supports initiatives in sustainable development through two research chairs in engineering, Marcelle Gauvreau, on environmentally friendly composite materials and on the impact of climate change on water resources.

ÉTS was among the first Canadian universities to sign the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which promotes other metrics than journal impact factors to evaluate scholarly research results. As a result, prepublication versions of articles, datasets, software, protocols, researcher training, social impact and policy changes resulting from the research will now be considered when evaluating the research output of ÉTS researchers. https://www.etsmtl.ca/nouvelles/2021/dora-ets/

The library's collection development guidelines include sustainability-minded elements, such as favouring electronic documents, to ensure accessibility to a maximum of students.
In parallel, collection development is aligned with the research areas studied at ETS so any interest in sustainability will lead the library to acquire documents about these topics to support students and researchers. The library can also accompany faculty members in the development of training or exercises related to sustainability. For instance, the library offers a workshop and has helped to set up workshops as part of the course: TIN501: Environment, Technology and Society. The library occasionally highlights books about themes related to sustainability throughout the year by setting up book presentations in the entrance. Book presentations have been done for Earth Day and World Environment Day, and also about green building and green architecture (topics taught at ETS in the construction engineering department).