Program 2021

August 30th
August 31th
September 1st
September 2nd
September 3rd

Monday – The complex dynamics between the positive and negative impacts of ICT

This first day aims at leveraging SICT2020 to summarize the current debate on global trends regarding ICT, the industry's footprint, and to broadly introduce sustainability in the ICT sector. We do this also by contrasting speakers with different approaches. The enabling effects of ICT with respect to the environmental challenges of our time will be put in perspective with the footprint of the sector. The latter must be evaluated taking a systemic approach, tackling the subject from material extraction to rebound effects. The attendees will have the opportunity to challenge the speakers through a collective generation of questions in perspective of the afternoon debate.

The workshop will be introduced and will span throughout the whole week to allow the participants to build on the insights from the conferences. A wide variety of topics and production format will be encouraged during this week workshop, ranging from technology impact assessment and feasibility study to the expression of a critical opinion on the week's content.

  • Morning

  • Welcoming SICT participants 08:00 - 09:00
    Welcome! Doors open at 08:00.

    Reception and breakfast from 08:15 to 08:45.

    Meeting in the main room at 8:45.
    Morning
  • SICT2021 kick-off 09:00 - 09:25
    Jean-Pierre Raskin kicks-off SICT2021, looks back on SICT2020 and introduces the "Now, New, Next" methodology that will guide your personal reflections throughout the week.
    Morning
  • Session #1 09:30 - 10:45
    09:30 - 10:05 : Steffen Lange
    Digitalization and energy consumption: does ICT reduce energy demand?

    10:10 - 10:45 - Jens Malmodin
    The ICT and E&M sector's footprints are flat or decreasing and in some parts decreasing rather fast
    Morning
  • Session #2 11:15 - 13:10
    11:15 - 11:50 : Jacques Combaz
    Rebound effects, a matter of perspective?

    11:55 - 12:30 : Gauthier Roussihle
    Assessing claims of avoided emissions in the digital sector

    12:35 - 13:10 - Reyna Ubeda
    Bringing sustainability to smart cities using standards
    Morning
  • Morning

  • Afternoon

  • Collective generation of questions 14:10 - 15:25
    Through a special brainstorming activity, you'll generate questions for the 90 minutes panel debate gathering Steffen Lange, Jens Malmodin, Jacques Combaz, Gauthier Roussihle and Reyna Ubeda.
    Afternoon
  • Panel Debate 15:55 - 17:25
    It's time for the debate gathering our speakers of the day, moderated by Jean-Pierre Raskin and leveraging the questions you generated.
    Afternoon
  • Workshop introduction 17:30 - 17:45
    Jan Tobias Muehlberg introduces the workshop that comes later in the week.
    Afternoon
  • Morning

Tuesday – Getting inspired by technological developments with constraints

The following day takes a multi-disciplinary approach to understand how IT can be used with purpose in social, economical and environmental contexts. Speakers such as economists, computer scientists, and artists will explore its impact on both the environment and individuals. How can we get inspiration from the digital sobriety of developing countries to both bridge disparities brought by ICT, and pave the way for a post-growth resource limited world? This is a typical example of question explored, introducing research area as ICT4D, Human Computer Interaction, and so forth.

To give the participants a chance to get to know each others, they will have the opportunity to pitch their thesis subject during short, non-formal speeches in the "My Thesis in 180 seconds" workshop. The goal : find an accessible way to share their research, and try to tackle the sustainability challenges it will need to address.

  • Morning

  • Reception and breakfast 8:15 - 8:45
    Welcoming SICT participants.
    Morning
  • Day 2 kick-off 8:45 - 9:00
    Reflecting on the previous day and introducing day 2.
    Morning
  • Session #1 9:00 - 10:25
    09:00 - 09:40 : Jay Chen
    Computing, Limits, and Society

    09:45 - 10:25 : Julia Steinberger
    The ultimate engineering challenge: universal well-being within planetary boundaries
    Morning
  • Session #2 10:55 - 13:05
    10:55 - 11:35 : Kelly Widdicks
    Breaking the Cornucopian Paradigm: Towards Moderate Internet Use in Everyday Life

    11:40 - 12:20 : Elina Eriksson
    From the past to the future – tools and design interventions for low carbon futures

    12:25 - 13:05 : Lê Nguyen Hoang
    Tournesol: a solution to AI ethics?
    Morning
  • Morning

Wednesday – In between academia and industry: how can we re-imagine the road ahead?

This third day brings together experts from Big Tech companies and smaller bodies, to investigate strategies adopted by industries when addressing environmental and social issues in their operations. The goal is to connect research concerns to practical issues, using once again a multi-disciplinary approach. Experts from industries such as smartphone manufacturing, data center services, website development, smart nodes will be followed by researchers of related fields in a sequence of short presentations. These will serve as a base for an interactive expert panel.

  • Morning

  • Reception and breakfast 8:15 - 8:45
    Welcoming SICT participants.
    Morning
  • Day 3 kick-off 8:45 - 9:00
    Reflecting on the previous days and introducing day 3.
    Morning
  • Session #1 09:00 - 10:10
    09:00 - 09:20 : Thomas Walewyns
    Responsibility and sustainability with regard to highly reliable and qualified environmental data supply: antagonist or reconcilable?

    09:25 - 09:45 : Frédéric Descamps
    Sustainability @Google

    09:50 - 10:10 : Tom Greenwood
    Web Design for People and Planet
    Morning
  • Session #2 10:40 - 12:00
    10:40 - 11:00 : Marina Proske
    Life Cycle Assessments of the Fairphone

    11:05 - 11:25 : Lê Nguyen Hoang
    Proof of Personhood: towards sustainable crypto-currencies?

    11:30 - 11:50 : Guillaume Mandil
    What role for (ICT) technologies in a sustainability perspective?
    Morning
  • Morning

  • Afternoon

  • Collective generation of questions13:00 - 14:45
    Generating questions for the speakers of the morning sessions.
    Afternoon
  • Interactive Panel Debate 15:15 - 16:45
    Debate with Thomas Walewyns (VOCSens), Marina Proske, Guillaume Mandil, Frédéric Descamps and Tom Greenwood, moderated by Noémie Bidoul.
    Afternoon
  • Morning

Thursday – Hackaton day: turning ideas into actions

The hackaton day will give time to freely formed groups to define individual research topics around sustainable ICT, and building on the insights acquired throughout the week. Once pitched publicly, the participants will work on their projects throughout the day, aiming to present initial results of Friday. By collaborating with like-minded researchers and joining expertise from multiple disciplines and approaches, the goal is to produce opinions and concrete tracks for sustainable solution to ICT-related challenges.

  • Morning

  • Reception and breakfast 08:15 - 08:45
    Welcoming SICT participants.
    Morning
  • Day 4 kick-off 08:45 - 09:00
    Reflecting on previous days and introducing day 4 and the hackaton.
    Morning
  • Hackaton kick-off 09:00 - 09:20
    Hackaton kick-off by Jan Tobias Muehlberg.
    Morning
  • Hackaton part I 09:25 - 11:05
    Each group defines its subject. (More explanations and details on-site).
    Morning
  • Hackaton part II 11:35 - 12:50
    Presentation of the subject and the methodology to the other groups. (More explanations and details on-site).
    Morning
  • Morning

  • Afternoon

  • Hackaton part III 13:50 - 14:50
    Free working time. (More explanations and details on-site).
    Afternoon
  • Hackaton part IV 14:55 - 15:55
    Free working time. (More explanations and details on-site).
    Afternoon
  • Hackaton part IV (continued) 16:25 - 17:40
    Free working time. (More explanations and details on-site).
    Afternoon

  • Evening

  • Gala Dinner 19:00 - ...
    Gala dinner at the restaurant l'Altérez-vous.
    Evening
  • Morning

Friday – Thinking and researching differently

The last day of this doctoral school will allow participants to share their work and reflections, while receiving feedback from other attendees and experts. The last speakers have been selected to spark questions about the societal relevance of the innovations we are driving as researchers, to shed some light on low techs initiatives and how we could orientate our research towards more holistic considerations and more consciousness for sustainability challenges.

The SICT week ends here, but your production and the fruit of your discussion with other attendees and speakers will hopefully live on further through your own research, future articles and even possibly larger scale sustainable projects !

  • Morning

  • Reception & breakfast 08:15 - 09:15
    Welcoming SICT participants for the last time this year.
    Morning
  • Day 5 kick-off 09:15 - 09:30
    Reflecting on the week and introducing the final day.
    Morning
  • Session #1 09:30 - 10:30
    How (not) to build a solar powered internet
    Morning
  • Hackaton part V 11:00 - 11:45
    Finalization of the projects
    Morning
  • Hackaton part VI 11:45 - 12:35
    Presentation of the work produced on Thursday
    Morning
  • Morning

  • Afternoon

  • Hackaton part VI 13:20 - 14:20
    Presentation of the work produced on Thursday
    Afternoon
  • Hackaton part VI (continued) 14:50 - 15:50
    Presentation of the work produced on Thursday
    Afternoon
  • Closing talk 15:55 - 16:10
    Closing talk by Jean-Pierre Raskin et David Bol.
    Afternoon
  • Morning

About SICT

SICT2021 aims to bridge the gap between research in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and the overarching and inter-related social, environmental, and economic questions of our time. This second edition of this doctoral summer school will critically look at the current state of ICT, challenge its mainstream research agenda and underlying assumptions, and discuss the role(s) ICT researchers can play to build a sustainable and desirable future in a finite world. Far from limited to researchers with an engineering background, the event wishes to promote trans-disciplinary interactions on ICT topics by bringing together individuals with a broad range of expertise.

The program of the doctoral summer school has been built to offer a multi-disciplinary and holistic system-view approach to sustainable ICT. While the first edition put the focus on the impact of production steps such as raw materials extraction, SICT2021 aims to build on these insights to delve into another key aspect in the system life cycle: the use phase. This choice naturally orients the discussion towards software-related aspects, which will stand as the central theme addressed throughout the week. From data centers' power consumption to the development of lightweight websites, from mitigating user footprint through Human-Computer Interaction to exploring limits-aware computing for post growth contexts, SICT2021 aims to provide attendees with a broad yet coherent view of the sustainable ICT perspectives through talks, workshops, collective reflections sessions, hands-on sessions, expert panels, and more!

Building upon our experience from the first edition, SICT2021 aims to combine the concept of doctoral school while taking inspiration from sprint events, where participants from various backgrounds join forces to produce concrete deliverables. To that end, lectures, talks and expert panels will be intertwined with workshop sessions, leading up to a hackaton day. Groups of attendees will have the opportunity to work on their own sustainable-ICT-related research projects, benefiting from the expertise and feedback of the SICT speakers, and possibly leading to follow-up research or future publications.

Importantly, this summer school does not aim to introduce specific and highly technical content. Instead, SICT2021 wants participants to take a step back from narrow and very specific research objectives, and rather question the purpose, fate, and impact of the technology we contribute at creating as researchers. While enabling tremendous possibilities once on the market, ICT innovations are rarely questioned in term of societal necessity / pertinence with respect to their footprint, especially previous to their development. Universities exist for the long term: they have a critical role to play on long-term thinking and are responsible for growing the seeds of tomorrow. It is of decisive importance that values governing Universities differ from those dominating the for-profit world.

It is in this context that the SICT doctoral summer school has been created. Some researchers and professors from the UCLouvain/ICTEAM (Science & Technology) were concerned about the socio-environmental impacts of technology as much as global trend pushing towards more performance at the expense of weakened resilience. By wondering how people with different backgrounds could be gathered to question ICT impacts from several perspectives, they came up with SICT2020, the first edition of the project. Indeed, UCLouvain as many other Universities brings many research fields together in one place. Improving interactions between these different fields seemed an interesting way to stimulate research on technology for needs and not for desires allowing also to better sort between what we could do and what we want to do. In order to encourage people with different skills to share with each others, interactive social workshops and collective intelligence modules are in place with ICT as common theme.