Philippe ThalmannPhilippe Thalmann was born in Lausanne in 1963. He graduated in Economics from the University of Lausanne in 1984, where he earned a postgraduate diploma in Economics in 1986. Mr. Thalmann entered the doctoral program in Economics of Harvard University (Cambridge, U.S.A.) in 1986, which he completed with a Ph.D. in 1990. His dissertation is entitled: "Essays in the Economics of Government Revenues and Spending". Returning to Switzerland, he was hired as an assistant professor first at the University of Geneva (teachings in Public Economics), then at the University of Lausanne (teachings in Econometrics and Introductory Economics). Since 1994, Mr. Thalmann is associate professor of Economics as the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology at Lausanne.
Claudia Rebeca Binder SignerClaudia R. Binder, a Swiss, Canadian and Colombian citizen, was born in Montreal and spent most of her childhood in Switzerland and Colombia. She studied at ETH Zurich from 1985 to 1996, earning a degree in biochemistry and then a PhD in environmental sciences. After conducting her post-doctoral research at the University of Maryland in the US from 1996 to 1998, she returned to Switzerland and took a position as a senior research scientist at ETH Zurich, studying the interaction between human and environmental systems at the Institute for Natural and Social Science Interface. In 2006, Binder joined the University of Zurich as an assistant professor in the Department of Geography, and in 2009 moved to the University of Graz in Austria where she served as a full professor of systems science. In 2011, she took a position at the University of Munich’s Department of Geography as a full professor of human-environment relations.
Binder joined EPFL in March 2016 and set up the Laboratory for Human-Environment Relations in Urban Systems (HERUS) at ENAC; she also holds the La Mobilière Chair on Urban Ecology and Sustainable Living.
Her research involves analyzing, modelling and assessing the transition of urban systems towards sustainability. She looks in particular at how we can better understand the dynamics of urban metabolism, what characterizes a sustainable city, and what drives and hinders transformation processes. She does so by combining knowledge from social, natural and data science. Her research focuses on food, energy, and sustainable living and transport in urban systems.
In Switzerland, Binder was appointed to the Research Council, Programs Division of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) in 2016 and serves on the Steering Committee of the SNSF’s National Research Program 71, “Managing Energy Consumption” and the Swiss Competence Centers for Energy Research (SCCER). She is also a member of the Steering Board on Sustainability Research for the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences. In 2019, she was elected as a member of the University Council of the University of Munich (LMU).
At EPFL, Binder is the academic director of Design Together, a cross-disciplinary teaching initiative. She was appointed to the management team of the Energy Center in 2018 and as head of the working group on EPFL’s energy and sustainability strategy in 2019.
Konstantin Svetlozarov Gavazov2018 - to present: WSL, Switzerland; SNSF Ambizione research associate 2015 - 2017: CIRC Abisko, Umeå University, Sweden; Postdoc in permafrost ecology and climate change 2014 - 2015: WSL, Switzerland; Postdoc in peatlands ecology and biogeochemistry 2009 - 2013: École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland; PhD in Ecology. 2006 - 2009: Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands; MSc in Ecology 2002 - 2005: Jacobs University Bremen, Germany; BSc in Biological Sciences.
Laurent TacherDiplomas
Doctorat ès sciences (PhD) in quantitative hydrogeology, Neuchâtel university, 1992
Diplôme dHydrogéologue (post-graduate diploma), Neuchâtel university, 1988
Diplôme de Géologue (master), Lausanne university, 1986
Working experience
Since 1993, researcher at GEOLEP/EPFL in hydrogeology and engineering geology, including definition and funding of the researches. Author of many scientific publications and research reports about groundwater resources, aquifer protection, geothermal exploitation, landslides, mainly in the aspects of numerical and structural modeling. Scientific management of PhDs, postgraduate and master diplomas. Member of EPFL Environment doctoral school commission. Lecturer at EPFL and Lausanne/Geneva universities. Consultant at GEOMOD SA, Lausanne. Initiative and organization of the GEOLEP contribution to Swiss Virtual Campus Natural hazards (2002). Initiative and organization of the master in Engineering geology at ELSTE/Ecole lémanique des sciences de la Terre (2000). Consultant at International Geomechanical Commission about the hydrogeological impact of french nuclear testing in Mururoa (1997-1998). Lecturer at Neuchâtel university in pumping tests analysis (till 1998).
1991-1993: Private consulting
Conceptual geological models for NAGARA/CEDRA (Swiss society for nuclear wastes management). Pumping tests analysis in fractured media (software development) for « Centre de Recherches Fondamentales et Appliquées, Sion », Neuchâtel university and several private companies.
1986-1991: Assistant at Neuchâtel university, software development in quantitative hydrogeology. PhD dissertation: SPHINX, a groundwater prospection simulation software. Assistant at Lausanne university, Geological Institute, for several field trips in Himalaya, India.
Jean-Louis ScartezziniDirector of EPFL Solar Energy and Building Physics Laboratory (1994-present); Founder & Director of ENAC Institute of Infrastructures, Resources and Environment (2002-2009); Founder & Director of EPFL Doctoral Program in Environment (2002-2009); Co-Director of EPFL Institute of Building Technology (1994-1997); Associate Professor of Building Physics at EPFL (1994-1997); Associate Professor of Building Physics at University of Geneva (1990-1997); Group Leader & Research Fellow at the EPFL Solar Energy Research Group (1981-1989); Research Fellow at the Applied Geophysics Institute of University of Lausanne (1980-1981).
