Section: Dissemination

Environmental and societal responsibility

NB: We support the idea of an additional section in future Activity Reports that would be dedicated to actions in connection with our environmental and societal responsibility. We write below content that would fit into it for 2019.

• A discussion on computer ethics was scheduled at our last team seminar. There have been several meetings between permanent researchers to discuss how we can better align our research agenda with the current needs of our society. Our discussions cover aspects such as the environmental and societal impact of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies), and more broadly the role that ICT play in our lives, our role as researchers in computer science, etc. These discussions have led us to consider these issues as a research topic that we should investigate in the near future.

• Sophie Quinton and Jean-Bernard Stefani contributed to the so-called “MakeSEnS” working group appointed by the CEO of Inria to propose a list of concrete actions that the institute could take to tackle the current environmental crisis [24].

• Sophie Quinton has been mandated by Patrick Gros (Director of the Inria Grenoble – Rhône-Alpes research center) to organize discussions and actions regarding the environmental and societal impact of our research at Inria Grenoble Rhône-Alpes.

• Sophie Quinton is a member of the GDS EcoInfo (https://ecoinfo.cnrs.fr/). Her actions as member of EcoInfo include: leading a discussion group on the environmental impact of collaborative platforms as part of a two-day seminar organized at Mines ParisTech (http://www.mines-paristech.fr/Actualites/Ingenieurs-et-transitions-environnementales/4116); and contributing to a roadmap regarding the environmental and societal impact of ICT prepared by the Conseil National du Numérique (https://cnnumerique.fr/) at the government's request.

• Sophie Quinton co-chairs a working group of the GDR CIS associated with the Center for Internet and Society (http://cis.cnrs.fr/) focused on environmental issues.

• Sophie Quinton is part of the scientific committee of the upcoming “COP2 étudiante” (https://cop2etudiante.org/).