"Grand Témoin" Ceremony with Philippe Bihouix

The "Grand Témoin" ceremony kicks off the "Sustainability" course by bringing together all first-year Bachelor's students (BA2) in the majestic setting of the SwissTech Convention Center. Co-organized by the SHS Program and the Environmental Science and Engineering Section (SSIE), this event offers students the opportunity to begin this unique course with a face-to-face meeting with a prominent figure committed to environmental issues.

The 2026 "Grand Témoin" guest: 
Philippe Bihouix, CEO of AREP
This year, we are delighted to welcome Philippe Bihouix, an engineer specializing in mineral resources and related technological issues, who is also a pioneer in low-tech solutions. A graduate of École Centrale Paris, he began his career at Bouygues Construction as a construction engineer and went on to work in France and internationally in various industrial sectors (energy, chemicals, transportation, telecommunications, aeronautics, etc.) as a consulting engineer, project manager, and in management positions. He is a member of the board of directors of the Institut Momentum think tank from 2011 to 2022. In December 2019, he joined AREP, a subsidiary of SNCF, where he is now CEO.

Student Awards:
The ceremony is also an opportunity to present the 2025 student awards for the best posters in the “Global Issues” program taken by third-semester Bachelor's students, as well as for the best Master's thesis in the SHS Program.

• The three best “Global Issues” posters for 2025 (the first will be presented by its authors during the ceremony):
  1. « La sécheresse dans un village subsaharien: des effets aux solutions » Course Climate change A 
  2. « Réchauffement climatique et vignobles français : impacts et solutions » Course  Climate change B
  3. « Le métro, une source de chaleur inexploitée » Course Sustainable energy innovation
• Best Master's thesis in Social Sciences and Humanities 2025:
  « Why Japan? The cultural and historical roots of bonsai's flourishing »​ by Gabriele Dall'aglio (Neuro-X)​, Course "Contemporary Japan" directed by Irène Vogel Chevroulet

• 17:15 - Welcome
  Anna Fontcuberta i Morral, EPFL President
  Rudolf Mahrer, Director of the SHS Program
  Devis Tuia, co-director SSIE

• 17:30 - Student Awards
  Best poster « Global Issues » (BA3)
  Best SHS Master's thesis
   
• 17:45 - Presentation of the course “Sustainability” (BA2)
• Jérôme Chappellaz, professor at SENSE laboratory (Smart Environmental Sensing in Extreme Environnements)
   
• 18h00 : Lecture by Philippe Bihouix followed by a Q&A session with the audience 
   
• 19h00 - End