A laboratory boat on the Saône and Rhône rivers

Environment and Biodiversity

  • Location:
    Rhône-Alpes
  • Sponsor:
    Guillaume Amara
  • Grant:
    €​4,919 to the Selection Committee on March 29, 2023 (Jury Prize at the 2023 Student Solidarity Awards)

Project Leader

Juste 2°

A transdisciplinary initiative, the Saône 2 Rhône project is led by the Juste 2°C association. From the upper reaches of the Saône to the Rhone delta, the project invites local stakeholders to reflect on their environment, understand the impact of human activity on waterways, and question the way in which we wish to inhabit them, today and in the future.

Juste 2.0°C brings together some thirty students from a wide range of backgrounds. Coming from the Ecole Normale Supérieure de la rue d'Ulm, the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, the Institut Agro Rennes, the University of Montpellier and Sciences Po Lyon, they share a collective conviction: that the scientific approach can be used by everyone to question and understand their environment.

Through interdisciplinary research, educational workshops and awareness-raising activities, the association aims to disseminate scientific culture in the fields of environmental sciences and the study of anthropization.

Created around an initial project for a scientific campaign in Antarctica between October 2021 and March 2022, Juste 2.0° will embark on the "Saône 2 Rhône" project in 2023.

A barge converted into a mobile laboratory

Winner of the Veolia Foundation's 2023 Student Solidarity Prize, Saône 2 Rhône consists of a field campaign starting in March 2024 and ending in July of the same year. The program includes a trip down the Saône and Rhône rivers from Port-sur-Saône to Arles on a laboratory barge. At each stopover, the students will take samples and organize the collection of scientific data.

The research component is an interdisciplinary field study designed to explore the socio-ecosystems of the Saône and Rhône rivers, using an interdisciplinary approach combining geography, chemistry, biology, sociology and anthropology. The aim is to establish a dialogue between academic and local knowledge, involving local residents through participatory approaches. The research students are supervised by researchers who are experts in their fields. The data collected during the field campaign will be analyzed in collaboration with partner research laboratories, and the results will be published in the form of scientific articles.

Awareness-raising and education

In line with Juste 2.0°'s transdisciplinary ambition, the project is supported by a variety of partners: laboratories, companies, associations, schools, local authorities... The aim is to encourage dialogue between science and society (local players and the general public) on issues relating to regional development.

The members of Juste 2.0° intend to target schoolchildren in particular. Volunteer classes along the Saône will be given specific support throughout the year, and will be able to meet the field team during an educational stopover. 

The association is also planning conferences, meetings and participatory workshops to enable as many people as possible to become familiar with the scientific approach underpinning the project. Like Juste 2.0°, Saône 2 Rhône aims to be open, rigorous but accessible.