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"Manuel de l’ingénieur du XXIè siècle" Présentation

The 55th MetSem meeting will take place on Thursday, 15 January 2025 at 2 p.m. Christophe Goupil will present the book Manuel de l’ingénieur du XXIᵉ siècle (Engineer's Handbook for the 21st Century), coordinated by Xavier Becquey, Pierre-Jean Cottalorda, Christophe Goupil, Florent Haffner, Cécile Renouard and Myriam Saadé.

Event, MetSem seminar

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Salle 900, 9 rue de la Chaise, 75007 Paris

On the occasion of the recent publication of the Manuel de l’ingénieur du XXIᵉ siècle (Les Liens qui Libèrent, 2025), a reflection is offered on the role of engineers in an era of ecological and social upheaval. At a time when the very notion of scientific expertise is being challenged by actors entirely external to the disciplinary fields they mention, the need to reflect on the role of the engineer becomes imperative. The days are long gone when the engineer was positioned as a societal actor whose role was to solve technical problems without any broader civic consideration.

Far removed from the disagreements that still sometimes pit the humanities against the sciences and technologies, it is necessary to reframe the role of the engineer as an actor involved in solving problems within highly interwoven sociotechnical environments.

It is equally important to reaffirm that, while all disciplines deserve equal respect and attention, it nevertheless remains the case that some – particularly those encompassing the natural sciences – must be considered first and foremost to ensure that our societies do not offer solutions that flagrantly violate the laws of physics and biology.

At the same time, the engineering community must learn to listen to society and to create the conditions for a lasting dialogue. It must also acknowledge that its knowledge of its own disciplinary fields is not, on its own, sufficient to meet the challenges at hand, nor does it exhaust the questions that arise.

Developed by the Campus de la Transition, the Manuel de l’ingénieur du XXIᵉ siècle seeks to move beyond a technicist vision by integrating values of responsibility and sobriety. This approach is carried out by the FORTES method developed by the Campus de la Transition, which first introduced this interdisciplinary framework in its foundational work, the Manuel de la Grande Transition (Les Liens qui Libèrent, 2021).

Biography

Christophe Goupil is a professor at Université Paris Cité. He is co-founder of the Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Tomorrow’s Energies (LIED UMR 8236). In this capacity, he conducts research in physics in constant and close dialogue with several disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, particularly macroeconomics. Christophe Goupil co-edited and co-authored the two aforementioned works.

Practical information

Advance registration is required (no later than Wednesday, 14 January).

Date : Thursday 15, January 2026

Time : 14h00 - 16h00

Adress : Salle 900, 9 rue de la Chaise, 75007 Paris.