Making research more sustainable

Scientific institutions should lead the way and set an example for our collective responsibility to reduce the environmental impact of research. The BIST scientific community has made an explicit commitment to sustainable research, which reinforces our position as responsible members of society and ultimately makes us more competitive.

BIST works towards more sustainable research in various ways. We want to increase awareness of the potentially negative impacts of the work done by our community of researchers and science professionals, and to promote good practises to reduce them. We are working together to establish measures and protocols across all BIST community centres to minimise the environmental impact of our activities. This means for example, that we prioritise sustainability and the reduction of environmental impact when making decisions about the management of our premises and research facilities, or the construction of new ones. One example is the new BIST building for precision medicine research and innovation, which is being constructed at the grounds of the Antic Mercat del Peix. Both the design and the construction criteria of this new building are aimed at obtaining a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Desing (LEED) Platinum certification.

Actions

An active BIST Sustainability Working Group, comprised of both researchers and management personnel who want to contribute to making research more sustainable, has led the way in various awareness raising iniatiatives:

• In 2021, the Green Lab = Cleaner World awareness campaign was launched to encourage the BIST Community to take individual and collective actions to save energy, reduce and manage waste properly, and diminish our carbon footprint, ultimately working together for a cleaner and more sustainable world. The campaign, based in short call-to-action messages, was beautifully illustrated by Marina Juanet.
• In 2024, a BIST Sustainable Research Handbook, authored by the Sustainability Working Group, was released. This handbook contains information about the environmental impact of scientific research, as well as tips to mitigate it. The handbook, which will be included in the welcome package for new BIST Community members, also contains useful information to reduce our footprint at home, and interesting resources to commute to the BIST Community centres in a sustainable manner.