Aurore Fransolet

After completing a PhD in Environmental Science (2014 - 2019) and working as a Climate Policy Expert for the Belgian Federal Climate Change Department (2019 - 2022), I joined in autumn 2022 the Université libre de Bruxelles as a full-time Senior Research Fellow. Throughout this career path, I have been pursuing the objective of contributing to the fundamental transformations of societies in their relations to nature towards greater sustainability and justice.

In line with this objective, I am developing a future-oriented research line on the governance of social-ecological transitions in a multi-level perspective. This line of research lies at the interface between the fields of social ecological economics and futures studies. My investigations focus on exploring visions of alternative, socially just and ecologically sustainable futures, along with the changes in policy, polity and politics needed to bring about these futures. I also carry out critical research on mainstream future-oriented tools used to address social-ecological problems (e.g. techno- and macro-economic models) and rethink these futures approaches. In this work, I develop an inter-/transdisciplinary approach articulating various qualitative research and prospective analysis methods.

My empirics to date have centered on the low-carbon transition and its recent evolution into a ‘just transition’ project in Belgium, a decentralized and highly fragmented political context marked by major conflicts between actors. I have notably co-edited the Report of the High Committee for a Just Transition, a scientific contribution developed by an interdisciplinary group of academics mandated by the Belgian Federal Minister for Climate, Environment, Sustainable Development and the Green Deal to address the question ‘How to organize and institutionalize the just transition in Belgium?’. I’m currently coordinating the project ‘Coping with Climate Debt through Just Transition’ (COGITO), a prospective research aimed at building and analysing alternative governance scenarios for a just transition to carbon neutrality and climate resilience in the metropolitan context of Brussels by 2050.

Teaching and activities

ACADEMIC BACKGROUND  

I have an interdisciplinary background in environmental science (PhD 2019 ; Ma, 2013 - Magna cum laude) and biochemistry (Ba, 2010 - Magna cum laude). I completed my doctoral thesis at the Centre for Sustainable Development Studies (ULB) under the supervision of Prof. Tom Bauler, thanks to a funding from the FNRS (‘Aspirant’ Grant). This work critically explores the making of knowledge about governance in low-carbon scenarios as well as the role of these scenarios in the governance of the transition to a low-carbon economy in Belgium and Wallonia by 2050.

My doctoral thesis received the Prize for Francophone Theses in Futures Studies (Foundation 2100 and Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie, 2022) and my Master's thesis the Philippe Bourdeau Prize (ULB, 2013).

I have completed several research stays at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and a visit to the 'Prospective and Sustainable Development' Chair of the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers (Cnam) in Paris. 

 

Research projects

Current Projects

• Coping with climate debt through just transition: Exploration and Analysis of Scenarios for Brussels (COGITO), Innoviris Prospective Research 2022.

Past Projects

• Bridging Decarbonization and Labour Market in Sustainability Transitions (LAMARTRA), BELSPO BRAIN 2.0.
• Governance of the Sustainable Economy Transition: Challenges of Exnovation» (GOSETE), Innoviris Prospective Research 2019.
• Proactive Strategies and Policies for Energy Citizenship Transformation (EnergyPROSPECTS), European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation.
• Reconciling Environmental and Social Goals in the Transition Towards a Low-Carbon Society (SUSPENS), BELSPO BRAIN.

Publications

My publications are available on ResearchGate.

Recent Publications

• Fransolet, A. & Vanhille, J. (eds.) (2023) Just Transition in Belgium: Concepts, Issues at Stake, and Policy Levers. Scientific report on behalf of the High Committee for a Just Transition, Brussels: November 2023.
• Fransolet, A., Phillips, A., & Vastenaekels, J. (2023). Reconciling the Just and Sustainable City in the Era of Just Transition: A Review of Urban Visions. Research report.
• La Gioia, A., Fransolet, A., Hudon, M., & Meyer, S. (2023). "Just Transition" Visions: An Analysis of the Perception of the Belgian Actors. Research report.
• Bauler T., Calay V., Fransolet A., Joseph M., Laurent E. & Reginster I. (2022). « La transition juste en Europe: Mesurer pour évoluer » in OFCE (eds.) L’économie européenne 2022, p. 106-121, Paris: La découverte.
• Fransolet A. (2022). La prospective pour connaître et gouverner le problème climatique: Le cas des scénarios bas-carbone. Prix de thèses francophones de prospective 2022.

Mail: aurore.fransolet@ulb.be

Office: A.3.16 (Usquare)

Postal address: Université libre de Bruxelles (cp 273), Avenue FD Roosevelt 50, B-1050 Brussels