A look back at the TEDx evening on 6 February at Centrale Nantes

Who hasn't heard of TEDx, the series of conferences promoting ‘ideas worth spreading’?
TED, which stands for ‘Technology, Entertainment and Design’, is a programme of events showcasing remarkable people in their fields, who come to share their knowledge, thoughts and emotions in talks lasting a maximum of 18 minutes (apparently the ideal length of time to convey an idea without losing the audience's attention).

At Centrale Nantes, it is our students who devise and organise TEDx events. They shape them according to their values, convictions and ideals. We are proud to see our students sharing the same vision as the school in seeking to raise awareness about the world of tomorrow. This confirms the commitments made by Centrale Nantes, in particular that of training 100% of its students and staff in the challenges of socio-ecological transition.
 
This year's theme, ‘Beyond the Limits’, invited us to broaden our horizons and believe that anything is possible to improve our daily lives, our professions and our society. Six personalities with unique backgrounds and commitments took to the TEDx stage to attempt to respond to this theme:
 

• Bruno Perrier, firefighter on mission in the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF)
• Calixte Parendel, engineering student at Centrale Nantes
• Florian Varnier, employee of the Raoul-Follereau association
• Françoise Pera-Berthier, professional coach
• Luca Tinebra, engineering student at Centrale Nantes
• Romain Olla, social and climate justice activist

Among the speakers, Romain Olla offered a committed perspective on our ability to overcome the limits we impose on ourselves. An alumnus of Centrale Nantes and now a social and climate justice activist, he looks back on his career and the message of his talk:

Can you introduce yourself? Tell us about your career from Centrale Nantes to today and your commitment.
When I graduated from Centrale Nantes in 2021, I was already strongly committed to social and climate justice, both inside and outside of school. After leaving Centrale Nantes, and this is what I talk about in my TEDx talk, I was lucky enough to be able to choose my path straight away: that of activism. It has now been five years since I made activism my profession.
 
I first became involved in the 2022 presidential campaign with the Primaire Populaire, an initiative aimed at promoting a programme of ecological, social and democratic change through a single left-wing candidate. I then spent a year and a half coordinating a campaign against a mega oil project in East Africa, which I consider disastrous for local populations, biodiversity and our common future.
I then joined Marie Toussaint's campaign team for the 2024 European elections as director of mobilisation. Today, I coordinate the Victoires Populaires movement, which runs election campaigns to bring social justice, ecology and democratic renewal to power at all political levels in France.
Since leaving Centrale Nantes, I have been guided by a commitment, both in my professional and personal life, to help transform society to improve the happiness of all.

What led you to become involved in social and climate justice? 
Was there a particular moment or experience that marked your journey? 
Several things explain this commitment. Firstly, there is my education: my family passed on these values and causes to me. My personal background also contributed greatly to this: I grew up in a village near Saint-Étienne. My father comes from a modest family, with a grandfather who was a miner in the North, and my mother comes from an upper-middle-class family, part of the local petite bourgeoisie.
 
I was a good student and went on to attend a prestigious engineering school. Throughout my life, I have been confronted on the one hand with the many privileges I enjoy, and on the other with the reality of the glaring inequalities and injustices in our society, which I have sometimes experienced first-hand.
It wasn't a sudden shift, but a gradual process. Nevertheless, I think two things played a big part: my awareness of environmental issues during my studies at Centrale Nantes and the discovery of my homosexuality at the age of 22, which shook up not only my identity, of course, but also my view of the world, society and the experiences of all those who suffer discrimination.

How did your education at Centrale Nantes help shape your values and your approach to environmental and societal issues?
At Centrale Nantes, I had the chance to meet some exceptional people, both fellow students with whom I was involved in numerous associations, and many teachers and members of the administration who were fully committed to changing the way engineers are trained.

In terms of my education, Centrale Nantes offered many courses that helped us understand environmental and social issues and taught us how to solve them. Through discussions with students from other schools, I also felt that there was room for improvement in making these subjects a real common thread throughout all courses, rather than just additional classes. This motivated me to contribute to the development of educational models that would strengthen the integration of ecological and social issues at the very heart of the study programme.

In your opinion, what role do engineers have to play in the ecological and social transition?
Engineers can play a decisive role, provided they develop their social intelligence. For too long, they have been asked mainly to answer the question of ‘how’: how to solve a problem, how to innovate, how to build and optimise ever more. As long as we continue down this path, engineers will be part of the problem.
The real question that our study programmes and the engineers of tomorrow must answer is ‘why’: what do we want to use our skills for?
Once this question has been asked, engineers have a key role to play, particularly in the decarbonisation of our economy. The transformations ahead are profound: agriculture, industry, urban planning, but also the health system. For all these changes, we need engineers who are capable of working across disciplines and listening to people's needs. We need engineers who are citizens or, as I say in my TEDx talk, engineers of happiness.

What advice would you give to Centrale Nantes students who want to get involved but are still unsure about how to do so?
First, I would like to point out that we are all committed in one way or another. None of our actions are neutral, whether in our individual, professional or political choices. The real question students should ask themselves is: which path do they want to take?
Either a well-trodden path, with material comfort made possible by a degree from Centrale Nantes, but which will most certainly fuel the machine of our current system (which, in my opinion, is exhausting the planet and widening inequalities) and which may not make them so happy.
Or the path of commitment to a fairer, more ecological and less unequal society.
 
Having made this choice myself, my advice is simple: there is no single form of commitment, but a multitude. The best way to find your own is to try, to test, sometimes to fail, but always to learn. 
In your professional and personal choices, don't lock yourself in too quickly, and always keep this compass in mind: make shared happiness the goal of your decisions.