Nanoscience · Sustainability · Participative action research

Paul Robineau

Researcher working across nanoscience, sustainability, and participative action research – currently a postdoctoral researcher applying Life-Cycle Assessment to emerging technologies, while building collective, deliberative ways of connecting science and society.

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Portrait of Paul Robineau

What I do

My work spans several connected roles, all sharing a systemic, interdisciplinary mindset.

Nanoscience & Environment Researcher

A master in Optics and Nanotechnology gave me a broad overview of nanoscience, from theoretical frameworks to applications. A PhD in Nanobiophotonics then let me build expertise at the interface of nanoscience, biology, and optics.

As a postdoctoral researcher at the Hubert Curien Pluridisciplinary Institute (IPHC), within the CO2-InnO Interreg project, I conducted prospective Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies on the Fessenheim NPP decommissioning, the recycling of very-low-level radioactive metals, and a micro-CHP demonstrator coupled to hydrogen production through electrolysis.

I am now a postdoctoral researcher at LASIRE, within the CNRS CalcADN project, running a prospective LCA study of emerging DNA-computing technology – bringing together, for the first time, my experience in both nanobiosciences and sustainability.

Participative Action Research

A growing part of my work is about how to design settings where researchers, institutions, and citizens take part in producing and debating knowledge – and turning that deliberation into action.

I co-organised the IESF 2025 Scientists Assembly on the relations between research and the civil, industrial, and political spheres, bringing PhD holders and candidates from every scientific field together, to formulate recommendations on how to bring science and society closer.

Since the assembly's report, we run restitutions and workshops in varied settings – research labs, public institutions, science-mediation associations, and political parties – to open debate and work towards operationalizing the recommendations. In parallel, we began reflexive scientific studies of the deliberative process itself.

This collective work builds on the project- and team-management experience I have gathered across research, associative events, and first-aid services.

R&D Engineer

My engineering degree in Materials: Technology & Economy from the University of Technology of Troyes (UTT) led to two R&D internships and a PhD. My first experiences in industrial research at CEA Tech taught me to work autonomously and to keep short- and long-term technical feasibility in mind.

From the structural properties of matter and light–matter interactions, to Life-Cycle Assessment, eco-design and materials for energy and optoelectronics – plus fluent use of varied software and insights from the sociology of organisations and the history & philosophy of science – I bring the profile of a reflexive engineer with a systemic, interdisciplinary mindset.

Physics & Ecology of Materials Teacher

Alongside research, I supervised practical work in physics & chemistry as a teaching assistant in 2020–2021 at the University of Technology of Troyes.

I also designed and taught a section on abiotic resources within a general course on modelling Human–Systems–Nature interactions, studying current production and consumption and their futures through a sociotechnical lens. (resources slides, modelling slides).

Arts Enthusiast

The collective effort of making art is one of my greatest pleasures – talking, acting, directing, or writing.

During my university years I wrote, directed and edited a short film, and was involved in the Ch'UTT de vers company (four plays as actor, one as co-writer, two as director). I have since performed with the Compagnie Grande, and co-wrote, directed and produced a spatialised audio fiction with the new B329 company, releasing in 2026.