Mid-May, I presented my research at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Europe 36th Annual Meeting in Maastricht. First, in a short presentation, and then beside my poster, titled “Comparative life‑cycle and cultural assessment of anaerobic digestion with and without thermal‑hydrolysis pretreatment”. For the length of a coffee-fueled poster session, I got to argue about something I’ve been quietly obsessing over for months: how much of a “sustainability” verdict is really about the world and how much of it is about us.
The poster represented part of my PhD work within the INCLUE project, which explores a question that quietly shapes every life cycle assessment (LCA): whose values are baked into the method? A life cycle assessment looks objective, but every one of them rests on choices: how far ahead we look, how seriously we treat harms we can’t (yet) measure, and what counts as “settled” science.
What surprised me most wasn’t a result on a slide; it was the texture of being in the room. Meeting leading researchers in the sustainability and LCA field, talking through their perspectives, and learning from their ideas and guidance were among the real highlights of the trip. And it wasn’t all serious science, either: moments like the Science Slam, where researchers pitch their work with far more humor than jargon, were a reminder that the field knows how to enjoy itself.
I also came home with something I hadn’t quite expected: genuine friends and a web of new connections, people I’ll keep crossing paths with for years. Something is steadying about discovering that the questions keeping you up at night are alive for other people, too, and that the dead ends are shared rather than being personal failures.
Maastricht itself was a generous host, a small city in the south of the Netherlands that wears its history lightly, with cobbled squares, centuries-old churches, and café terraces spilling out toward the river Meuse, where you could relax after a long day of talks and presentations.
I am grateful for this opportunity that has come up. Sharing work in such an open setting reminded me that this is a community before it’s a competition, and that’s a good thing to learn throughout a PhD.
