Awards

Victoria Collignon, Civil Engineering graduate from ULiège, winner of the Ingénieurs sans frontières award

Edition 2021


The "Ingénieurs sans Frontières - Philippe Carlier" Prize was awarded on Saturday 13 November to Ms Victoria Collignon, holder of a Master's degree in Civil Engineering from ULiège, for her final year work on the quality of groundwater in the Arachid Basin in Senegal.

In her work, Victoria Collignon analyses the quality of the water, builds a database and develops a map to define the spatial extent of the contamination.

"Due to the low amount of surface water reserves, groundwater is mainly exploited in the groundnut basin in Senegal, East Africa. However, the drop in piezometric levels in the Littoral - induced by overexploitation of aquifers - combined with the presence of evaporites and ancient brines in the Maastrichtian, has led to an increase in the salinity of groundwater in the Basin. In addition, surface pressures such as the development of urbanised and irrigated areas have also influenced groundwater quality by increasing the concentrations of nitrates, sulphates and other agricultural inputs. The phenomenon of salinisation, combined with various anthropogenic contaminations, has progressively rendered the groundwater in the basin unsuitable for consumption and/or irrigation."

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Promoting sustainable technologies

Ingénieurs sans frontières (ISF) is an association of volunteer engineers. At the request of organisations in the South or the North, ISF provides technical support in the fields of access to water, energy and waste management in order to deploy sustainable solutions to enable the most disadvantaged populations to achieve more dignified living conditions.

Every year for the past 15 years, Ingénieurs sans frontières has awarded two engineering students (from Belgian universities or colleges) for their final thesis. To participate, their work must contribute to the development or adaptation of effective technologies in their field. Candidates must also demonstrate that their work is consistent with the principles of sustainable development, taking into account the social, environmental and economic impacts of the issue they are studying.

This year's Ingénieurs sans frontières Awards were held on the occasion of their 30th anniversary. At this event, ISF presented its 2025 Roadmap Together for Sustainable and Inclusive Engineering

Logo Prix ISF

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