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Prizes and presentations at AICVF President’s ceremony
Each year, the Association of Engineers and Technicians in Air Conditioning, Ventilation and Refrigeration (AICVF) holds a President's New Year's Eve ceremony, preceded by a symposium and the presentation of the association's prizes. This year’s event was held on 11th January at SMA BTP in Paris, under the theme of “Attractiveness of HVAC professions and feminisation of our professions.” Eurovent Certita Certification was sponsor for the award element of the evening, with Managing Director, Mr Arnaud Lacourt on hand to present the prizes. Eurovent Certita Certification’s Mrs Sandrine Marinhas, Director of Prodbim, and Mrs Sophie Bocquillon, Transverse Project Manager, joined Arnaud at the event.
Event started with a symposium focused on the skills shortage. It tackled the core themes of making the profession more attractive to new generations and supporting the increase of the number of women in the industry.
The programme included presentations on:
- The training of Senior Technicians - Luc Pichon - Professor at the IUT of Poitiers
- The training of Engineers - Bernard Flament - Professor at INSA Strasbourg
- Vocational training - Thierry Chapuis - GRDF
And three testimonies on the place of women in the industry:
- Manuelle Schneider - CEO of Schneider & Cie
- Sabine Fauquez-Avon - President of Ofis, Deputy Director of Veolia Innovation
- Nathalie Tchang - President of BE Tribu Energie, President of the Women in Building Club.
Keeping in with the theme of women in engineering, the close of the presentations coincided with an announcement from the Chairwoman of the AICVF’s Technical Committee, Mrs Solène Duprat, that Mrs Sandrine Marinhas has been nominated onto the Committee.
Roger Cadiergues Award 2023
Next it was time for the awards. Sponsored by Eurovent Certita Certification, the Roger Cadiergues – Young Engineer Award rewards the work of students at the end of their engineering school or master's studies. It is a national competition, led by the teaching commission of the AICVF, which aims to reward the best dissertations carried out as part of the end-of-study or master's internship. The jury, chaired by Francis Allard, is composed of members of MPM higher education institutions and members of the various AICVF committees.
Eurovent’s Arnaud Lacourt first introduced delegates to the work of Eurovent Certita Certification, covering the importance of certified products and data, and its place in the HVAC and refrigeration industry. He moved on to the crucial topic of supporting the next generation of engineers, before presenting the awards to the winners, including:
Winner: Mr Benoit Villette, from the ISUPFERRE/Mines de Paris Engineering Programme.
Award: End-of-study thesis carried out on a work-study basis.
Thesis: "Geothermal trellising: Study of the technical and economic feasibility of a thermosyphon technology for geothermal valorisation purposes in the wine sector," carried out during his apprenticeship at RCFE Ingénierie.
Winners: Ms Ninon Gauthier and Ms Roxanne Viala, engineers from INSA Lyon in the Civil Engineering and Urban Planning Department.
Award: Final year project submitted to the European REHVA competition.
Thesis: "Probabilistic ELECTRE-Tri Method, Application for the Energy Renovation of Buildings," carried out at CETHIL (INSA/CNRS).
Winner: Mr Arnaud Neuville, Engineer from INSA Strasbourg, Department of Climate and Energy Engineering.
Award: Graduation Project.
Thesis: "Modelling of complex energy systems in an SED tool" carried out within the company SETEC Bâtiment.
The evening concluded with a speech from the President of the AICVF. Our congratulations go to the evening’s winners, and we wish luck to Ms Ninon Gauthier and Ms Roxanne Viala as they go forward to compete in the European REHVA competition.