PARCELL

The PARCELL project is an interdisciplinary program (CDP—Cross-Disciplinary Program) at the University ofUniversité Grenoble Alpes s (UGA) launched in 2026. In response to current environmental challenges, this original transdisciplinary initiative aims to “enhance” the physicochemical and mechanical properties of cellulose beyond its conventional limits to create innovative, low-carbon bio-based materials. 
The project adopts a holistic and iterative approach by fostering unprecedented collaboration between the hard sciences and the humanities and social sciences (HSS and PSS) in order to closely link molecular engineering to issues of usage, societal perceptions, and economic viability. Bringing together a consortium of 13 laboratories with complementary expertise organized into 6 work packages, PARCELL explores a wide range of applications, from cutting-edge sectors to essential needs such as temporary housing and eco-construction. 
Fully aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, this program aims to firmly establish the Grenoble ecosystem as a center of excellence in the transition toward a circular and regenerative cellulose economy.

Budget: 1,000,000 euros

Participating laboratories:
The PARCELL project (Paper and Cellulose Materials) is an interdisciplinary program (CDP— Cross-Disciplinary Program) at the University ofUniversité Grenoble Alpes s (UGA) launched in 2026. In response to current environmental challenges, this original transdisciplinary initiative aims to “enhance” the physicochemical and mechanical properties of cellulose beyond its conventional limits to create innovative, low-carbon bio-based materials. 

The project takes a holistic and iterative approach by fostering unprecedented collaboration between the hard sciences and the humanities and social sciences (HSS and PSS) in order to closely link molecular engineering to issues of usage, societal perceptions, and economic viability. Bringing together a consortium of 13 laboratories with complementary expertise organized into 6 workpackages, PARCELL explores a wide range of applications, from cutting-edge sectors (smart packaging, organic electronics) to basic needs such as temporary housing and eco-construction. 

Fully aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, this program aims to establish the Grenoble ecosystem as a center of excellence in the transition to a circular and regenerative cellulose economy.

Budget: 1,000,000 euros.

Participating laboratories:

Social Sciences and Humanities Division	PEM Division	CBM Division	PSS Division
LARHRA (Rhône-Alpes Historical Research Laboratory) AAU (Atmospheres, Architecture, Urbanism)	LGP2 (Laboratory of Paper Processing Engineering) SIMaP (Science and Engineering of Materials and Processes) LRP (Laboratory of Rheology and Processes) 3SR (Soils, Solids, Structures, Risks) G-SCOP (Science for Design, Optimization, and Production)	DCM (Department of Molecular Chemistry) DPM (Department of Molecular Pharmacochemistry) CERMAV (Center for Research on Plant Macromolecules) CEA-Leti (Laboratory of Electronics and Information Technology)	CERAG (Center for Applied Management Studies and Research) AE&CC (Architecture, Environment, and Building Cultures)

CERAG's involvement in this project:

Overall project management is led by Gaëlle DECHAMP (CERAG), Arnaud MANTOUX (SIMaP), Sébastien CARRET (DCM), and Isabelle DESLOGES (LGP2).

The project is organized around six work packages (WPs), one of which is led by Eline Jongmans and Antoine Cartonof CERAG. This WP aims to conceptualize and implement a responsible design thinking approach with all project partners, focusing on the study of the uses of cellulose-based products (e.g., cardboard packaging), and offering members of the CDP Parcell a reflective approach to the experience of the process.

As part of this WP, a research project co-supervised by Antoine Carton and Gaëlle Dechamp will examine how transdisciplinary knowledge is produced within a CDP, using the PARCELL project as the subject of a meta-study.
One doctoral dissertation and two postdoctoral positions are planned for this WP.

The WP is organized around three research areas:

• Research Area 1: How can individual perceptions and expert knowledge be integrated through an interdisciplinary co-creation approach to stimulate innovation in the uses of cellulose and promote their acceptance? 
  The scientific objectives of this dissertation are: (1) to map the implicit representations and associations related to cellulose among users/citizens; (2) to document and synthesize interdisciplinary expert knowledge on the properties and potential uses of cellulose and to establish iterative loops between these two perspectives; (3) to develop and test an interdisciplinary design thinking methodology involving prototyping; and (4) to measure the acceptability and adoption factors for new uses of cellulose, as well as the values emerging from the collaborative process.
• Research Area 2: Understanding consumers’ practices and perceptions regarding cardboard packaging.
  The objectives are (1) to explore, in situ, the practices of appropriation; to conduct an in-depth study of how cardboard packaging enters private spaces, is stored there, repurposed from its initial logistical function (e.g., DIY, interior design, recreational or secondary utilitarian uses), or managed at the end of its life (sorting, home composting); and (2) to analyze the Ephemeral/Sustainable dialectic: to decipher cultural representations of cardboard as a material. The aim is to understand how consumers navigate between cardboard’s traditionally “ephemeral” and destructible status (perceived as temporary waste) and its contemporary recharacterization as a “sustainable” and circular resource.
• Research Area 3: Understanding Interdisciplinarity and Transdisciplinarity Through Meta-Research Applied to the CDP Project
  The objectives are (1) to understand the overlap between scientific fields with different “knowledge cultures”; (2) to understand interdisciplinary collaboration: to describe common working frameworks (languages, organizational structures, and shared theoretical and methodological tools); (3) to understand the dynamics of implementing multidisciplinarity: to determine the project’s “trajectory of multidisciplinarity”; (4) to understand strategies for promoting the production of transdisciplinary knowledge.