2015 RILEM Robert L’Hermite Medallist

The Jury for the 2015 Robert L'Hermite Medal was composed of Dr. Nicolas Roussel (Jury President and Chair of the RILEM Technical Activities Committee), Prof. Jason Weiss (Editor in Chief of the journal Materials and Structures), Dr. Esperanza Menéndez Méndez and Prof. Giovanni Plizzari. The Jury examined the list of authors who met the criteria for the award, being under 40 years of age in 2014 and having performed high level scientific research in the field of ‘Building Materials and Structures’. Guillaume Habert has been selected for this award for his pioneering work on environmental analysis of building materials and processes along with his contribution to the development and understanding of alternative materials such as geopolymers and recycled products.

Since 2012, Guillaume Habert is an Associate Professor of sustainable construction within the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering at the Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland. After studying biology and geology, he graduated in 1999 from the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, with a degree in earth, atmospheric and oceanic studies. He received his PhD in Structural Geology in 2004 from the University of Toulouse, France. His research was based on the relations between internal structures in granites and the tectonic context. After his PhD, Guillaume Habert used his knowledge of natural rocks mineralogy to explore how specific clays and pozzolans can be used as a cement substitute. This work, funded by the CNRS and Lafarge, was followed by a post doctorate position at the Federal University of Paraiba (Brazil). In Brazil he looked into how waste products from the ceramic industry, can be used as pozzolanic materials to improve the mechanical and water resistance of adobes.

From 2007 to 2012 Guillaume Habert conducted research at the Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris. His work focused on thedevelopment of sustainable concrete. This also led him to address the environmental evaluation of building materials as well as the development of new binders such as geopolymers. He has lectured on sustainable construction and has taught in various engineering and architectural schools.

Prof. Guillaume Habert was an active member of the Organising Committee of the Symposium LCA and construction, Nantes, France (1st international conference on LCA & construction sponsored by RILEM, ISIE…). Since 2012, he is the Secretary of the RILEM TC EEC (Environmental evaluation of concrete structures toward sustainable construction). He is moreover a member of the board of editors of the RILEM journal Materials and Structures.