[Portrait] Adrien Deschamps, doctoral student in economics (UPR -JPEG)

What is your research about?

My research focuses on quantitative evaluation of public procurement policies, particularly in the environmental field. Public purchasers can use tender selection criteria or constraints on contract performance to promote environmental innovation by companies and reduce negative externalities. Using French and Japanese data, I study the factors that can facilitate or hinder the integration of these sustainable measures and their impact on firms, particularly SMEs.

What's the latest on your scientific work?

I'm in my third and final year of a PhD. I'm working on several projects, including a paper on the impact of natural disasters on green purchasing practices in Japan and an article examining the relationship between green purchasing and local purchasing in France. I've recently put data online that centralises and enriches public procurement notices published in France. This database is essential to my research, but it can also be useful to other researchers and to public authorities in quantifying French public procurement.

Why did you choose to work in university research?

I chose to go into economics research because it allows me to work in a number of fields that I enjoyed during my studies, in particular statistics and IT. Public economics also made the most of my previous training in law. Research offers a certain amount of freedom on a day-to-day basis and autonomy in the choice of subjects.

What advice would you give to students who want to do research?

I would advise students who want to go into economics research to think about their career path, as a PhD in economics can be used in a wide variety of professions. Although they have time to change their minds during the course of their PhD, the content of their research can be used to promote a particular career path. The choice of thesis subject and supervisor is also crucial.

What object or image from your business best illustrates you?

It's a difficult question in my case, because I work with data on legal objects. I have chosen a RAM strip, This is an essential part of my day-to-day work, as the statistical models I use are based on matrix calculations.