Name and University Affiliation
Ethan McDowell
Double-Concentration in Computer Science and Visual Arts
Brown University Class of ‘26
University Contact
Grace Argo
Assistant Director, Community Engaged Research at The Swearer Center at Brown University
Title of Project
Preserving Sea Biodiversity in Marseille, France
Organizations I Worked With
MakeSense:
MakeSense is a Paris-based nonprofit and global community that empowers citizens, entrepreneurs, and organizations to co-create solutions for pressing social and environmental challenges. With hubs in over 120 cities, it connects people to drive collective action, offering support in leadership, project design, and impact-focused initiatives.
MerTerre:
MerTerre is a Marseille-based NGO dedicated to tackling diffuse abandoned waste through data-driven monitoring and collaboration with municipalities, eco-organizations, and scientific partners. By combining field data collection with policy advocacy, MerTerre seeks to provide long-term, structural solutions to marine and coastal pollution, beyond short-term cleanup actions.
Organization Contacts
MakeSense:
Jade Thielbault, MakeSense Coordinator
Emma Lempereur, MakeSense Coordinator
Marilou Hiessler MakeSense Coordinator
Email Addresses:
marilou.hiessler@makesense.org
MerTerre:
Isabelle Poitou, Director and Founder
Teo Juričev, Data and Collaborative Platforms Project Manager
Email Addresses:
What Cause are we Supporting?
Diffuse abandoned waste, small items like cigarette butts, food wrappers, and microplastics that escape formal waste systems, remains under-researched and largely unaddressed in legislation. France and the EU lack comprehensive legal frameworks for these forms of pollution. MerTerre seeks to fill this gap by providing robust data and tools for municipalities, policy advocates, and eco-organisations to design systemic solutions.
Project Goal
To strengthen MerTerre’s impact by improving the Zéro Déchet Sauvage platform through cybersecurity and AI insights, providing international legislative benchmarks, and building community engagement strategies that enhance visibility and participation.
Objectives
- Produce an international legislative benchmark (France, EU, Japan, Canada) with practical recommendations for MerTerre’s advocacy.
- Develop a cybersecurity and AI report to assess how these tools could improve data collection, visualization, and platform resilience.
- Create a community engagement and social media strategy report, benchmarking Ocean Conservancy and Clean My Calanques, with actionable recommendations.
- Conduct fieldwork (waste collection, surveys, and interviews) to generate real-world data and insights into local perceptions of waste.
- Deliver a sustainable engagement proposal outlining strategies like youth programs, ambassador networks, and visibility campaigns.
Any Challenges, Barriers, or Risks to Achieving Objectives?
- Lack of an official definition for diffuse abandoned waste complicates legislative benchmarks.
- Limited survey participation created data gaps in perception research.
- Complexity of technical proposals (AI, cybersecurity) given limited local expertise or infrastructure.
- Ensuring long-term adoption of communication strategies beyond the internship timeline.
Overcoming Challenges, Barriers, and Risks
- Frame diffuse waste within broader categories (marine litter, illegal dumping) to maintain legal accuracy.
- Highlight survey challenges in the report while supplementing with academic literature and comparable case studies.
- Propose scalable, accessible AI/cybersecurity solutions that MerTerre can implement without large resource investments.
- Provide implementation roadmaps for social media and engagement strategies to guide MerTerre post-project.
Milestones Achieved Each Week
Week 1: Onboarding with MakeSense; introduction to MerTerre and Jardin d’Haïti; scope definition.
Week 2: Participation in cleanups; start legislative benchmark research; draft structure for social media stocktake.
Week 3: Conduct perception surveys; draft initial cybersecurity and AI framework; continue legislative research.
Week 4: Benchmark international NGOs (Ocean Conservancy, Clean My Calanques); refine legislative report.
Week 5: Analyze field survey data; finalize legislative report; draft engagement/visibility strategies.
Week 6: Complete cybersecurity & AI report; finalize social media/community engagement report; deliver project outputs to MerTerre and MakeSense.