Olivier Plantevin is specialised in condensed matter physics and spectroscopy applied to materials science. He has a particular interest in new semiconductors such as hybrid perovskites, which are undergoing rapid development in the field of photovoltaics. He is the Associate Head of the Physics department at Université Paris-Saclay and currently coordinates a Masters-level course on ‘Energy Conversion’. He is interested in how democratic mechanisms may allow us to overcome the environmental crisis: degrowth, self-management, and social environmentalism are all prospective path for human progress in our societies. “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein