Science & You: an international success for the first edition!

Date: 
01/07/15

An international cultural and scientific event: Science & You has met the challenge! From June 1st to June 6th, Lorraine buzzed with the rhythm of science, with projections/debates, conferences, PhD training sessions, but also a Congress and a “Sciences & Cultures” Forum. Here is a first assessment in figures of this marathon week.

Is science of interest for the general public? Science & You says yes, with almost 10 000 visitors for the Forum and the many events programmed beforehand throughout Lorraine. International congressists and PhD students, pupils and students, general public… All appreciated the variety of the actions offered by Science & You.

The week opened on a training session on the practices of science communication for PhD students from all around the world. Theatre, danse, drawing, clown… 115 PhD students of 23 nationalities came to take part in 11 training sessions. They then took part to a common feedback session in front of the visitors of the Forum, at the Centre Prouvé, in order to present their work and confront the general public. PhD students where then invited to assist to the Congress, to further discuss about the stakes of science communication.

The Congress followed the tradition of the Journées Hubert Curien, which were initiated in 2005. This edition offered a rich programme of plenaries, workshops and round-table conferences around the theme “Scientific culture on the move”. Almost 1 000 delegates, representing 35 countries, were present. If 85% of them were Europeans, Africa, Asia and America were also there to enrich the discussion about the differences in science communication practices around the world. The Congress was also the opportunity, for the Scientific Committee, to open the debate about the role of scientists in the common good, free dissemination of knowledge, and freedom of speech, through the “Declaration of Nancy”, presented during the opening of Science & You.
In total, 40 themes have been debated during the workshop sessions, by 168 speakers, and 11 plenaries were programmed during the 3 days of the Congress.
Edited by Bernard Schiele, Patrick Baranger and Joëlle Le Marec, published by the Presses Universitaires de Lorraine, the proceedings of the plenary conferences are on sale online.
Proceedings of the workshop sessions are soon to be published online on the website.

The general public’s programme is not outdone. Main innovation of this edition, the “Sciences & Cultures” Forum attracted almost 9 000 visitors during 4 days. Pupils and students represented an important part of the audience, since 1257 youth, from kindergarten to high school, came to discover, exchange and experiment science during the week. The Forum offered 70 participatory stands, 8 performances, 8 “opportunities to meet” (conferences, board games…) and 7 exhibitions.
What is more, in connection with the Researcher’s Film Festival and in partnership with many actors from Lorraine, Science & You went to meet the citizens with a programme rich of 9 conferences and projections/debates all around Lorraine.

Relive Science & You on its Flickr account.

A full assessment of Science & You will soon be published online.