Science at UM [S02-ep07]: Consumer profiles, law history library, and Courstache

[Podcast] - Published on November 18, 2022 in Science-Society

This week on A l’UM la science, Andrea Gourmelen from the Montpellier Research in Management laboratory explains what kind of consumers we are. In the second part of the program, PhD student Alexis Verhassel introduces us to the law library. Finally, Catherine Alix Panabière talks to us about La Courstache. A co-production of the University of Montpellier and Divergence FM.

And this week we're in a hurry, because to tell you the truth, we're running late! We haven't prepared anything for tonight's Divergence cocktail party, so we're taking you shopping with us.
Let's go! Let's start with the chips...
– Oh no, sorry Lucie, chips are disgusting! They're full of salt and can lead to cardiovascular disease... I don't want to have a heart attack at 50!
– OK, so shall we get the ones with 25% less salt?
– No, that's just marketing! Let's get some cherry tomatoes.
– Cherry tomatoes in November? But they're not in season, Aline, and Spanish greenhouse tomatoes are out of the question, thank you very much...
– Okay! We can have some cold cuts then... That pork terrine looks really good, and it's organic too...
– No way! Organic or not, pigs go through the same slaughterhouses, there's no way I'm eating that, and I won't even mention the cancer! Almonds? Almonds are great, they're good for your health...
– What about the drought in California, Lucie? The mega-fires, the koalas in Australia! How about we order some sushi?
– Fish is full of lead, and unfortunately for Divergence's accounts, lead doesn't turn into gold, except for sushi sellers, so let's forget that...
– Shall we have some red wine?
– And beer...?!

As you have understood, today we are talking about consumption, and more specifically food consumption. According to specialists, three main criteria are important in understanding the complex processes that guide each individual's food preferences and choices:
– product properties;
– consumer beliefs and knowledge;
– the context of consumption.

Our guest is Andrea Gourmelen. She is a marketing researcher at the MRM Montpellier Research in Management laboratory and has taken an interest in how consumers consider the consequences of their food choices. She has developed a typology of consumers. The results of her study, conducted with a researcher from Grenoble, were published in the journal Décisions Marketing.  They were also published for the general public in The Conversation on November 3.

In the second part of the program, we take you to the Faculty of Law and Political Science, where Alexis Verhassel introduced us to the subject of his thesis: the library of legal history.

Finally, our last-minute guest will be Catherine Alix Panabière, a doctor at the University Hospital and director of the Rare Human Circulating Cells research team. She will talk to us about Courstache.

At UM Science, you have the program, so let's get started!

Co-production: Divergence FM / University of Montpellier
Host: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview: Aline Périault / Lucie Lecherbonnier
Reporting and editing: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Production: Adeline Floc’h

Listen to the program “A l’UM la science” on Divergence FM 93.9

Keywords: Science at UM, Law, Research, Science, Company