Scientific culture
Disseminating scientific culture means transmitting knowledge, techniques and know-how between science and society. This is one of the missions of universities, and it's a voluntary initiative that mobilizes the University of Montpellier and its scientific community: researchers, teacher-researchers, doctoral students, ...
Scientific culture is teeming with players and initiatives designed to push back the frontiers of knowledge. Its dissemination is aimed at sharing, exchanging, experiencing and debating ideas around scientific issues. At the University of Montpellier, this is illustrated by :
- Disseminating scientific knowledge to as many people as possible
- Promoting scientific and technical professions among young people
- Developing exchanges and partnerships
- Training in scientific mediation (master's students, doctoral students)
The UM's scientific culture services coordinate the dialogue between science and society through a wide range of events, both on and off the University of Montpellier's campus network, for the general public, students and schoolchildren. To achieve this, the teams work with a wide range of partners: research organizations, CCSTI, associations, cultural centers, public and private institutions.
Key actions
The Science Bar: a thirst for knowledge!
The Scientific Culture departments offer an annual season of Bar des sciences on science and society topics. The Bar des Sciences, produced by the University of Montpellier in partnership with INRAE, INSERM and IRD, has been offering monthly scientific culture events for several years, contributing to the dialogue between science and society. The opposite of formal conferences, these debates are invitations to exchanges between specialists in a given subject and the general public.
Fête de la science
The Fête de la science is a major annual event promoting scientific culture. Thanks to the mobilization of players in faculties, research organizations, laboratories, associations, etc., science comes to life through varied, surprising and astonishing activities.
The University of Montpellier is coordinating the event for the whole of the Hérault department, and is piloting the Montpellier Science Village at the Faculty of Education. Under the banner of exploration and discovery, the Montpellier Science Village is brimming with events for young and old alike: workshops, demonstrations, experiments, games, screenings, lectures... A great opportunity for exciting encounters, knowledge sharing and discoveries to better understand the world around us and imagine the future!
Digital highlights of the Village des Sciences 2020 can be found on the UM YouTube channel.
NounOURS, from cave bears to teddy bears" exhibition
The next exhibition proposed by the Scientific Culture Department is a continuation of peluchology, an original educational and scientific popularization operation conceived in 2010. Designed as a travelling exhibition, it features museographic panels, showcases of objects, collections of books and teddy bears. The exhibition pays homage to that noble and sacred animal, fallen god and king of cuddly toys: the bear.
Call for projects Relation société-société
The I-SITE Program of Excellence includes a support component for "Science-Society Relations" actions, which takes the form of a call for projects open to all the institutions and organizations in the consortium. It is part of a strategy to disseminate the research generated in our region and its challenges, particularly to young people and schoolchildren (primary to high school), and aims to support innovative knowledge-sharing initiatives, dialogues, methods, results, issues and questioning around scientific themes. With a budget of €50,000 over two campaigns (autumn 2022 & autumn 2023), each project will receive funding of up to €4,000.
In 2022, the projects selected are :
Spotlight on (in)visible biodiversity: biodiversity inventoried
The project, led by Frédérique Carcaillet (Marbec), comprises 3 parts: the "Biodiversité inventoriée" exhibition, the second part of the "Coup de projecteur sur la biodiversité (in)visible" exhibition, an event around the screening of the documentary film "Discrètes sentinelles -Conservation communautaire", and the provision of an educational tool to accompany the visit to the exhibition for high-school students. The aim of the project is to introduce high-school students to the knowledge, skills and professions associated with the study of biodiversity, using concrete examples from the ISITE excellence program community.
Multi-sensory discovery and sharing of woods and their biodiversity
The project presented by Sandrine Bardet (LMGC) and Kevin Candelier (BioWooEB) focuses on raising young people's awareness of forest - tree - wood biodiversity, by asking the question: How can we enhance its value through services to mankind, while at the same time preserving it? Through classroom and field workshops, young students will be invited to use their senses (observe, touch, smell and listen) to discover and understand the plant biodiversity that surrounds them: how do trees grow, why are they different, how do trees produce wood, what are the services provided by the forest and the possible uses of wood? This scientific accompaniment will be carried out in a class in Montpellier and a class in Kourou (French Guiana), both from Priority Education Networks, with the aim of bringing together pupils and teachers from these two geographical areas and getting them to work together on a common scientific project, but with totally different natural resources and local needs.
Setting up experimental activities around water treatment as part of the "cordées de la réussite" program WATER
This project, led by Julie Mendret (IEM), is based on scientific mediation around the science of water. It aims to bring together secondary school students from Lozère and researchers and students from the University of Montpellier, as part of the EAU: Encordés A l'Université success program. The project will involve setting up experimental activities associated with water treatment and quality, and taking on the tasks involved.
workshops and mediation in chemistry for secondary school students (SCHOLAR)
The project, led by Jean-Yves Winum and Jean-Sébastien Filhol (IBMM), is part of the IRES Physics-Chemistry group's plan to strengthen its scientific discovery workshops in 2022, by creating new scientific outreach content for middle and high school students, including new workshop themes and associated presentations. It also aims to add a research discovery dimension to these workshops by presenting research from the Pôle Chimie Balard institutes in the fields of innovative materials, pigments and dyes, for high-tech and healthcare applications.
Digital Guidance with Information Seeds (ANOGI)
This project, led by Chrysta Pelissier and Jean Moutouh (IUT de Béziers), aims to develop a digitally-instrumented reflective approach that can be used by Lozère secondary school students as part of their career guidance activities. Some of these learners suffer from social, gendered and socio-cultural inequalities, resulting in self-censorship or a lack of interest in guidance-related activities. This innovative approach is based on research in the fields of information and communication and language science. Its aim is to develop and transmit an innovative approach to guidance education, opening up debate between learners and between learners and their teachers.
