Scientific culture
The promotion of scientific culture involves the transfer of knowledge, techniques, and expertise between the scientific community and society. This is one of the missions of universities, and it is a proactive initiative that engages the University of Montpellier and its scientific community: researchers, Professors, doctoral students, and others.
The scientific community is teeming with individuals and initiatives dedicated to pushing the boundaries of knowledge. Its mission is to foster sharing, exchange, experimentation, and the discussion of ideas surrounding scientific questions. At the University of Montpellier, this is exemplified in particular by:
- the dissemination of scientific knowledge to as many people as possible;
- promoting scientific and technical careers among young people;
- the development of trade and partnerships;
- training in science communication (master’s students, doctoral students).
The University of Montpellier’s science outreach services coordinate dialogue between science and society through a variety of events held across the University of Montpellier’s campus network and off-campus, targeting the general public, university students, high school students, and schoolchildren. To this end, the teams collaborate with numerous partners, including research organizations, CCSTIs, associations, cultural centers, and public and private institutions.
Key Initiatives
Science brings stories to life
The “Science Tells Stories” residency brings together three storytellers who have been working closely since September 2025 with scientists from the University of Montpellier and its partner organizations, focusing on three key areas: feeding, healing, and protecting. The goal is to create one or more stories inspired by the research conducted in the university’s laboratories.
Public presentations will take the form of performances for children ages 6 to 11 and their parents.
The performances will also feature discussions with the scientists, and you’ll be able to ask them all your questions!
The Science Bar: A Thirst for Knowledge!
The Scientific Culture Department offers an annual series of Science Bar events on topics related to science and society. The Science Bar, produced by the University of Montpellier in partnership with INRAE, INSERM, and IRD, has for several years offered monthly events promoting scientific culture that foster dialogue between science and society. A far cry from formal lectures, these discussions invite dialogue between subject experts and the general public.
Science Festival
The Festival of Science is a major annual event celebrating scientific culture. Thanks to the involvement of stakeholders from faculties, research organizations, laboratories, and associations, science is showcased and brought to life through a variety of engaging, surprising, and fascinating activities.
The University of Montpellier is coordinating the event throughout the Hérault department and is leading the Montpellier Science Village, located at the Faculty of Education. With a focus on exploration and discovery, the Montpellier Science Village is brimming with activities for all ages: workshops, demonstrations, experiments, games, screenings, and lectures… A wonderful opportunity for exciting encounters, sharing knowledge, and making discoveries to better understand the world around us and imagine the future!
Highlights from the 2020 Science Village, available in digital format, can be found on the UM’s YouTube channel.
Exhibition: “NounOURS: From Cave Bears to Teddy Bears”
The next exhibition organized by the Scientific Culture Department is a continuation of “Peluchology,” an innovative educational and science outreach initiative launched in 2010. Designed as a traveling exhibition, it features museum displays, showcases of artifacts, and collections of books and teddy bears. It thus pays a beautiful tribute to this noble and sacred animal, the fallen god and king of stuffed animals: the bear.
Call for Proposals: Business-to-Business Relations
The I-SITE Excellence Program includes a component dedicated to supporting “Science-Society Relations” initiatives, which takes the form of a call for proposals open to all institutions and organizations within the consortium. It is part of a strategy to disseminate research conducted in our region and its related issues, particularly to young people and students (from elementary school through high school), and aims to support innovative initiatives for sharing knowledge, fostering dialogue, and exploring methods, results, challenges, and questions surrounding scientific themes. With a budget of €50,000 spread over two rounds (Fall 2022 & Fall 2023), it provides funding of up to €4,000 per project.
In 2022, the selected projects are:
Spotlight on (in)visible biodiversity: documented biodiversity
The project, led by Frédérique Carcaillet (Marbec), consists of three parts: the exhibition “Biodiversity Inventoried,” the second installment of the exhibition “Spotlight on (In)visible Biodiversity,” an event centered on the screening of the documentary film “Discreet Sentinels: Community Conservation,” and the provision of an educational resource to accompany high school students’ visit to the exhibition. The goal of this project is to introduce high school students to the knowledge, skills, and careers related to the study of biodiversity through concrete examples drawn from the ISITE program of excellence community.
A multi-sensory exploration and sharing of the woods and their biodiversity
The project presented by Sandrine Bardet (LMGC) and Kevin Candelier (BioWooEB) focuses on raising awareness among young people about the biodiversity of forests, trees, and wood, by asking the question: How can we highlight its value through the services it provides to humans while preserving it? Through workshops conducted in classrooms and in the field, young students will be invited to engage their senses (observing, touching, smelling, and listening) to discover and understand the plant biodiversity around them: how trees grow, why they are different, how trees produce wood, what services forests provide, and the possible uses of wood as a material? This scientific program will be conducted in a classroom in Montpellier and a classroom in Kourou (French Guiana), both part of Priority Education Networks, with the goal of connecting students and teachers from these two geographic areas and having them work together on a shared scientific project, despite their vastly different natural resources and local needs.
Launch of experimental activities focused on water treatment as part of the "Cordées de la Réussite EAU" initiative
This project, led by Julie Mendret (IEM), focuses on science outreach in the field of water sciences. It aims to connect middle and high school students in Lozère with researchers and students at the University of Montpellier as part of the “EAU: Encordés A l’Université” success initiative. Through this project, the goal will be to organize hands-on activities related to water treatment and quality and to carry out the tasks involved.
Workshops and Mentoring in Chemistry for High School Students (SCHOLAR)
The project, led by Jean-Yves Winum and Jean-Sébastien Filhol (IBMM), is part of an effort to strengthen the science discovery workshops established in 2022 by the IRES Physics-Chemistry Group by enabling the creation of new science outreach content for middle and high school students, including new workshop themes and related presentations. It also aims to introduce a research discovery component to these workshops by showcasing research from the institutes of the Balard Chemistry Cluster in the fields of innovative materials, pigments, and dyes, for high-tech applications and in the healthcare sector.
Digital Career Guidance with Information Seeds (ANOGI)
This project, led by Chrysta Pelissier and Jean Moutouh (IUT de Béziers), aims to promote a digitally-enabled reflective approach that can be undertaken by middle and high school students in Lozère as part of activities focused on their career guidance. Some of these students face social, gender-based, and socio-cultural inequalities, which result in self-censorship or a lack of interest in career guidance activities. The proposed innovative approach draws on research from the fields of information and communication studies and language sciences. Its goal is to develop and disseminate an innovative career guidance pedagogy, fostering dialogue among students as well as between students and their teachers.
