Scientific outreach with EPSAA

An unusual experiment

Nowadays, science popularization is expanding, and its use is not only limited to a general public, but is also extremely useful for researchers. Indeed, researchers have their own domain of expertise and do not necessarily have a clear idea of what their peers actually work on. It is particularly the case in a pluridisciplinary environment, as it is the case within PSL-Qlife.

In this line, we started a collaboration with the school of graphic arts of Paris, EPSAA (Ecole professionnelle supérieure d’arts graphiques de la ville de Paris), for a science outreach project. Every year, first year students are immersed in the world of research and split into different research teams affiliated with PSL-Qlife. The students visit the lab for 4-5 days and exchange with scientists during a period of 4 months, generally from march to June. Two types of drawings are produced, one aiming at representing how they spent their time in the lab, and one representing in a simple way the work of the lab.

Through drawing, this project aims at developing a new way for scientists to communicate about science, but also about their work environment and their way to conduct experiments.

The first edition, that took place from March to June 2019, and was very successful.