A traveling exhibition to raise awareness among college students about research careers

The exhibition, inaugurated on March 27, 2024, allows visitors to discover how research, through various disciplines, contributes to imagining and building the cities and territories of tomorrow. It enables middle school students to better understand the societal issues related to our cities by also addressing scientific careers, professional paths, and the daily lives of university researchers. Five themes are explored:

• Breathing clean air (Air pollution)
• Reducing the impact of construction (Concrete)
• Making female creators visible (Matrimonial heritage)
• Making cities more pleasant in summer (Heatwaves)
• Organizing urban logistics (Deliveries)

In addition to exploring current topics likely to interest students, the goal was also to embody research. Therefore, the university offered a collection of video portraits of female and male researchers telling their stories, what led them to research, what they do daily, and what they enjoy about their profession.

"This is the first time we have the opportunity to directly and massively engage middle school students in their daily lives on current topics that resonate with them. This exhibition, which will circulate and irrigate the territory, is a valuable tool for scientific mediation with young audiences. For a year, the teaching teams and students of La Maillière College, our researchers, and all service providers have done remarkable work in the conception of the exhibition. It was a bit like a puzzle where all the pieces fit perfectly, a true co-construction effort," explains Claire Garraud, responsible for scientific mediation at Gustave Eiffel University.

Driven by the university's knowledge dissemination and societal openness service, the exhibition, already scheduled in two other colleges in the Department, is intended to travel to other institutions and will be offered from the 2024-2025 school year in the Department's middle school program. It will also be presented at Gustave Eiffel University during the second semester of 2024.