Gathering together researchers and science mediators from all over the world, the conference organised as part of the Hubert Curien Days 2012 is focused on new forms of dialogue between those directly engaged in the creation of knowledge and the public.

How to talk about science after Fukushima or the Mediator scandal? This is one of the questions to be tackled by the 500 scientific culture and communication professionals - persons responsible for mediation, researchers or doctoral students - expected in Nancy at the start of September. The international conference organised as part of the Hubert Curien Days 2012 has as its theme: "Science mediation - international perspectives, stakes and strategies."

"The current problem of science mediation is not solely a technical one, explains Patrick Baranger, a researcher and lecturer at the University of Lorraine and general secretary of the Encounters. It is less about how to make the public understand how a GMO is made or nuclear fission than about giving the public the tools to take up a stance on research-related political, ethical or financial questions". And this is why the first session of the conference (open to the general public) will facilitate a debate on the links between the three terms : knowledge, confidence and citizenship. To talk about it, the organisers have invited two "top players" in the scientific culture world: Claudie Haigneré, President of Universcience and former Minister for Research and John Durant, director of prestigious MIT's science museum.

By means of its 16 conference sessions and nearly 150 exhibitions this 4th edition of the Hubert Curien Days will also make it possible to discover new media and strategies for sharing science with the public. If the Internet and social networks occupy countless communications, the conference will also make it possible to learn about more original means of mediation. "Some countries choose, for example, to closely link scientists and professional communities - farmers in Egypt, fishermen on Mauritius - to feed research and develop practice."

• Return to the file : "Hubert Curien Days 2012"