Scientific outreach: among the many Institut Pasteur initiatives, a focus on Alexandra Maure and the "Sciences en bulles" initiative

Fostering links between the world of science and society, explaining and sharing knowledge, is one of the priorities in the Institut Pasteur's Strategic Plan. This aim strikes a chord with several scientists who, through a variety of different approaches, are keen to play an active role in the knowledge transfer chain. This is the case for Alexandra Maure, a PhD student in microbiology in the Integrated Mycobacterial Pathogenomics Unit, who is taking part in the 2021 edition of "Sciences en bulles" ("Science in speech bubbles"). This initiative, part of the 2021 French National Science Festival, sets out to adapt ten research topics into cartoon strips – an original, accessible and fun format designed to make scientific research more approachable and understandable. The resulting book, particularly geared towards a younger audience, will be published in autumn 2021.

Alexandra applied to be part of "Sciences en bulles" because of her deep-seated passion for research and a real desire to share her enthusiasm with a wider audience – but it was by chance that she spotted the call for applications sent out by her university in her junk mail folder very little time before the closing deadline.

Alexandra is committed to creating links between research and the general public: she is a member of the "Comptoir des Sciences", she helps to host middle school students who come to find out what daily life is like in the Institut Pasteur's laboratories, and she has also been an ambassador for the "Declics" program since the start of the 2020 academic year, going into various high schools to promote scientific research and the professional prospects it offers. So she got to work preparing her application – which she managed to submit last November – for the "Sciences en bulles" initiative, seeing it as a logical extension of her ambition to share scientific knowledge.
 
Thanks to her commitment and enthusiasm for scientific outreach, together with the potential of her research topic, she was selected back in November, together with nine other PhD students, out of a total of 88 applications submitted, for the third edition of "Sciences en bulles."  For this latest publication, the aim was to shine a light on ten research topics from the angle "the excitement of discovery." This was an approach that spoke volumes to Alexandra, who herself experienced an exciting moment when she discovered a crucial molecule during her research on improving tuberculosis treatment via host-directed strategies.

Production of the book, which will feature ten theses in cartoon format and is set to be published in October, is a complex process requiring several stages, and a number of meetings have already been held with the ten selected students since November 23. After a day's presentation and training in November on "how to turn your thesis into a cartoon," the participants sent the scenario of their thesis to the project designers in late December. Keeping the momentum going, a further meeting was held in early January to help the designer develop a broad overview of Alexandra's research. Discussions at the meeting, which again focused on how to make the research topic accessible for the wider public, recognized the challenge of raising awareness of basic research in a context in which "people think that some diseases have already been eradicated, as is the case for tuberculosis."
 
The newsletter will bring you all the latest developments in this fun educational project and introduce you to some other scientists who are getting involved in scientific outreach by sharing their research.
Generating an interest in the future of research among younger generations, improving understanding of scientific issues and reaching out to society to help boost confidence in science are all challenges identified and supported by the Institut Pasteur which can be addressed by outreach and initiatives undertaken by scientists of all generations.