Publication of "Eurêka!", the comic book produced in connection with the French National Science Festival

Back in January, the newsletter featured an article about Alexandra Maure, a PhD student in microbiology in the Integrated Mycobacterial Pathogenomics Unit at the Institut Pasteur, who took part in the Sciences en bulles ("Science in speech bubbles") initiative in connection with the French National Science Festival.

The aim was to raise awareness of science through outreach, namely by producing a comic book containing ten PhD thesis topics distilled down into the form of cartoon strips – a fun educational challenge that offered a whole new angle on science.

In a process involving several stages and taking nearly an entire year, Alexandra Maure and the nine other PhD students worked hand in hand with the famous cartoon album duo Peb & Fox to turn her PhD topic on improving tuberculosis treatment via host-directed strategies into a cartoon strip (see the newsletter issue from June 18).

This third volume in the Sciences en bulles collection, entitled "Eurêka!," was published on October 10 to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the French National Science Festival.

To mark the publication of the book and present her PhD and her research on tuberculosis, Alexandra Maure also took part in a public event organized by Universcience at the Cité des Sciences, hosted by journalist Olivier Sarreta from the magazine Mouvement up, on October 2.

The production of "Eurêka!" further confirms Alexandra's commitment to bringing science to a wider audience. She is already actively involved in several scientific outreach initiatives and she found the comic strip format in the Sciences en bulles initiative to be an "exciting, visual, accessible and honest medium and an effective way of reaching more people, including children."

"Science is about sharing, and comic strips are a good way of sharing it. When I held the comic book in my hands I felt very proud and honored to have been a part of this project. It also showed me that research and my PhD could open up so many different possibilities and achievements."

 

 

Download the comic book in PDF format