Jean-Renée Dufort, Honorary President of the Akfas Conference | Science | News | the sun

JEan-René Dufort says he does not know why he endorses this honorary title. “I did not choose myself! Rather, it is a question that should be posed to the university president …”, he says. The show We are therefore pleased to inform Mr. Dufort that he was chosen because, in his professional practice, he promotes research, innovation and scientific culture, which are values ​​dear to Acfas. And Jean-Pierre Perrault, Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies and President of Acfas, adds that Mr. Dufort also made it possible to promote the event to a large audience.

Presentations, What Does Dufort Think About Science Communication? “Science is always very scary. When we say to someone“ Watch out, we’re going to talk to you about science! ”, We always have the impression that we have to run and get Tylenol or Advil because it would be complicated. But if we talk to people about interesting things, without warning, Without apologizing so much for practicing or spreading the science … it looks like it hurts less! ”Says the man who also runs the large lab at ICI Explora.

Note that as part of the Acfas conference, Mr. Dufort will be participating in a panel discussion titled “In the place of the scientific caller”Thursday, May 6 from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm

The game has changed

After 20 years in the business, Mr. Dufort has undergone major changes. “When I left my lab to do TV, the social networks weren’t there. I think it’s clear to everyone that social media has completely changed everything. Almost every human being becomes a medium in their own right … It’s become a jungle!”

Mr. Dufort remembers well the day he realized “the game has changed”. “Someone walked towards me, he clicked his iPhone on his concrete shovel. He told me he wanted to interview me and that we were alive and I don’t know what. I was in shock, saying to myself, ‘Oh my God, I’m alive, I don’t know where, I don’t know how and there is a guy filming me with an iPhone printed on a concrete shovel … he’s now my informer.

Scholars of “the breach of the party”

Climate and environmental changes occupied a prominent place in programming this eighty-eighth edition, with more than 35 conferences related to this topicIt is a topic dear to Mr. Dufort.

“The boring thing about environmental issues is that the world is seen as party-breaking. Climate issues are serious issues, with dire consequences, including for our daily life. We can no longer continue to live as we live. So, explain that to someone … It’s not fun, ”this ecologist explains. In fact, if Mr. Dufort were a person of color, green was definitely one of his dominant undertones.

Mr. Dufort also denounced the mixed aspect of marketing. “We are making it clear to you that if you buy an electric tank, you will become the greenest person in the world … while this is not true!” He notes the similarities between communication on environmental issues and those related to the pandemic: “There are things that are not fun to say, not fun to do, and we certainly tend to shoot the messenger.”

He says he attended the funeral of a glacier in Iceland. “An Icelandic glaciologist told me that glaciers are not democrats or republicans, they are just melting. I think that is the challenge of scientific communication, which is to make it clear that we all have opinions, but there is still a fundamental aspect: nature works the same way and whether you think of One side or the other side.

Like a catch phrase that’s often repeated, Dufort warns that “The planet does not need us at all. We, as a species, are in danger.” If he’s concerned about points of no return, he says he recently noticed the beginning of an understanding of environmental risks, especially to the economy. It is true that we can ask ourselves, ‘What gives me recycling, is there China? “But the goal is to try to understand, collectively, that if we said this to each other individually, we certainly wouldn’t succeed!”