- Science festival / Fête de la science
- Sleepless Night of Researchers / Nuit blanche des chercheurs
- Masterclasses (en)
- Other events
Science festival / Fête de la science
The Fête de la science is a French science outreach event that promotes science to the general public. Created in 1992, the Fête is organised each year by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research. It was first called Science en fête until 1997, then Science Week from 1998 to 1999, and then Fête de la science from 2000 onwards. Sharing science and understanding the issues at stake in an ever-changing world is what this festive event is all about. It is also an opportunity to arouse curiosity and interest, to understand and learn.
On this occasion, thousands of scientists share their enthusiasm for science and technology with visitors through a variety of activities. The various departments and research laboratories open their doors to the public.
2021 edition
The 30th edition of the Fête de la Science took place from 8 to 10 October in Hall 6 West in Nantes. It was once again an opportunity to discover the work of researchers, to share knowledge and to explore new knowledge. As every year, thanks to a team of dynamic scientists and technicians, Subatech took part in this important meeting between the general public of all ages and science, by making them (re)discover the fog chamber, the KM3NeT experiment and also the map of nuclei in legos. This edition was a great success with several hundred participants during the weekend.
2020 edition
The 29th edition of the Fête de la Science took place in the Halle 6 Ouest in Nantes from 9 to 11 October with the theme "What relationship between humans and nature? " . But, as always, many other themes were on the programme. In spite of the particular context linked to Covid, about twenty establishments, associations and laboratories, including Subatech, were present and were able to adapt to the constraints with a lot of good will and good humour! A dynamic team of researchers and PhD students from Subatech showed visitors how a fog chamber works and the KM3NeT experiment.
The event was a sell-out for the entire weekend, with more than 1000 participants from Friday to Sunday. The small size of the event allowed for a quality visit that was particularly appreciated by the audience.
2019 edition
The 2019 edition of the Fête de la science took place from Friday 4 October to Sunday 13 October with the following themes: gender equality and the energy transition. In Nantes, it took place at the Ecole Centrale on Saturday 5 October with experiments and activities (exhibitions, conferences, shows, projections, etc.). At the stands, the public could experiment, test, exchange and ask questions to the researchers who had come to meet them.
Sleepless Night of Researchers / Nuit blanche des chercheurs
The Nuit Blanche des Chercheurs is a programme that has existed since 2017, organised by the University of Nantes. This event is at the crossroads of art and research. The aim of the Nuit Blanche des Chercheurs is to offer a free event open to the general public. Conceived as an evening event, from 6pm to midnight, this event allows the public to meet researchers. With a rich programme for all tastes, everyone can discuss and exchange. With the Nuit Blanche des Chercheurs, the researchers take up the challenge of integrating you into their world. During this one and only night, they will try to captivate and convince you in their own way, with their own words. This is the perfect opportunity to understand what research is, what work is being done and what it will change in the future. It is the perfect opportunity to infiltrate this integral part of society, so close and yet so far away.
2021
This year's Nuit Blanche des Chercheurs took place on 11 February with the theme of the unexpected. Two Subatech researchers participated in this event which took the form of live workshops, podcasts - a different format from previous years which was adapted to the health crisis.
Access the video on the longest radioactive half-life ever measured, thanks to the XENON1T dark matter detection experiment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCFH0pIcqWE
You can replay all the speeches on the University's website : https://nbc.univ-nantes.fr/
2020
On Thursday 6 February 2020, the 4th edition of the Nuit Blanche des Chercheurs took place with the theme "Proof through images".
Masterclasses (en)
Over the past few years, some 6,000 students from more than 20 countries have been visiting high-energy physics laboratories to become researchers for a day by participating in the Masterclasses organised by CERN.
The morning is devoted to discovering research in high-energy physics: the world of particles, their detection and the associated professions. The afternoon is reserved for the exercise during which the students will put themselves in the shoes of a physicist. The results obtained are then presented and discussed during a videoconference with CERN in which other classes from around the world will also participate. The day ends with a short quiz.
Students will be able to analyse data from the ALICE experiment acquired the previous year from collisions at the LHC (the world's most powerful particle accelerator). By searching through the debris of proton collisions, the budding physicists will look for strangeness...
Edition 2024
This year, Guillaume Batigne and François Arleo, Subatech researchers, welcomed pupils from the Lycée Saint Stanislas in Nantes on 15 February, who thoroughly enjoyed the event. Like every year, this event is being duplicated worldwide.
Edition 2020
For its 10th participation on 6 March 2020, Subatech welcomed students from the Lycée Jules Verne in Nantes as part of the CERN Masterclasses: Discovering High Energy Research.
Other events
Subatech is asked to take part in symposiums and conferences organised by other units. We also sometimes speak in schools about research and scientific careers.
2024
The French Ministry of Education and Youth, the CEA, the CNRS, France Universités and the Société Française de Physique are dedicating the 2023-2024 school year to physics as part of a scientific mediation operation aimed at schools and the general public.
We took part in the Year of Physics by organizing a training day on Friday, January 12, for 53 middle and high school teachers from the Pays de la Loire region, to help them discover and share advances in our research.
Christophe Lerouge, Director of IMT Atlantique, followed by Ginés Martinez, Director of Subatech, opened the day. This was followed by presentations by SUBATECH's teacher-researchers to a very attentive audience of teachers. The morning ended with a presentation of the MERITE project, supported by the DELMA department.
The afternoon was reserved for group workshops and physics experiments. Teachers showed great interest in the KM3NeT (Cubic KiloMetre Neutrino Telescope) and XEMIS projects, which aim to develop a liquid xenon Compton camera for medical imaging. They also discovered the Wilson fog chamber, which can be used to highlight cosmic radiation. They were able to handle a case from the MERITE project. Finally, they were given a demonstration of the radioactivity present all around us, in everyday objects.
Ginès Martinez: "It was an honor to organize this day dedicated to secondary school teachers, to give them an insight into our research ecosystem. Physics, and in particular subatomic physics, is still the subject of intense research at the Subatech laboratory, both fundamental and directed in the fields of energy, environment and health. I'm proud of the quality of the presentations and workshops, which enabled us to share our advances in subatomic physics and its associated technologies with high school teachers and colleagues from the Pays de la Loire region."
2023
With an excellent presentation by Nicolas Thiollière on "Understanding nuclear energy and its challenges", Subatech took part in the "Pint of Science" event in Rennes on 23 May 2023. "Pint of Science" is an international festival that provides a space for researchers and the public to discuss research in a relaxed environment outside of laboratories or lecture halls. Gilles Montavon, a researcher from the laboratory, and Ginés Martinez, the director, also took part in the event and talked to the public about measuring radioactivity and the fog chamber.
2019
Billotron exhibition at Subatech
For three weeks in January 2019, Subatech organised scientific activities on a "Billotron" demonstrator designed and built by the LPC Caen. This device illustrates the methods with which physicists of the infinitely small (nuclear) are able to study the elementary structures of matter, here the nucleus of the atom. The device was installed on the Nantes campus. Researchers from Subatech were present to explain this device and the associated research during various demonstrations.
MAGNETICA exhibition
From 8 April to 24 May, an exhibition on magnetism was held at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Nantes.
Its objective is to bring the public to discover, through experience, the principles of magnetism and its effects, at the origin of numerous applications in our daily lives, from magnets to the results of current research in the field of magnetism. It is an interactive exhibition with the public, which requires the presence of an animator at each presentation.
Co-organisation of Congress of the French Physical Society in Nantes and Subatech stand
The 25th General Congress of the French Physical Society took place from 8 to 12 July 2019 at the Cité des Congrès in Nantes. The General Congress of the French Physical Society offers, every two years, an updated and multidisciplinary overview of the latest advances in physics, all fields combined. Subatech, as co-organiser of the 2019 edition, had a stand at the event.