[ITW] Interview with Élodie Chabrol: Raising a glass to celebrating science at the Pint of Science festival, 7–9 September

One of the original Pint of Sciencers, Élodie Chabrol tells us about this festival which makes science accessible to everyone, everywhere

After obtaining a PhD in neuroscience, Élodie started out as a researcher. In 2017 decided to channel her knowledge and energy into bringing science to the general public. She is Pint of Science’s International Director.

What is Pint of Science?
Pint of Science is an annual science festival held in bars and cafés in lots of countries simultaneously, where researchers and scientists talk about their work and research in an informal setting with regular people who have no specialist science knowledge. Last year’s festival had around 3,000 events in almost 400 cities in 24 countries, with about 140,000 attendees around the world.

There are several themes highlighted during the 2020 event, is that right?
Yes, there are six different themes during the festival:

• Beautiful Mind – neuroscience, psychology and psychiatry
• Atoms to Galaxies –- physics, chemistry, math, astronomy
• Our Body – medicine, human biology, health
• Planet Earth – geosciences, plant sciences, zoology
• Tech Me Out – biotechnology, robotics, computers
• Our Society – law, history, policy, language

How did ArianeGroup become one of your partners?
In 2017 I was invited to visit one of the sites where Ariane 5 is built and I met the teams there. I talked about Pint of Science and we realized we had a common goal: to share our enthusiasm for the amazing science work that is going on as widely as possible, reaching people really outside the scientific and technological community. That’s how our partnership started.

What’s special about Pint of Science this year?
With the COVID 19 crisis, we can’t do our usual thing of having gatherings in bars. So this year we will be holding a festival of live on-line events from 7 to 9 September.

Anything up your sleeve for this year’s festival?
This year we are going to make it as fun as possible. There will be prizes to won in competitions in France and Germany and naturally we’ll have ArianeGroup specialists talking about rocket science and all things spacey!

How can we follow and join in Pint of Science events?
You can follow our international @pintsworld account on Twitter and Facebook. For ArianeGroup talks in Germany go to @pintofscienceDE and in France @pintofscienceFR. Keep up-to-date by following social networks where you’ll find all info.

What are your plans for the rest of the year?
After the 2020 on-line festival we’ll start organizing #pint21. And with everything we’ve learned this year, we will be sure to add a social media dimension to our future festivals!