PSL Week: movement and exchange between schools and disciplines at the heart of the campus
A key period for student movement and exchange at PSL; every semester, PSL weeks bring together students with very different profiles and from very different study programs (sciences, engineering, arts, etc.). The event provides the opportunity to explore a subject in depth and from a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspective. Feedback on the March 2022 edition, with testimonials from David (PhD student, Mines Paris – PSL), Emily (Bachelor’s degree - Sustainability Sciences) and Alexandre (Engineering student at ENSCP – PSL).
Every semester, for a whole week, undergraduate, graduate and PhD students leave their usual laboratories and classrooms for a while to take another course, that’s PSL Week. A chance to personalize their course of study, gain a deeper understanding of a subject or get to know about scientific practices that many students are very enthusiastic about. For the March 2022 edition, more than thirty courses were offered, covering a wide spectrum of subjects (Management, Chemistry, Quantics, History, Sociology, Artificial Intelligence, Mineralogy, etc.) combining field visits, experiments and (or) panels of contributors from different schools.
“It’s the cross-disciplinary nature of the program that attracted me,” said David, third-year PhD student in Digital Mechanics at Mines Paris – PSL. Taking a break from his PhD for a few days, he took part in the “Colors, Arts, Industry” week organized by the Center for Mathematical Morphology, the Museum of Mineralogy and the information systems department at Mines Paris – PSL, and took full advantage of the experience:
“The subject of color was presented at the interface between the scientific and artistic worlds and the contributors were from a wide variety of backgrounds: mathematics, physics, chemistry, as well as artistic creation and/or marketing. PSL Week enabled me to discover the subject from many different standpoints, through an approach that contrasted with my PhD work. I was impressed to see the complementarity and the dialogue between the different approaches.”
Like all of the courses on offer for PSL weeks, the pace is fast and varied. These weeks of intensive courses of study, prepared by teachers, researchers, doctoral students, etc. provide the opportunity to bring in contributors from the scientific and the industrial world, to organize field trips and offer a customized program to study a subject in depth. Alongside David, there were students from Arts Décos, Paris (partner of PSL), from the Master’s in Fashion and Materials (EnaMoMa), Master’s students from Dauphine – PSL… all were able to learn about color through physical sciences and the humanities and its industrial and artistic applications, benefitting from the diversity of everyone’s approach.
These weeks mark a special time in the university year as they are the opportunity for students to circulate between disciplines and schools. Alexandre, second-year student in the engineering program at Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris – PSL, was thus able to push open the doors of the Collège de France and attend a scientific symposium for the first time, as part of the week devoted to “Metallomix: Metals, from Stars to Life”.
“On the second day, we were invited to attend the symposium entitled “Bioinorganic Chemistry in Paris” at the Collège de France. It brought together researchers from the Collège de France, ENS – PSL and from my own school, and they all talked about the latest scientific advances in their fields. It was very interesting.”
Organized by Clotilde Policar and Nicolas Coltice (ENS – PSL), the week entitled “Metallomix: Metals, from Stars to Life” offered a wide-ranging panel of contributors from different disciplines (Chemistry, Geosciences, Mineralogy, etc.) and working in different institutions (ENSCP – PSL, ENS – PSL, Paris Globe Institute of Physics, University of Lille, Museum of Natural History, etc.). This gave participants an idea of the variety of different scientific fields involved in the analysis of metals (Astrophysics, Economics, Archeology, etc.). it provided an introduction to research and its interdisciplinary aspects that Alexandre particularly appreciated, “Metals are on the program in our chemistry courses. This week provided an ideal opportunity to discover in more detail the role and the uses of metals in other fields (Geosciences, Archeology, Health, etc.). It was interesting to find out about the interdisciplinary links that can be formed based on the study of metals and their uses.”
PSL Weeks are certainly the ideal time to experiment. For some, field trips, group work and scientific conferences are their first introduction to the scientific method. Emily, a first-year student on the Bachelor’s degree program in Sustainability Sciences, conducted a field investigation with some other students on the consequences of inequality on behavior as part of the course on “Inequality, Deprivation and Behavior: a Theoretical and Practical Exploration”.
Daniel Nettle, Professor at the University of Newcastle, was invited specially for PSL Week. He asked the students to work in small groups and prepare a question, a method, and to gather data which they would then present to the other groups. This was Emily’s first introduction to the scientific method, and she comments:
“This week gave me the opportunity to understand the reality of what the work of a researcher involves. The approach was different, and certainly complemented the work in my usual classes. I was struck by the reports presented in the group work. Some were very different from the work that we had done, it was very interesting and comprehensive. It showed me the extent of the issue we had studied.”
Once every semester, PSL Weeks enable participants to shape their own curriculum and expand their range of skills for their future academic or professional project. Next edition in fall 2022.