Qu'est ce que la Grande Expérience Participative ?
Tous les deux ans en France, une Grande Expérience Participative est organisée au sein de la Nuit Européenne des Chercheur·e·s, en simultané dans 12 villes, permettant à une équipe de chercheur·e·s de faire participer près de 15 000 personnes du public à une expérience scientifique s’inscrivant dans le cadre de leurs travaux de recherche.
Synchr'eau is a citizen experiment, led by Nicolas Dietrich, which has collected more than 800 water samples from all over France to build an interactive map reflecting the quality of fresh water in France.
On the occasion of the Nuit Européenne des Chercheurs 2023TBI had the honor of coordinating the Grande expérience participative: la grande Synchr'eau. This experiment, led and designed by Nicolas Dietrich, took place over the weekend of September 30 and October 1, 2023 in several French cities.
Simplified test kits, consisting of a test strip to be dipped into the water to be tested, and a graduated scale for reading the results, were distributed to volunteer contributors. They then photographed the results and e-mailed them to the research team.
But the experiment didn't stop with European Researchers' Night: between September and January 2024, the freshwater quality data collection operation continued.
Thanks to this system, over 800 photos of sampling results were received and processed by Nathalie Clergerie, technical manager of the large Synchr'eau company. Several criteria were identified:
- heavy metals (iron, copper, lead, mercury)
- ammonium, nitrites and nitrates
- carbonate, which influences alkalinity and pH
- chlorine-related elements (chlorine dioxide, cyanuric acid, etc.)
As reported on the researchers' blog, “200 samples were found in rivers, 150 in streams, 100 in wells, 150 in ponds and lakes, etc. The database includes over 30 puddles, snow samples, spring samples and rainwater samples. Everything is freely available on our interactive map.. »
This experience also provided an opportunity to produce a photo contest which received more than 150 entries, including 8 winners were revealed in June 2024.
