- Awards and Distinctions
Her work on pregnancy and developing adapted therapies caught the jury’s attention.
Aurore Lebourg at the microphone during the awards ceremony for the 31st ACFAS research popularization competition
Aurore Lebourg, a doctoral student in virology and immunology at the Institut national de recherche scientifique (INRS), won one of the “Coup de cœur” awards at the 31st ACFAS research popularization competition. The winner was unveiled at the competition awards ceremony, which was held at the University of Ottawa as part of the 91st ACFAS Conference.
“Receiving the research popularization award today is not only recognition, but also an additional source of motivation to continue down this path and keep finding ways of communicating that are both interesting and entertaining.”
Aurore Lebourg, doctoral student in virology and immunology at INRS
Organized by ACFAS since 1993, the competition invites researchers to communicate their work to a non-specialist audience. This annual event emphasizes the importance of making science more accessible in the dialogue between science and society. Four formats are eligible: text, comic, audio, and video. Many popularized works by master’s, doctoral, and postdoctoral candidates are submitted each year.
Important work for the health of pregnant people
Aurore’s competition entry concerns pregnancy, a major event in the lives of many people. The researcher focused on the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which, if contracted by the carrying parent, can cause serious complications for the fetus. Today, early detection methods and adapted treatments are available. However, these are not without risk for the baby’s development, and significant side-effects can occur.
Aurore Lebourg works in a laboratory located at the INRS Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie Research Centre, alongside INRS professor Maritza Jaramillo, an expert in infectious diseases and RNA biology. The team is studying the consequences of getting infected by this parasite during pregnancy, with a view to developing new therapies that are even more effective and less dangerous for the child.
Passionate about popularization
Alongside her doctoral work, Aurore Lebourg is pursuing a number of projects related to making science more accessible to the general public. “During my studies, I realized the importance of popularizing science in order to disseminate new discoveries to the general public. Over the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to practice this form of communication in a variety of formats”, says Aurore Lebourg.
She is editor-in-chief of La Synthèse, the science popularization journal produced by INRS students.
At the same time, she took part in the “Les Scientifines” project, an Instagram page designed to promote science and technology among young girls from disadvantaged backgrounds. She was invited to give a workshop on toxoplasmosis awareness.
In 2023, Aurore Lebourg also took part in Science Pop, a pan-Quebec initiative to popularize science, proposed by the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM) in collaboration with the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS).
That same year, Aurore Lebourg attended the Acfas communications training program, to learn how to popularize science and carry out a project with a civic and inclusive dimension.
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