Menez l'enquête à Londres - Du 5 au 16 août 2023 - Les Rencontres de l’Excellence Scientifique et Technique

Le Projet

Saturday, August 5th 2023

Today was a long day : Flora arrived in Gatwick, Maria, Iban and Karlo in Heathrow, and Garance in St-Pancras. So we spent much time in the public transportation ! For dinner we cooked pasta and a tomato salad. This is us doing the dishes before going to bed.

Sunday, August 6th 2023

This morning we got up at 8 o’clock and had breakfast in the bedroom together. It was a little camping style ! Later, we went shopping to buy food for our lunch and dinner, and to improve our autonomy skills. We came back to the residence and prepared our lunch before going to Hyde Park for a walk.

After having lunch in the park, we were assigned a mission : to talk with people having interactions with animals and take a picture of them. Then we went across the park through Wellington Arch to see Buckingham Palace and its famous guards. Then we had a break in St James’s Park and resumed our stroll to the Horse Guards. We took photos of Big Ben, the London Eye and Westminster Abbey.

At 5pm we went to a cafe in Hammersmith and debriefed the day, the project, the organization of the week and finally came back to the hostel. After some exercices we had a rest and took a shower. For the dinner we ate a delicious summer salad in the commun room.

After dinner we went for a walk in the streets : Maria and Emilia had spotted a fox in the school across our building, and thought we might try to see them. And we did : we sat in the park and we saw two foxes !

(written by Flora and Garance)

Monday, August 7th 2023

On the second day, we woke up and prepared a typical English breakfast : scrumble eggs, ham, scones with jam and we tried Marmite.. It was very good - maybe except for the last one !

Afterwards, we had a video conference with an expert currently working on foxes - Manue Piachaud – who answered some of the questions we prepared, like for example : why do foxes attempt to go closer and closer to cities ? Manue told us that foxes, similar to birds, are attracted by the food in London ; it was interesting.

Then, for lunch, we went outside to eat in a Japanese restaurant called Wasabi. We ordered and shared sushi, soup, mochi and gyosas.

Later, we went to a park to see a Baobab tree – it was for most of us the first time – and layed down under it to talk about what makes a good journalist.

We also asked people in the park about their opinion on this question and we got some interesting answers, some of them about fake news. We discussed what fake news are and how to tell the difference between fake news and misinformation.

We also talked about the difference between a detective and a journalist. Then we did the planning of our whole stay in London.
A difficult thing to do considering the long list of activities we had to choose from !

After having some free time, we came back to the hostel and had our home-made burgers for dinner. We returned to yersterday’s little park to see the foxes. It was a nice day and the weather was beautiful !

(Karlo and Iban)

Tuesday, August 8th 2023

Today, we ate a traditional breakfast with porridge before going to the library. There we spent two hours searching information about foxes : what they eat, where they live, when they breed, etc.
Then we went back home for lunch : a delicious pasta salad was waiting for us ! We debriefed about our research and did the dishes.

After a little break we took the tube to Westminster and walked along the Thames river. Unfortunatly all day we had to do with a British rainy weather but it didn’t prevent us to enjoy and see the London Eye, the National Theatre, Gabriel’s Wharf, the Oxo Tower, the Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe, the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. We did our first interviews in the street and interrogated people about foxes for our survey. It was quite interesting to have different points of vue, such as « foxes clean the city ».

After this long walk we had dinner in a Thai « all you can eat » restaurant and we all filled our plates 3 times ! Then, in Hammersmith, for the first time, Londoners could see a new species : a walking human ball.

Wednesday, August 9th 2023

On the fourth day, Wednesday, we ate a yummy breakfast with eggs and ham. Then we went to the library and found more interesting information about foxes : their diseases, like Echinococcosis.It is a disease that spreads through foxe’s poop. It can reach humans and destroy the liver. We also found information about how populations around the world perceive foxes !

Afterwards, we returned to the hostel to make our sandwiches. We found a very calm park, and some painters restoring the park let us in. There were swings, several benches and we were almost alone ! Everything was very nice until we tried to exit – the workers had left, and all the doors were closed. We asked someone in the park for help and discovered that the place where we ate was private, that explains how calm it was. She opened the door for us with her badge and we could go to the Science Museum.

There, we saw a real Moon rock and the authentic Apollo 10 module. There were also some sections about medecine and mathematics.

Then we went to an open air cinema near Paddington where we watched a movie called Devil wears Prada. It’s about a journalist becoming the assistant of a famous fashion editor.

Finally we took the tube and returned to the hostel to take a shower. Some of us went to see the foxes. The weather was really nice today !

Thursday, August 10th 2023

Today we ate a delicious banana porridge in the morning. We walked to Shepherd’s Bush Market where we shared some falafel together.

Afterwards, we took the tube and stoppped at Hampstead where we ate Thai food in a restaurant. It was really nice !

After eating, we had some free time and visited the beautiful city and its little streets.

Then, we went to Hampstead Heath and did a lot of interviews about foxes. We saw a tree called the Hollow tree. His surroundings had fences to prevent us from damaging his old roots.

We did an activity teaching us how to modelise an ecosystem and then we returned to the hostel. At the hostel we had a ravioli dinner in the TV room where we watched a little bit of Men in black .

The weather was nice today !

(written by Iban)

Friday, August 11th 2023

In this beautiful Friday, we woke up and ate the same things than the other days and ha a rest because the whole team was tired. We decided to go to the park to do an activity about « Rights of nature », we watched a video staging Mumta Ito .She is a barrister and she defends Nature. We talked about what it means and what giving Nature the same rights than human would imply.

Then we decided to eat at Wasabi’s as we did on the first day. Afterwards we took one of the famous red buss to go to Candem Town without Emilia (who was preparing the future treasure hunt for sunday but it’s a secret ).

We bought a lot of souvenirs like dummies. We interviewed two restaurants’ managers (Londoners are so kind and welcoming) and then we took the tube to come back home. But in the tube we start talking with a father and his beautiful little girl. He was very funny and he made fun about Iban who was as always looking at the phone of strangers. We also interviewed him, we don’t change good habits !!

(written by Garance)

Saturday, August 12th 2023

Today, we woke up and had a nice breakfast with eggs, toasted ham and bread before doing an activity to improve the way we organise our ideas. We learned a new technique called Pecha Kucha. We used it to create the storyboard of our project on postits.

We wanted to have a picnic outside but it started raining so we ate our salads an sandwiches in the TV room. Then, we went for a walk. The Japanese Anime National Convention was meeting in a hotel very close to Abercorn House. We kind of sneaked in and could have a look at the activities such as video gaming. There were a lot of cosplayers and fans of anime.

Afterwards, we strolled along the river Thames before coming back. We continued our project and wrote our texts. At 6pm Garance and me went shopping at Tesco. For dinner we had several surprise baskets we bought at discount prices on To good to go. Finally we settled in the room to watch Miss Peregrine and the peculiar children with popcorn !

(written by Flora)

Sunday, August 13th 2023

On this bright Sunday, we did a « grasse matinée » and woke up a bit later. We sat in some hostel’s restaurant to eat a traditional full english breakfast.

After this magnificent breakfast we took the tube and went to Freddie Mercury’s exibition in Sotheby’s. It was meant to show his objects, coats and furnitures before selling them at auction. When we arrived, the exibition was about to open in 40 minutes and the queue was already a hundred meters long. We talked about leaving and visiting another museum but we decided to stay until the opening to see how fast the queue would be. And it was a good choice – when the exibition opened the queue was fast and we arrived pretty quickly to the entrance. While we waited, we did some interviews about foxes with people in this large queue. In the exibition, we saw Freddie’s guitar, his cape and many more. We had a great time and took a lot of pictures !

Afterwards, we returned home using the tube. At the hostel, we eated and continued working on the project after having some free time. In the evening, we ate pasta with a home-made tomato and onion sauce and steaks. Then we went to Shepherd’s Bush Fair and walk very quickly because it was closing at 9 pm and it was the last day. We did several rides and had a lot of fun.

This Sunday was full of sun !

(writtten by Karlo)

Monday, August 14th 2023

Monday : the group chose to finish their project today so they could be completely free on their last day. The participants worked all day but of course they took some breaks and had lunch in a park. They finished writing their texts, chose interesting pictures of foxes, wrote a glossary, designed a nice front page…

They also had a call with Manue about the poll they conducted in London. The participants interviewed 27 persons on the street, either in parks such as Hampstead Heath, or on the street when the opportunity came (waiting in the queue for Freddie Mercury, having lunch in a square…).

This has been a hard day for all four, but they ended with a 12-pages handbook in English about foxes in London ! The participants to the next trip in 2024 will be able to use it as a base for their own investigation.

Tuesday, August 15th 2023

Today was the group’s last day in London ! We started with a call with Manue, who had have time to analyse the group’s results. In was really interesting : for instance almost 25 % of the interviewees knew about echinoccocosis, more than 50 % though that foxes should not live in London but most of them enjoyed seeing them, almost the half of our sample had already seen a documentary about foxes.

Then we went to Camden to eat street food. After that we took the tube and the educators suddently said : OK, we go off here, and you go off at the next station. This was the beginning of the treasure hunt. We would receive hints (phrases or photos) from Emilia and would have to find a place or an information. In the end we saw the monument to the Great Fire of 1966, a church where the first hotline was created in 1953 to prevent suicide, Saint Paul’s Cathedral, the Royal Court of Justice, Covent Garden and Trafalgar Square.

To finish the day we ate real English food in a pub : chicken and mushroom pie, schnitzel, salads… and a dessert : apple pie with ice cream or custard, or sticky toffee pudding with custard. This one was really to sweet ! After that we went for a walk in the neighbourhood.

Wednesday, August 16th 2023

Today we left London. « Fortunately » Iban and Karlo’s flight had been delayed, so they didn’t have to get up at 5:30. We could enjoy a last breakfast together.

Emilia went to Saint-Pancras with Garance, then we had lunch at Wasabi’s. After that we came back to Abercorn House where we offered a collective card to the staff to thank them for their kindness and patience (for example when we asked for a skeleton key because we left our’s insidde the room…). Maria went to Heathrow with Carlo and Iban, and Emilia to Gatwick with Flora.

These are the outlines of our science trip with OSI :

Tourism, of course. We visited some major monuments and places in London : Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the London Eye, the National Theatre, Gabriel’s Wharf, the Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, the Science Museum, Sheperd’s Bush Market, Hampstead Heath, Camden Town, the Monument to the Great Fire of 1666, Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square.

Science project, which is at the core of the trip. We wrote a 12-pages handbook about foxes in London, we interviewed 27 persons on the street to gather results for Manue Piachaud, we observed foxes and witnesses different behaviours (watching, wandering, giving food to another fox, searching in the bins), we watched a TedX video about Rights of Nature and discuss the topic together.

Tools for better thinking and organisation. We did several activities to discover tools and methods for self-organisation : how to create a planning, how to organise a vote to choose among several choices (which movie, which museum), how to use a brainstorm poster to check on our progression, how to set up a presentation with the Pecha Kucha method, what is a storyboard, how to visualize the completion of tasks (with our texts : to write, to review, to type, completed).

Some fun too ! We went to an open air cinema, we sneaked in the Japanese Anime National Convention, we watched a movie at home, we visited the Freddie Mercury Exhibition at Sotheby’s, we had rides at a fair, and we did a treasure hunt in London.

Le lieu

London

L'Équipe

Émilia Robin and Maria Langle

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Documents produits


Handbook to foxes in London: Petit guide de découverte des renards à Londres : alimentation, reproduction, habitat, relations avec les humains (en anglais)