Aurore Richel, laureate of the Wernaers Prize for the popularization of science

Professor of resource chemistry at the University of Liege, Aurore Richel has just been awarded the 2021 Wernaers Prize for the popularization of science for her blog Chem4us. Created at the end of 2019, in order to challenge preconceived ideas about the deleterious aspects of chemistry, the blog regularly offers hyper-documented articles and dossiers on topics related to societal, economic and environmental issues related to chemistry.

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or some years now, chemistry has been perceived, especially by the general public, as a science whose effects on humans, ecosystems and the environment are systematically harmful. Fueled by the press and boosted by social networks, language such as "the dangers of chemicals" or "chemical pollution" is frequently used. In addition to these "shock" announcements, which subtly associate the words "chemistry" and "risk" in the collective unconscious, the prospect of the increasing scarcity of fossil fuels (such as oil or natural gas), which are the basis of our industrial production models, raises doubts about the validity of certain initiatives in the chemical sector and their significant, even deleterious, impact on future generations.

It is in this context that Aurore Richel, Professor at the Faculty of Gembloux Agro Bio Tech of the University of Liege, had the idea to set up a blog that could precisely challenge these misconceptions about chemistry and its applications and defend the themes related to the chemistry of renewable resources that she deals with daily in her research and teaching activities. To do this, I have designed a website, in blog format, dealing with issues, cutting-edge research and strategies of the chemical sector," explains Aurore Richel. Chem4us centralizes critical information in the form of popularized, documented and illustrated articles that I write on a regular basis (monthly). "

Created at the end of 2019, the chem4us.be website takes up topics related to chemistry that aim to answer societal, environmental and economic questions, such as the challenges of new fuels, the design of biodegradable materials, the management of "plastic pollution", the circular economy, etc. The website is fed by thematic dossiers constituted to answer a single question related to a specific sector of the chemical sciences and its industries. "Each dossier, written in French, is structured on the basis of a short summary, preambles (essentially aiming to recall elements of context and/or language) before moving on to an argued explanation of the issue, written in a neutral manner, without bias, and supported by proven and verified scientific facts (referenced at the end of the dossier, in the format of scientific publications, links to verified organizations, etc.). "At the end of each dossier, the reader receives a short summary including the essential points of the information, as well as Aurore Richel's personal conclusions on the theme that has been proposed for reading.

It is this work that has just been awarded the Wernaers Prize for the popularization of science 2021. Created at the initiative of the late Mr. Gustave Christin WERNAERS, the WERNAERS International Fund for Research and Dissemination of Knowledge was established with the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique - FNRS to support actions for the promotion of research and dissemination of scientific knowledge.