IRD, alongside Cirad and the French Embassy in Thailand, took part together in the National Science and Technology Fair in Bangkok. Organised by the National Science Museum (NSM), this event attracts more than a million visitors every year from all over the kingdom to discover the latest advances made by the scientific community.
Expérience immersive dans une jungle peuplée d'animaux grâce à Wild Immersion
© Lisa Louveton
The National Science and Technology Fair is organised every year by the National Science Museum (NSM) under the supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and Innovation. This year, the spotlight was on plant health: "International Year of Plant Health (IYPH 2020)".
From 10 to 23 November 2020, IRD and its partners had the opportunity to awaken the scientific curiosity of the general public, and in particular young Thai pupils and students, through interactive experiments blending technology and the discovery of local biodiversity.
The French pavilion presented "Pl@ntnet", the first collaborative platform for plant identification through photos and available as a mobile application. This participatory science project on plant biodiversity was launched 10 years ago by CIRAD, INRAE, INRIA, and IRD and is now used by millions of people.
This event was also an excellent opportunity to present IRD's latest exhibition "Insects to the Planet's Rescue", and to show the films "Il était une forêt" directed by Luc Jacquet, Francis Hallé and Michel Papineschi and "Wild immersion", the first immersive nature reserve to be broadcast at 360°.
The Thai Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation and Permanent Secretary Prof. Sirirurg Songsivilai were able to visit the French pavilion during the opening ceremony held on 14 November 2020.
