Boutique des Sciences

ABOUT

The Boutique des Science is a place open to stakeholders in the Brussels-Capital Region (associations, citizen collectives, public administrations and authorities, municipalities, companies…)  who bring their questions and challenges to the university community (students, lecturers, researchers…). It primarily targets organizations with limited or no financial resources. The aim is to translate this social demand into research questions, which are then entrusted to students from all faculties as part of their training (courses, projects, dissertations, placements, etc.).  The experience of Boutiques des Sciences abroad shows that this approach of university-Region collaboration provides answers to the concrete needs of civil society organisations, while offering students an enriching experience by working on concrete cases.

Students can play a major role in responding to field-based questions, whether through their dissertation or thesis work, or through other teaching formats such as projects, group assignments, internships, or course activities. Each of these formats can constitute a significant contribution to the research process (state of the art, preliminary experiments, communication of results). Experiences from Boutiques des Sciences abroad show that this model of collaboration between universities and local territories helps address the concrete needs of civil society organizations while offering students a valuable opportunity to work on real-world cases.

To this end, the ULB Boutique des Sciences has developed a portfolio of courses in which such questions can be addressed, involving a wide range of disciplines taught at the university: engineering, biology, philosophy, sociology, economics and finance, urban planning, environmental studies, geography, architecture, and cultural management. This list is expected to grow, particularly in response to future requests.