An extraordinary scientific and human adventure, the LENGGURU 2014 exploration is an opportunity to educate the general public, and young people in particular, about the role of research in the production of knowledge and the preservation of biodiversity.
Through the many educational opportunities that will be held in France, Indonesia, and Papua, the IRD will offer many young people the opportunity to preview an unknown world.
Educational opportunities for young people
■ France
Two projects have been initiated in the Languedoc-Roussillon region:
• The first, intended for primary school students in the city of Montpellier and carried out in partnership with the City’s Directorate for Landscape and Biodiversity, offers several activities: a comparison of karsts in Languedoc-Roussillon and Papua New Guinea; the creation of a travel diary; field trips with local specialists in limestone areas; following the exploration on the exploration’s blog; and sessions presenting the exploration.
• The second will invites secondary school students to conduct their own research projects, to follow the exploration through its website, meet with researchers, and present their projects at various events scheduled at local institutions in 2014-2015.
Additionally, students from Université Montpellier 2 will be in charge of the English translation of the online expedition logbook. Exchanges with Indonesian students will also be organized through social networks, and a video-conference will be held with the expedition scientists at the end of the expedition, early December.
■Indonesia
• French secondary school de Jakarta
Secondary school students will be invited to conferences/debates with the researchers before and after the exploration. One class plans to create an interactive exhibit on LENGGURU 2014 and follow the exploration through the online logbook.
• Institut français d’Indonésie
Three cultural centres in the Institut français d’Indonésie’s network will present conferences/films on the exploration to the general public and in particular to students: Yogyakarta, Bandung, and Surabaya.
.• Secondary schools in Papua
After conversations with the researchers at a conference before the exploration, two secondary schools from the city of Sorong will follow the exploration through its website.
More information on the Educational project in the french version of the website.
Events and audio-visual productions for the general public
Trilingual large-format photography exhibit
The IRD and the City of Montpellier’s Directorate for Landscape and Biodiversity will make a public presentation and exhibit of large format photographs taken during the expedition. In three languages (French, English, and Indonesian), this exhibit will present the exceptional biodiversity of the Lengguru region as well as the fieldwork conducted by the scientists. Presented in Montpellier and Indonesia as from 2015, it will then be available for loan in France and internationally.
Programmes at the Mare Nostrum Aquarium of Montpellier Agglomeration.
The IRD and the Mare Nostrum Aquarium will join together to allow the public to follow the progress of the expedition. The programme includes: school tours of the aquarium, near-live connections with the scientists during the expedition, public conferences, etc.
“LENGGURU, the Last Eden of Biodiversity”: A film event and a television series
Mona Lisa Production will follow Laurent Pouyaud and all the scientists involved in the exploration to produce a program event: “LENGGURU, the Last Eden of Biodiversity”. Primarily an adventure film, it will attempt to show six weeks of exploration by a team of “adventurer” scientists: the most exciting and dangerous moments, discoveries, etc. A blockbuster film, it will show the public the exceptional sites and misunderstood fauna of Lengguru through cinematic means (underwater and aerial images, animal cinematography, etc.). Produced at the heart of the scientific epic, this 90-minute program will be broadcast in prime time on ARTE in 2015.
Additionally, Mona Lisa is preparing a true scientific television series, of 4 X 52-minute episodes, with the goal of showing the researchers’ discoveries, some of which have a global impact. Each episode will be devoted to a biotope and will show both “natural history” images filmed during the exploration and the process of analysing the samples collected and the species inventoried, filmed in the laboratories in Jakarta, Paris, and Milan.
The techniques used will be exceptional, including, for example, electron microscopy (ESEM, under patent by Mona Lisa).