UPCité Encounters: 13 minutes to explore the transformations shaping the world!

L’Université Paris Cité continues Les Rencontres d’UPCité, a three-format event cycle — Arts and Sciences, Ciné-débat and 13 minutes — aimed at the general public and devoted to exploring the major contemporary challenges.

On Tuesday, May 19, join us for a string of talks on fascinating topics—each strictly 13 minutes, no more, no less. Discover the role of small Breton artisanal fishers as environmental sentinels, explore the challenges of Continental Hydrogen, follow the surprising workings of gluttonous enzymes, dive into the daily grind of women's repetitive work, and let the energy of a cabaret dancer captivate you.

UPCité Encounters: 13 Minutes — Transformation(s)

Speakers and Guests

• Fernando RODRIGUES LIMA: a research professor in the Functional and Adaptive Biology Unit (BFA) – CNRS UMR 8251, Université Paris Cité.
• Yaëlle WORMSER is a microbiology PhD candidate at the Pasteur Institute. In parallel, she develops, under the name Lady Pipette, a show that blends rap, humor, and science communication. A winner of the 2026 Germaine Poinso-Chapuis Special Jury Prize and a national MT180 finalist, she is exploring new forms of public mediation.

From lab to stage: when science tells its story differently Can science be told through rap? For a long time seen as complex and reserved for an elite, scientific research sometimes struggles to reach younger audiences. By blending humor, stand-up and music, Yaëlle Wormser offers a fresher, more engaging way to talk about science. Through her journey, she questions the norms of science communication, the role of women in science, and impostor syndrome to show that there isn’t just one way to be scientific.

• Alessandro VACCA: Researcher at the Centre for Cultural Anthropology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Paris Cité University
• Isabelle MARTINEZ: Professor of Stable Isotope Geochemistry, Paris Cité University, IPGP

In a world that never stops changing, universities and research institutions have more than ever a vital role to play: shaping the big debates of our time and shedding light on the major challenges facing our societies. True to this commitment and to its vision of planetary health, the Rencontres d’UPCité, organized by Université Paris Cité, stand as a flagship moment for sharing, questioning, and collective inquiry. Aimed at the general public, this cycle of events invites the cross-pollination of knowledge, the challenging of viewpoints, and, together, the exploration of paths to think about and build the future.

These sessions come in three different formats:

• Arts et sciences : by bringing artists and scientists into conversation, these encounters explore two essential and complementary approaches: art, which moves us with emotion and beauty, and science, which illuminates the world through reason and the pursuit of truth.
• 13 minutes : thirteen minutes to convey the passion for research! Six speakers take the stage in sequence to share, each in 13 minutes—no more— their scientist’s perspective on a range of varied and pressing topics.
• Ciné-débat : through fiction and documentary, cinema opens a space for reflection on the sciences, extended by exchanges with researchers and filmmakers, including researchers (women and men) and directors and filmmakers.

This sponsored page is not written by the SORTIRAPARIS editorial staff.