The 92nd ACFAS congress opens in a difficult context for science

The 92nd ACFAS congress opens on Monday at the School of Higher Technology (ETS), which organizes the event in collaboration with Concordia University.

It is by far the biggest multidisciplinary scientific gathering of French language in the worldindicates Martin Maltais, the president of the Canadian-French association for the progress of science (ACFAS).

About 6000 people from around thirty countries will participate in the 247 symposia organized this year. From this number, around 700 come from outside Quebec.

The congress has no equivalent, neither in English Canada nor in the French -speaking world. It is in a way the equivalent in French of the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which takes place in English.

If no less than 4,500 people will participate in the event in person, a few hundred others will assist in virtual way.

More and more people in emerging countries, who do not necessarily have the way to come into the presence due to the cost of plane tickets or deadlines for obtaining visas, can participate in Congressrejoices Martin Maltais.

Thus, researchers, teachers and students from all over the world and areas as varied as health, education, biology, psychology, mathematics, anthropology or history will be of the meeting.

It is very nice to have conferences from different disciplines that coexist in the same environment for a week. It is very rich, and it allows good exchanges between scientists.

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Bad weather for science

Direct attacks by the Trump administration aimed at scientific and university organizations will certainly be at the center of the concerns of the delegates.

If what is happening in the United States greatly goes beyond the context of the actors of science in itself, and the challenges of science in French, it is scientific knowledge that is undermined at presentworries Martin Maltais.

We must mobilize since we cannot think of a future where societies evolve correctly without having a strong scientific literacy, without considering scientific data in most of the decision -making.

Scientific activity is not only an exercise of freedom, but of liberationcontinues Mr. Maltais, who was professor of funding and education policies at the University of Quebec in Rimouski before taking the reins of theAcfas Last year.

Diplomacy scientist

For Martin Maltais, the importance ofAcfas increasingly exceeds the border of Quebec and Canada, and could even play an important role for the country in the new international geopolitical reality that is emerging.

The government of Canada must be made aware of the interest of the French fact in science to ensure the strategic repositioning of the country.

And 92^e Congress

This year, the Congress is under the honorary presidency of Marie Lambert-Chan, editor-in-chief of Discovery And responsible for science and environment content in Radio-Canada.

Its theme is Research at the heart of technological and social solutions. All technologies that are developed or deployed today also require an increasingly fine understanding of social issues, social dynamics and cultural aspectsexplains Martin Maltais.

For example, if you want to promote the development of greener houses, geothermal energy or the electric car, populations must adhere to it. To get there, you have to have a finer understanding of social and cultural dynamics, resistance to changes.

The 93^e Congress of theAcfas will be held at the University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières from May 11 to 15, 2026.