"Researcher For a Day": Creating and Shaping a New Generation of Scientific and Medical Researchers

• Main Authors: Rabeea Omar, Jean-Luc Simard, Maurice Boissinot, Michel Bergeron
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Society for Microbiology 2019-10-01
• Series: Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
• Online Access: http://jmbesubmissions.asm.org/index.php/jmbe/article/view/1821

Science is the engine of prosperity (1) and it helps society respond to the important issues it faces. We presently observe a worldwide decline for high school students’ interest in science, regardless of sex. To overcome this problem, it is of great importance to develop science promotion programs and activities that inspires young people to become the scientists of tomorrow. We strongly believe in the leadership of research centers to create such programs that could have a significant impact on the next generation of scientists. Here we present the 'Researcher for a Day' program, which offers senior high school students immersion days in a scientific workplace dedicated to microbiology, as an example for other institutions that would like to implement such a program in their places. 'Researcher for a day' has already helped more than 4,000 young students who are wondering about their career choices to discover the world of science, and similar approaches could be implemented virtually anywhere to extend these efforts to promote science among young people.