Round table "Science and Design: meeting the coral"

Often mistaken for a plant or a mineral, coral is actually a fascinating animal superorganism composed of individuals (polyps) that are either solitary or gathered in colonies. By building their calcareous skeleton, corals shape reefs among the richest ecosystems on the planet, true refuges for exceptional biodiversity. They also play an essential role for human societies by protecting coastlines against erosion and storms, while supporting major economic activities such as fishing and tourism. Despite remarkable adaptive capacities that have allowed them to survive over 240 million years of evolution, corals today face unprecedented threats linked to environmental changes. The interdisciplinary project Corallum Fabrica is a 3D digital archive dedicated to making coral architectures visible. At the crossroads of art, design, and science, this digital platform constitutes a research tool and a format for scientific mediation. It highlights the beauty, complexity, and ingenuity of living forms, and reveals how much nature nourishes our imagination and inspires our creative processes.

Elise Rigot is an associate professor at the University of Toulouse - Jean Jaurès in the Fine Arts - Design department and a researcher affiliated with the LLA-CREATIS and LAAS-CNRS laboratories. Her work explores the reflective and critical contribution of design to scientific practices, with a focus on the ethics of new technologies, oceanographic design, and the transformation of knowledge in the Anthropocene era. She founded the Corallum Fabrica project, a digital archive dedicated to coral architectures, and produced the podcast Bio Is The New Black, which examines the social, political, and aesthetic implications of biotechnologies for design. She also designed the Codex tool as a publication medium in the field of 3D Bio-Printing. She is a member of various research networks such as Flusser France and RECOLNAT (MNHN).

Isabelle Domart-Coulon is a marine biologist specializing in microbial symbioses of corals and other reef organisms. An associate professor qualified to direct research at the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN), she studies host-microorganism interactions (microalgae and bacteria) in corals and calcareous sponges throughout their life cycles, particularly focusing on their roles in nutrition, defense, and the formation or erosion of their calcareous skeletons. In charge of the enhancement of the national Porifera and Scleractinia collections at the MNHN since 2005, she is also the author of over 50 scientific publications, 3 book chapters, and 2 patents.

The meeting will be moderated by science communicator Annalisa Plaitano.