PSL voices | Immersion in PSL Weeks

Published on April 16, 2024

"Hey there!

I want to talk about a thing that I believe is one of the best things about PSL. We have them once or twice a year (depending on your program at PSL). I know, I talked about it as a secret without mentioning its name. It is called “PSL week”. It may sound like a festival however it is a week full of classes. Now it may sound like an ordinary week to you. Even though it is not a festival, it is so much fun. Let me explain it to you in detail.

“PSL week” is when we can choose any class from different PSL schools. On the dedicated website, we have a list of classes that are offered by various PSL schools for that week. You can choose any class according to your interests ranging from arts, sociology, informatics, fashion, management, ecology and so on. There are limited places for each class, when the inscription is open you must be fast to get a seat in the class you desire. “PSL week” brings students from different fields and schools together and gives them an opportunity to discover other campuses of PSL.

I would like to tell you about my experiences with the “PSL week”. In the first year of my studies, I had it in the first semester according to my program. I study Materials Science and Engineering, and I am interested in soft matter. Therefore “Soft and Living Matter Week” was my decision. During that week we visited several laboratories at ENS-PSL, ESPCI-PSL, Institut Curie, and Chimie Paris-PSL. In addition to the theoretical classes, we conducted some experiments on polymer gels, and DNA molecules, and observed microalgae and bacteria. It may look difficult for someone who isn’t in natural sciences, but the teachers explain everything interestingly and easily so that anyone from any domain can understand.

This year I wanted to learn something outside natural sciences. Thus, I took my seat in a course called “Managing the Unknown”. It sounded fancy and I thought every engineer needs management skills (especially for the unknown mainly in research). The classes were offered by Mines Paris, one of the engineering schools of PSL.

With a class full of people having various backgrounds, we learned how to build a product, manage the process, determine risks, etc. We had workshops on case studies, we received lectures from experts working in famous French companies, and universities. I am sure I will implement the things that I learned in my future career".

“Mahammad is right to use the word discovering! That’s the word I would also use to describe the PSL Week, in which I took part in November 2023. I’m currently completing a Master’s in Sustainable Development and Organizational Responsibility at Dauphine-PSL and I’m very interested in politics and activist movements, so I chose the class entitled “Health and Environmental Risk Governance: Scientific Ignorance and Public Inaction” out of a wide range of classes. That may not sound very glamorous, but believe me, I wasn’t disappointed!

I was used to going to the Porte Dauphine PSL Campus every morning, but for a week, I swapped up this routine for the Jourdan Campus in the14th arrondissement of Paris, where  ENS-PSL students attend classes. It’s a modern campus with gardens, close to Parc Montsouris, which is a great place to enjoy lunch.

This PSL Week was really rewarding for me. In addition to sharing these days with some of my friends from Dauphine-PSL, I got to meet students with very different backgrounds from my own. There were about twenty of us, which made the classes very engaging. The professor was open and enthusiastic, and the subject matter, which is multidisciplinary in nature, was further enriched by our cross-disciplinary skills (from chemistry, sociology and economics backgrounds).

The class explored: the influence of lobbies in international decisions, pressure from big industries, controversies surrounding phytosanitary products, and other topics. I don’t want to spoil anything for you, but it’s worth mentioning that we finished the week off by taking part in a role-play where each student took the role of a political player (NGO, State, industries etc.). It was the perfect way to end the week since it gave us the chance to apply the conclusions from the course.

And I have to admit that squeezing an entire course into one week motivated me to concentrate over the five days, which helped make me much more interested and efficient! So, whether you hope to take part in PSL Week or simply want to discover everything PSL has to offer, go ahead and apply!"

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