2023-08-21 04:36:00
A beer placed in front of him, the 42-year-old man recounts his career and his vision of the media without waffling. Researcher for the FNRS, director of the Hugo Observatory at the University of Liège, teacher at Sciences Po and at the Sorbonne in Paris, François Gemenne does not consider himself an expert. “The media does not always make the distinction between researcher and expert. A researcher serves the general interest, his work is validated by peers. He also has a certain humility in front of the immensity of the knowledge that he still has to study. But on the basis of a written book or an opinion on TV, anyone can call themselves an expert. Me, I am an expert in reality TV candidates, but I am never asked about it, and fortunately!
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A career that takes him to Paris
Rather solicited by the media on questions of climate or migration policy, François Gemenne was not intended to research on these subjects. A student of political science, he dreams of becoming a diplomat, but an internship with the United Nations in New York dissuades him: “There was a duty of reserve that I found unbearable. And Belgium is not really the country whose diplomatic position is impatiently awaited. I was not made for that”. Back in Belgium, in 2002 he was offered to join the office of José Daras, then Minister (Ecolo) of Transport, Mobility and Energy in the Walloon government. “It was Ecolo’s first participation in a government, recalls the researcher. The firm was very young, very dynamic, there was a lot of enthusiasm.”
In 2004, following the Francorchamps affair, the Greens faced a heavy electoral defeat which cut off François Gemenne in his tracks. He then embarked on a thesis on the role of researchers in putting environmental migration on the UN agenda. A grant holder from the FNRS, he never left scientific research again and obtained a permanent position there. His post-doctoral work led him to take part in the negotiations for COP15 in Copenhagen, then COP21 in Paris, which would lead to the famous Paris climate agreement – which sets the objective of limiting the average temperature of the globe well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and if possible at 1.5°C. “Those were exciting years, recalls François Gemenne. I met fascinating people. It was from there that I kept a foothold in Paris.”
François Gemenne, Belgian political scientist and researcher, in Brussels, August 14, 2023. ©JC Guillaume
His career takes him to the four corners of the world, from Fukushima to New Orleans, via the Congo or Bangladesh. But François Gemenne always ends up returning to Paris, a city he particularly appreciates. “I live right in the center,” he says. Public services are much better managed there than in Belgium. I am always fascinated to be able to book a tennis lesson on the Paris City Hall website!” His other reason for being attached to the French capital is his wife, also a researcher in Paris: “I have a devouring passion for my wife”. The couple are raising three young boys.
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Putting science back at the heart of the debate
As far back as he can remember, the media have always had an important place in François Gemenne’s life: “I grew up with shows. Today, I work while watching television!” If the researcher were to change jobs, he would also see himself as the director of a television channel. “I think it’s a very powerful medium, including for setting the political agenda,” he explains. There would be a way to do so much better! If I had carte blanche, I would launch a reality show on climate change. These important topics should be included in popular culture programs.”
The one who also claims to be a fan of Top Chef or Dancing with the Stars is currently in discussion to include questions on the climate in the program Questions pour un Champion: “They are quite open to discussion. We are working with France Télévisions to renew the questions of science which are for the moment quite basic.
The political scientist defends the idea of a science engaged in the media and whose results must be able to influence public debate. “My first objective is to transmit the results of scientific research to the general public. I also intervene when I believe that the media debate on a subject is fundamentally different from what the science says. I don’t believe in the myth of scientific neutrality, but I always try to be as honest as possible. We must not distort science to make it stick to a political agenda.”
The man is also very present on social networks: “I read everything, and I try to answer as many people as possible. It sometimes earns me taunts from my relatives who are surprised that I respond to trolls on Twitter. I think I still live a little bit in this fantasy of Twitter as a great global conversation where everyone can discuss as equals, but the network has been very perverted since it is used as a tool for political activism.
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Fear of being misunderstood
As with other personalities, his communication habits on social networks sometimes earned him messages of hatred, even death threats. “It now also concerns the subject of the climate, he notes. Before, it was exclusively on migration issues.” For him, the climate has become in recent years a political issue, where before it was above all a question of science. “People feel that climate research can change their lives, that it can lead to policy measures that would affect them. So there is a tendency to attack researchers.”
Even if François Gemenne recognizes that climate researchers are more often listened to by political decision-makers, he believes that the boundary between the roles is important. “I am often asked if it would not be better to let the scientists decide what to do. But we are not elected, we have no democratic legitimacy. I am not convinced that we would make better decision makers. My colleague Valérie Masson-Delmotte was asked by French President Emmanuel Macron to become his Minister of the Environment, she declined because she was not sure she would make a good minister. They are very different professions. I am indecisive and easily influenced. I think I would be bad.”
If he refutes wanting to take the head of a ministry, François Gemenne recognizes a certain responsibility and a certain risk to speak so regularly in the media. “My great apprehension is to be misunderstood, and to be made to hold a speech or a position that I do not have. I try to be as transparent as possible to avoid that.” And to say openly which political candidates he supports in the French elections, such as Benoît Hamon (PS) in 2017 or Yannick Jadot (Les Écologistes) in 2022.
Since his very noticed debate against Florian Philippot (ex-FN) in the show Salut les Terriens! in 2017, François Gemenne became a known and recognized face in the media. A status that he finds useful: “It is a privileged means of communicating with the public.” As for the reason for his success with journalists, the Belgian researcher explains it by his educational qualities. “I know what journalists expect. I sometimes travel for live broadcasts at off-peak hours, to fill in the gaps. They know they’re not taking too many risks inviting me. Besides, I’m a nice person!”
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