Science in Comics: Stories That Matter and Connect

Wednesday, 14 Oktober | 4.30–6.00 pm | Herrenhausen Palace
This session has been organized with the support of KOSMOS.

  • Emilie Rosso, investigative journalist, France
  • Laurent Schafer, Switzerland
  • Dr. Fiammetta Ghedini, RIVA Illustrations, Italy
  • Gabriele Hess-Fernandez, freelance journalist, France [Moderator]

Graphic journalism is thriving across Europe, especially in francophone countries. Journalists, scientists and artists collaborate to produce a wide range of evidence-based narrative comics. This Fishbowl presents 3 distinct approaches: investigative BD-reportage, physics popularisation through comics, and research-funded science storytelling projects. Together, they show how cross-disciplinary partnerships can expand the boundaries of science journalism.

Emilie Rosso

Emilie Rosso is a French investigative journalist covering environmental and pollution issues, mainly for national public television. Her reporting about PFAS pollution hotspots in France and industry cover-ups led to her nomination for the Albert Londres Prize and to her winning the Alerte à la Une Prize. Convinced that the future of investigative journalism lies in greater collaboration, she is involved in numerous cross-border projects and has expanded this approach beyond traditional media, publishing her investigations as a comic in La Revue Dessinée.

Laurent Schaffer

Laurent Schafer is a Swiss journalist, illustrator, and author of the science Comic Books Quantix (2019), Infinix (2021), and Cosmix (2024). His books explore reality through the bizarre nature of quantum laws and relativity, prompting questions about the fundamental machinery of the universe. Featuring afterwords by Nobel laureate Michel Mayor and theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli, his works, published by DUNOD and KOSMOS, have been translated into several languages.

Dr. Fiammetta Ghedini

Fiammetta Ghedini is an Italian science communicator with a PhD in Cognitive Sciences. She led ERCcOMICS, a European Research Council-funded project that translated cutting-edge research into comics through collaborations between scientists and artists across more than ten countries. Committed to building bridges between science and visual storytelling, she founded RIVA Illustrations, an agency developing comics-based tools for research, and is the author of Une insatiable envie de sucre published by DARGAUD.

Gabriele Hess-Fernandez [Moderator]

Curious about the world and how to tell its stories, Gabriele Hess-Fernandez studied chemistry and science journalism in Berlin. Today, a freelance German-French science journalist, she’s reported across Europe (Der Tagesspiegel, Deutsche Welle TV, BBC, ZDF, France Télévisions, ARTE) and served C’est toujours pas sorcier (FTV), FUTUREMAG, and ROOTS (ARTE) as Editor-in-Chief. Teaching Visual Storytelling at Nantes University fuels her passion for all forms of Graphic Journalism.