IHECS is co-producing a survey into the COVID-19 epidemic entitled "The current reality – COVID-19, a human journey"

The project is the brainchild of Amandine BISQUERET, a communications manager at our institute:

"My original motivation stemmed from my awful experience during the initial lockdown to the point of having serious physical and psychological symptoms. I needed to understand why I was in such a state and I had questions that no one could answer." 

Amandine did in fact suffer from the disease for months, and particularly from post-COVID symptoms which kept her away from work and her daily routines for an extended period.

"In general, we are faced with contradictory rhetoric, devoid of nuance, with each person expressing themselves through their own lens without viewing the crisis systemically. I then thought that merited an in-depth look. It was not just about understanding the virus and the danger it poses, but all that this crisis reveals about ourselves and our society. I cannot imagine that life afterwards will be the same. In my opinion, therefore, we must learn lessons from it, and in order to learn from it, we must first understand what is currently taking place."

Why did you initially want to embark on such a project alone, and why did you ultimately involve IHECS?

"I am a trained journalist, and I work as a communications manager in a school that trains the next generation of communication professionals and journalists. I couldn’t help but submit my project to IHECS, and this gave me the means to set to music a project that I wouldn’t have been able to realise without the support of my colleagues."

What will we discover in the various segments that will be broadcast on various social networks from Friday?

"There are interviews with anthropologists, sociologists, doctors, psychologists, journalists ansd scientists – to whom I ultimately ask all the questions that people want to ask but don’t have the opportunity to do so. I also ask them to be "solution"-oriented, to avoid alarmist discourse, and to disseminate their opinions. I realised that the way in which specialists express themselves in the media is not necessarily accessible to all – I’m talking mainly about scientific jargon, but also words that have entered the mainstream and that we no longer bother to explain.

The segments include the testimonies and profiles of people who are finding it difficult to navigate their way through the crisis, but also of people who have learned their true nature thanks to these very unique times. These segments have been produced by 4 students from IHECS who wanted to get involved in the project, and I really appreciate their enthusiasm and the professionalism that they have already demonstrated."

We have been told that the project will be completed by the end of January. It is safe to bet that the subject will not be exhausted by then. How do you see the future?

"You know, for each speaker, we broadcast 4 or 5 segments no more than 5 minutes in length, which makes 20 to 25 minutes of interview. The people I meet allow me to interview them for one or two hours, sometimes even two and a half hours. We have recorded dozens and dozens of hours of interviews. I have two wishes: the first would be that these recordings lead to a proper 52-minute documentary, and the second would be that they also result in a conference/debate in the spring of 2021 with the specialists I interviewed."

Introduction to the project

Teaser #1

Be sure to follow this journalistic project on social networks and subscribe to the YouTube channels so as not to miss anything!

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