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Based on a questionnaire and interviews with members of various “Ateliers d’écologie politique” (political ecology research groups) in France, this article aims to paint a group portrait of these scientists who all come from different professional backgrounds. Becoming an Atecopol member has had a direct impact upon their career paths and involvement in the public arena in various ways. Within the limits of each individual’s available time, new ways of doing research and of being a researcher have emerged, from one’s teaching practices and research subjects or methods, to the dissemination of knowledge and forms of publicly-conducted scientific questioning. All these new paths posit the ecological stakes as a preamble to any scientific work.