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‪In issue 40 of Questions de communication, with Covid-19 on the agenda, Lionel Obadia explores several facets of the notion of urgency in science, highlighting the variability of this notion according to the disciplines and also pointing out the impact of critical moments on research and its funding. Four researchers respond here. All of them deal with the question of urgency, but to better overcome it. In doing so, they develop arguments in line with their backgrounds and specialties. Geoffrey Williams analyzes L. Obadia’s treatment of the issue, identifying the linguistic and thematic connections he has made, and emphasizing the international dimension of research organization. For their part, Enka Blanchard and Zacharie Boubli question the notion of scientific productivity, which would be imposed by the public authorities and would prove to be counterproductive. As for Kari de Pryck, she transposes to the climate crisis the preconditions stated by L. Obadia, showing the unpreparedness of civil society for this problem, the immense delays in the matter, and the perverse effects of the rhetoric of urgency. All the contributions show convergences while shifting the initial problematic: other models or ways of thinking are to be envisaged to avoid making urgency the common denominator of research programs and to allow, in particular, the human and social sciences, to play their role fully with other rhythms.‪