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By Lévana Eckert &#38; Tiffany Robert (2016)This is how Christelle Klein-Scholz described the Lermastériales when we met with her and the PhD students who helpfully contributed to the organisation of the conference. This year was the fifth edition of a successful project: the result of a great amount of work, mainly carried out by Anne Page through her commitment, time and effort. Five young researchers were at her side this year: Justine Dupouy, who is a PhD student in English literature and has been taking part in the Lermastériales for three years; Florence Floquet, a PhD student in linguistics, who has been contributing for two years; Christelle Klein-Scholz, a doctor in American literature and ATER at AMU, who has also been involved for three years; Jean Missud, a PhD student in linguistics and phonetics, who has been helping with the Lermastériales both as a PhD student since 2015 and as an MA student for the second edition, and Emilie Mitran, for whom it was the first time being involved as a PhD student (in American civilisation), although she did participate as an MA student in 2012.In previous years, at least one session was devoted to a less formal encounter with young researchers who then presented their field of research and educational background. Those sessions and the time allotted to the preparation formed a stronger bond with the students, Jean Missud lightly remarked, expressing how he felt like a coach supporting his team. Students had the opportunity to spend more time on their proposals and worked over three drafts before the final version. This year, scheduling issues resulted in less time for researchers and MA students to meet, discuss, and prepare their communication — they met only twice. Proposals had already been written and the focus was on form rather than content.Perhaps the most challenging part for the researchers was sorting out the communications into workshops; they noted that all of our papers tackled the given subject, "Confluence(s)" , in very different and unexpected manner and it was not simply a question of regrouping papers from the same field but rather to see how each student dealt with the main topic. After reading the proposals, Christelle Klein-Scholz and Anne Page both suggested a possible programme for the day. Following from the first session with the students, a final version emerged, which was then edited by the committee.On D-Day, March 5th, they noticed how we soon fell into a good rhythm, punctuated by the many questions of the audience which brought momentum to the day. One couldn’t tell it had been prepared in only a few sessions. According to the young researchers  we have to thank the pressure that was put on the students, who were not only serious about their work, but also showed real professionalism.‘C’est un apprentissage, c’est formateur de devoir penser à tout’Florence Floquet remarked. In the end, the main role of the PhD students and reseachers, according to them, is to reassure the students, who know that if anything goes wrong the PhD students are there, thus being a benevolent presence.Picture by Heidi Fausel of some of the students and PhD students, at the end of the day.