Raising Public Awareness - European Science and Technology Week

Raising Public Awareness

European Science and Technology Week, 6 - 11 November 2000

RTD Info Special Edition on Science Week 2000"

Following a call for proposals in 1999, the following science week projects were selected for support by the Human Potential Programme activity 'Raising Public Awareness'. In some cases, it may be possible for members of the general public to attend the exhibitions planned and in others it may be possible to purchase the video or CD-ROM produced by project organisers. For details visit the relevant project web site.

1. Fly me to the sun - a competition leading to the design of a mobile spaceship exhibition, which will travel to museums located in France, Belgium, Italy, Germany and The Netherlands. This interactive exhibition aims to make European citizens aware of the beneficial impact of the sun on their daily lives and in particular aims to encourage young people to develop an interest for scientific studies particularly those related to the sun.

2. Radioactivity: a Facet of Nature - aims to make European citizens more aware of the benefits that the discovery of radioactivity and the development of nuclear sciences have brought to their day to day lives, as well as of the challenges and perspectives of this field for the next century. This exhibition will be shown at in France, Germany and Italy:

   • Palais de la Découverte, Paris (06.11.2000 - 14.01.2001)
   • Hessischen Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst,Wiesbaden (06-26.11.2000)
   • Departimento di Fisica "G. Occhialini" Università di Milano-Biocca, (06.11.2000 - 08.12.2000)

3. Visions for the Future - a conference aimed at youngsters to promote a better understanding of the issues raised by climate change by interaction and debate with scientists.

4. Inspired by Nature - a video demonstrating the links between phenomena and physical principles of the natural world and their application to products and processes from which we benefit in our daily lives (to be launched during Science Week).

5. Physics on Stage - numerous national activities with the main event being held at CERN (Geneva) during European Science and Technology Week. This will bring together representatives of European physics teaching bodies and the media to develop strategies to stimulate young people's interest in physics and new teaching techniques to combat a declining interest in science.

6. Genetics in Europe - Through open discussions in 5 countries, the public will be able to meet scientists and journalists and discuss about the recent developments in genetics: What is the human genome? Why are scientitss mapping it? etc.
   For the first time in europe, Craig Venter, the American scientist whose company, Celera Genomics, has finalised on 26 June a first draft of the human genome sequence (3.6 billion of nucleotides) will address these questions with the public during an open conference in Milano on 12 November. Debates will be web-casted live on the project's web site.
   The project will also award 3 prizes for journalism in genetics.

7. Maths in Action - aims to raise public awareness of the importance of mathematics today and to motivate the choice of scientific careers by young people, through a poster campaign and a CD-ROM complement by series of activities in Berlin, München, Bruxelles, Óbidos, Helsinki, Madrid, Luxembourg and Paris.