Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Life is Science 2 (Where life science meets our daily life)
Reporting period: 2021-05-15 to 2021-12-14
“Life is Science” took place on 24th September 2021 in the frame of the European Researchers Night (MSCA-NIGHT). The objective of the project was to offer a broad spectrum of activities that are entertaining and educating to young adults and the general public.
The event was planned as an open hybrid event in Graz, where visitors experience what is happening behind the scenes of a research laboratory. The COVID-19 pandemic still had an impact on the event organization in terms of limited visitor numbers on site and for this reason a 12 hour Livestream (online program) was provided like in 2020. With “Life is Science” we wanted to show where science meets our daily life. We offered activities in 3 main topics: health, food technology and renewable resources. The program included online games, lectures with discussions, school workshops in the lab, (virtual) lab tours and an entertaining evening program - "Science and Cinema".
Despite the necessity of physical distance, the project "Life is Science" was eager to offer possibilities to engage and to interact: a couple of video tutorials for experiments at home have been produced, and live-sessions encouraged participants to fill surveys (menti.com) to discuss and to ask questions. Topics like "Meat from the Lab", "Immunesystem vs. Infection", "FAkes & Facts about COVID 19 vaccines", "Plasticrecycling", "Career Workshop" etc. have been part of the live-program. About 400 participants attended event. All recorded sessions and videos are still available, and they are well accepted.
Events like this are important to raise the awareness about career paths in MINT disciplines on the one hand and to create a better connection between research and society on the other. Especially, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown the relevance of research and public gained insights more intensively than ever. According to the event evaluation forms, "Life is Science 2" offered an interesting and informative event for the interested general public.
The event was planned as an open hybrid event in Graz, where visitors experience what is happening behind the scenes of a research laboratory. The COVID-19 pandemic still had an impact on the event organization in terms of limited visitor numbers on site and for this reason a 12 hour Livestream (online program) was provided like in 2020. With “Life is Science” we wanted to show where science meets our daily life. We offered activities in 3 main topics: health, food technology and renewable resources. The program included online games, lectures with discussions, school workshops in the lab, (virtual) lab tours and an entertaining evening program - "Science and Cinema".
Despite the necessity of physical distance, the project "Life is Science" was eager to offer possibilities to engage and to interact: a couple of video tutorials for experiments at home have been produced, and live-sessions encouraged participants to fill surveys (menti.com) to discuss and to ask questions. Topics like "Meat from the Lab", "Immunesystem vs. Infection", "FAkes & Facts about COVID 19 vaccines", "Plasticrecycling", "Career Workshop" etc. have been part of the live-program. About 400 participants attended event. All recorded sessions and videos are still available, and they are well accepted.
Events like this are important to raise the awareness about career paths in MINT disciplines on the one hand and to create a better connection between research and society on the other. Especially, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown the relevance of research and public gained insights more intensively than ever. According to the event evaluation forms, "Life is Science 2" offered an interesting and informative event for the interested general public.
"Life is Science" was organized the second time. Again, the event was impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic and a hybrid event was organized.
WP1: The work for the awareness campaign aimed at increasing the awareness about the event.
- online tools: website, social media channels, eNewsletter, eCalendars of partners, blogs, videos for preview, NEW: podcast series "Die BioTexperten"
- offline tools: flyer, poster, phone calls for recruiting external exhibitors, info-kit for schools, interaction with local authorities (Bildungsdirektion, SFG), NEW: radio interview
The activities of the awareness campaign had an outreach of 400,000 potential visitors.
WP2: The activities during the night have been adapted to the current COVID-19 pandemic and national restrictions:
- live-stream program from 8:00 to 20:00 (gain information): 12 lectures by top researchers all over Austria, pre-recorded explanatory videos,
- DIY experiments - video tutorials (hands-on): recycling of videos from last year, + 4 new videos (isolating DNA from fruits at home in 2 languages, lemon battery, hydrogen production)
- Games, quizzes, surveys (share your opinion/knowledge): Mentimeter session "Können Computer lernen, Krankheiten vorherzusagen", interactive workshop "active mobility", BioWHAT (online game), BioChallenge (Quiz)
WP3: The impact assessment was prepared during the event organization (design of registration and evaluation forms) and evaluated after the event.
a) Impact assessment of awareness campaign (outreach numbers, quantitative and qualitative evaluation of 400 registered participants)
RESULTS: 15% age between 14 and 18 years, 49% elder/ only 12% participated in the frame of school (home work or school exercise) this year (50% online guests and 70% on site guests = private interest). Therefore, the information path through teachers did not work as good as in 2020 (main reason: date in September)
b) Impact assessment of activities during the night (number of visitors and users, quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the event, level of interaction)
RESULTS: the response of the evaluation form was higher than last year (20%), and the rating was very good.
WP4: The management duties included the communication with the external advisory board, with "service suppliers" for the project and the budget management.
The findings of "Life is Science 2" are going to be exploited in the frame of another proposal in cooperation with one of the this years' exhibitors, FH St. Pölten, for a "Life is Science in a Digital World - LiS-Dig" edition, which is envisaged to be held as an on-site event. Furthermore, lessons-learnt are going to be included in the application for several Horizon Europe proposals, where acib is responsible for dissemination & communication work packages and where also citizen science approaches are going to be included. A presentation about the project "Life is Science" at EUSEA conference was not possible during project lifetime because of remaining the travel restrictions in terms of COVID-19.
WP1: The work for the awareness campaign aimed at increasing the awareness about the event.
- online tools: website, social media channels, eNewsletter, eCalendars of partners, blogs, videos for preview, NEW: podcast series "Die BioTexperten"
- offline tools: flyer, poster, phone calls for recruiting external exhibitors, info-kit for schools, interaction with local authorities (Bildungsdirektion, SFG), NEW: radio interview
The activities of the awareness campaign had an outreach of 400,000 potential visitors.
WP2: The activities during the night have been adapted to the current COVID-19 pandemic and national restrictions:
- live-stream program from 8:00 to 20:00 (gain information): 12 lectures by top researchers all over Austria, pre-recorded explanatory videos,
- DIY experiments - video tutorials (hands-on): recycling of videos from last year, + 4 new videos (isolating DNA from fruits at home in 2 languages, lemon battery, hydrogen production)
- Games, quizzes, surveys (share your opinion/knowledge): Mentimeter session "Können Computer lernen, Krankheiten vorherzusagen", interactive workshop "active mobility", BioWHAT (online game), BioChallenge (Quiz)
WP3: The impact assessment was prepared during the event organization (design of registration and evaluation forms) and evaluated after the event.
a) Impact assessment of awareness campaign (outreach numbers, quantitative and qualitative evaluation of 400 registered participants)
RESULTS: 15% age between 14 and 18 years, 49% elder/ only 12% participated in the frame of school (home work or school exercise) this year (50% online guests and 70% on site guests = private interest). Therefore, the information path through teachers did not work as good as in 2020 (main reason: date in September)
b) Impact assessment of activities during the night (number of visitors and users, quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the event, level of interaction)
RESULTS: the response of the evaluation form was higher than last year (20%), and the rating was very good.
WP4: The management duties included the communication with the external advisory board, with "service suppliers" for the project and the budget management.
The findings of "Life is Science 2" are going to be exploited in the frame of another proposal in cooperation with one of the this years' exhibitors, FH St. Pölten, for a "Life is Science in a Digital World - LiS-Dig" edition, which is envisaged to be held as an on-site event. Furthermore, lessons-learnt are going to be included in the application for several Horizon Europe proposals, where acib is responsible for dissemination & communication work packages and where also citizen science approaches are going to be included. A presentation about the project "Life is Science" at EUSEA conference was not possible during project lifetime because of remaining the travel restrictions in terms of COVID-19.
Together with numerous other NIGHT events in 2021, "Life is Science" was still impacted by the COVID19 pandemic and required an outstanding level of flexibility. Before the pandemic, NIGHT events have been held on-site, which is still clearly preferred in order to allow a high degree of interaction with public. However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to do it hybrid this time, which came along with limitations of accepted participant numbers on site and a reduced availability of schools due to intensified testing efforts at the beginning of the school year. However, teachers highly appreciate the additional content, which they consider appropriate for their own school lessons: they still use the recorded sessions of the "Life is Science" live-stream for discussions in school classes and they encourage pupils to try out the hands-on experiments or games on the "Life is science" website. Therefore, the main result of "Life is Science 2" is a continuation of an educational platform that offers a compact package of workshops, games and lectures about the topics "health", "food technology" and "waste management and renewable resources". The extend at which "Life is Science" addressed the expected impacts is summarized in Table 1 of Deliverable 3.1.
The main bullet points are listed here:
- Program design adapted to relevant topics in order to fetch people where they are standing (increased awareness of importance of research, more favorable general attitude, understanding of key benefits of research).
- Selection of various role models for pre-recorded videos and moderators (reduction of stereotypes)
- virtual career corner, short CVs and job profiles of speakers, announced possibilities for internships (increase of people taking up research careers)
- EU corner and filter function of EU funded projects (better understanding of European Union among public)
The main bullet points are listed here:
- Program design adapted to relevant topics in order to fetch people where they are standing (increased awareness of importance of research, more favorable general attitude, understanding of key benefits of research).
- Selection of various role models for pre-recorded videos and moderators (reduction of stereotypes)
- virtual career corner, short CVs and job profiles of speakers, announced possibilities for internships (increase of people taking up research careers)
- EU corner and filter function of EU funded projects (better understanding of European Union among public)