"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.
