Mediterranean Researchers' Night

Project Information

MEDNIGHT

Grant agreement ID: 101036107

DOI

10.3030/101036107

Project closed

EC signature date 27 April 2021

Start date 15 April 2021

End date 14 November 2021

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 397 812,50

EU contribution

€ 397 812,50

Coordinated by

EL CALEIDOSCOPIO PROYECTOS DE CIENCIA Y CULTURA SL
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MEDNIGHT (Mediterranean Researchers' Night)

Reporting period: 2021-04-15 to 2021-11-14

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

500 million people on three continents are united by the world's largest sea. We are Mediterranean. The sea that brushes us, a strategic geographic location, and the shared trace of our history, gives us a common character, and common problems. Mediterranean sea reaches 23 countries, they bleed from the same wound: in all of them, male and female scientists are actively working for overcoming our major concerns. Doing Mediterranean science gives us identity, integrates us, makes us a solid unique team. MEDNIGHT seeks to show the importance of Mediterranean Science, especially among young people, to let them know that the problems they see on our beaches, in our land and in their day to day without enough resources for researching, are also the concern of many other young people in Mediterranean Europe.
MEDNIGHT is about making visible the set of scientific activities and the figure of the researchers of our closest environment. For this we concentrated our efforts on showing Mediterranean science as part of our historical and cultural heritage, as well as the importance and benefits that being part of the research world can bring to us.
We placed special emphasis on female researchers in the Mediterranean. Historically, the science carried out by men has been shown, which makes it difficult for a large part of the population, women, to identify themselves with the achievements. Therefore, in addition to making visible the figure of women in research, we have called our event in Spanish, Italian, Greek... in a feminine way: like in Spanish “La Noche Mediterránea de las Investigadoras” (‘The Mediterranean Night of Female Researchers’).
Our ultimate goal was that young people and society in general felt attracted to research careers and to science. To achieve this objective, a strategic framework was generated. The main idea of the project was to value science and scientist work through different segments. To do this, we defined and valued Mediterranean science, with the aim of creating a feeling of identity and belonging to it.
All the proposed project objectives have been successfully achieved. Young people and general society across Mediterranean countries have participated in a wide range of online and offline activities, helping to generate a Mediterranean strengthen unity, providing awareness about our common problems while reinforcing researchers’ commitment, progress, and achievements as the key changemaker to cope with our common challenges. Therefore, putting science and scientists at the cornerstone of our future and a relevant matter for men, women, children, and youngsters.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The MEDNIGHT activities, before and during the Night itself, were the beating heart of the European Researchers’ Night. All activities aimed to reach all citizens in participating cities and countries, regardless of age, sex, ethnicity, and scientific background. Moreover, a broad range of activities which cover different thematic areas, methodologies, and simplification levels were included.
The main scope of the activities was to:
● Directly and actively involve both the researchers and the public.
● Combine entertainment and education in science in an engaging and empowering way.
● Contribute to enhancing the public recognition and appraisal of researchers and their work.
The common theme of all the activities were to make visible, enhance and exchange knowledge related to the common problems of the Mediterranean countries, the science being developed to address them, to empower the researchers of the region, and to encourage science as a future development. The types of activities which were implemented across countries included talks, citizen science projects, scientists and artists shows, competitions, exhibitions, experiments, scientific games, workshops and guided visits, under the key eight thematic areas defined in the proposal: Geology and biodiversity, Sea and pollution, Climate and clean energies, Diet and nutrition, Life and health, Anthropology and History, Pioneer women scientists, Future.
During the months that lead to September but also on the actual MEDNIGHT itself, the project partners designed and implemented a series of events and activities which promote Mediterranean science and target different audiences, such as the educational ecosystem, the broad public, special audiences, universities, research centres, researchers and science and technology-based companies.
Activities ran by partners in each venue have covered a range of more than 300 activities which took place in more than 20 venues, reaching more than 750.000 people across the Mediterranean and beyond.
According to what was stated in the Grant Agreement, the following deliverables were produced in this reporting period:
D1.1 Report on awareness campaign
D1.2 Set of materials
D2.1 Report on activities during the night
D3.1. Report on impact assessment
D4.1 Report on management
Moreover, we have produced a webpage (https://mednight.eu/) with all contents freely accessible and many audio-visual contents, including a first version of a handbook for Mediterranean Science activities design and a Covid measures report to implement face to face events and activities.

Exploitable results
We will provide our partners and all our Collaborators with the content produced during the MEDNIGHT project, to be offered as educational and dissemination resources to all the schools, municipalities and stakeholders with which each partner has contact. In this way we facilitate their distribution and increase their reach and impact. We will also provide these resources to our collaborators in other countries for its dissemination, paying special attention to countries where we do not have partners. The exploitable results we refer to are the following:
Documentary: The "Ports of science: MEDNIGHT Expedition" documentary that will be distributed to be projected in the classrooms of the educational centers, cinemas, cultural centers, Televisions…
Exhibition: The Mediterranean Faces of Science, has already been created and has been exhibited in municipal public centres, but we are going to go a step further by offering it to schools and other international institutions.
We also have materials to produce a poster of the Mediterranean Science Team and disseminate it.
Tales from MEDNIGHT, aimed especially at primary schools, hospitals and shelters. The storybook will be made available as a resource for schools, as well as the teaching units created from its content.
Videos from MEDNIGHT TV will be also available for teachers and schools.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

MEDNIGHT tackled the most specific and relevant issues affecting the Mediterranean region, such as the lack of female representation in research, the poor visibility of R&D in society, climate, soil and desertification, energy transition and Green Deal, pollution, water, health and longevity, among others.
The evaluation of its social impact intended to address the following issues:
1. Social perception of Science
2. Acquisition of the information
3. Most important target groups and multipliers
4. Effectiveness and efficiency of communication and organisation of events

It is assumed that the MEDNIGHT's long-term impacts will be a) to internalise the importance of R&D b) to overcome stereotypes about Science and scientists c) for understanding the social role of Science and technology and how Science progresses and works.

Main events MEDNIGHT

Mediterranean Science Team

Toftevaag