The LiS-Dig project is the organization of a public event in Austria as part of the European Researchers' Night, which takes place annually on the last Friday in September. The goal of LiS-Dig is to offer a wide range of interactive stations that connect science with everyday life. The general public, especially families, young adults and school classes, are invited to learn what happens behind the scenes at a research institution. The program is divided into expert talks, school workshops, hands-on experiment stations and an evening program. The main topics of the event are climate & environment, health & nutrition, digital transformation and culture & community. The “Researchers@School” activities (workshops for school classes) provide additional flexibility for schools to attend workshops independently of the main events in 2022 and 2023.
In 2022, the LiS-Dig event took place at the main venue in St. Poelten (lectures, stations, pub quiz, Science & Cinema evening event) with some smaller activities in Graz (workshops, Pint of Science evening event). In 2023 the main event location will be in Graz (lectures, stations, pop-up planetarium, Science Slam evening event) with smaller activities in St. Poelten (workshops, pub quiz).
Both events are evaluated by a quantitative and qualitative impact assessment. Learnings are implemented in the follow-up of any future events.
In general, the event is intended to help improve Austrian society's attitude towards science, which is currently rather low according to the 2022 Eurobarometer. By offering scientific content in a more tangible form, the public will be able to better understand and develop more trust in scientific content. The development of a workshop program for the “Researchers@School” program is intended to reach so-called “easy-to-ignore” groups in particular. One of the workshops, “Biotechnology in Arabic”, was specifically aimed at refugees with a translator and gave families from Syria an insight into biotechnology as an innovative field of research. Moreover, workshops like "How to convert toxin into oxygen and water - catalase can do that" in which a clear focus is set on how enzymes work and how biotechnologists are using them, as well as the career corner at the main event open up new career opportunities (e.g. a scientific careers as biotechnologists) to young people, who are in the process of deciding about their future profession. Another major objective some workshops, such as "The personal mobility check" or "The breathing ocean - is it threatening to suffocate" and of the "Life is Science" in general is to raise children's and (young) people's awareness of the importance of protecting our planet.
