The European Researchers´ Night 2022 (ERN) took place in Slovakia for the 16th time on the last Friday of September. We gathered more than 1 350 scientists and innovators who presented their work and achievements to the general public. The main motto was an appeal "Trust in science", which was created in response to the need to navigate in the flood of a large amount of information and, unfortunately, also misinformation. The theme of trust in science resonated across the entire program with links to current topics focused on the climate crisis, sustainability, and the war conflict in Ukraine. The main ambition was to encourage visitors to be active and to better get to know the science and the people behind it.
More than 1 640 scientists and innovators participated in the 17th edition of the ERN in 2023, where they presented their work and achievements to the general public. The event was organised again in 5 Slovakian cities and number of accompanying locations. The main topics of ERN 2023 were WATER - conservation, protection, cleaning, prevention of wasting resources, etc.; and ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE - role in the advancement of humanity and solving the problems the world must face (including possible risks). The main ambition was to encourage visitors to be active and to better get to know the science and the people behind it.
Activities performed during both 2022 and 2023 editions:
• Presentation in scientific stands: hands-on experiments, interactive presentations, science shows;
• Debates, discussions, and chats with researchers: the chance to interact, and get more information on science and innovation;
• Lectures by scientists for a large group of people, including short interactive scientific speeches;
• Program on the stage for the public – competitions, activities, interviews with scientists and stakeholders from scientific and innovation eco – system (stage happenings in Bratislava, Banská Bystrica, Žilina, Košice, and Poprad);
• Stargazing with professional scientific equipment;
• Laser show; ...
Accompanying events:
• Medzev Observatory, Tekov Observatory in Levice, Slovak Central Observatory Hurbanovo, Museum of Special Education in Levoča, Science in the Settlement (eastern Slovakia) and Science trips (Bratislava, Košice).
Accompanying activities:
• Visit your school - Get to know your scientist, Scientific Courier, Meet Your Researcher, Ukrainian dimension.
The events in both years attracted around 150.000 participants.