Science in the City, Malta

Project Information

Science in the City

Grant agreement ID: 101061120

DOI

10.3030/101061120

Project closed

EC signature date 25 April 2022

Start date 1 April 2022

End date 31 March 2024

Funded under

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 250 000,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITA TA MALTA
Malta

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Science in the City (Science in the City, Malta)

Reporting period: 2023-04-01 to 2024-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The Science in the City, (SitC) Malta’s only National Science & Arts Festival, is part of the European Researchers’ Night (ERN) initiative. Since 2012, the main aims of ‘Science in the City’ (SitC) have been to engage and inspire citizens through science and the arts, challenging misconceptions about science, promoting gender balance and inclusiveness, and improving the visibility of research. SitC also aims to instil Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) values among researchers and citizens, and for 10 years it has offered a platform for all stakeholders to meet, and engage with R&I.

SitC 2022

In 2022, the festival theme ‘Taking Root’ build upon previous themes while focusing the festival on the European Green Deal and Horizon Europe's missions. "Taking Root" emphasises how important science and research are in everyday life, and how important is an active & responsible citizenship, in a world which is undergoing monumental changes, especially to its environment, nutrition and health. The festival was held online and in the streets and buildings of Malta's capital city, Valletta, a UNESCO world heritage site making it a hybrid science and arts festival. The festival experimented more real world interactions in Fort St Elmo. The festival took place on the 30th of September and 1st of October 2022.


SitC 2023

We created several pre-festival events between the 25th of August and the 25th of September. The physical festival ran on the 29th of September and the 30th of September 2023 in Valletta. The virtual festival happened two weeks later. In 2023, the festival theme ‘Changemakers’ was built upon our recurring goal to create more active citizenship, encouraging people to make informed decision backed by the knowledge generated by researchers and scientists. We defined a changemaker as someone who takes creative action to solve a problem. Researchers were put at the forefront of this movement, with help from artists and the public.

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

Most activities of the 2022 and 2023 editions focused on sustainability, and the environment and highlighted the work of researchers as well as their contribution to addressing societal problems. The activities were linked to the EU’s Green Deal goals.
Different activities took place during the two editions of the festival, which can be divided into the following categories:
- Environment and Climate Change
- Chemistry
- Astrophysics
- Health and Science
- Technology (AI, Robots and much more)
- Statistics and Forensic Science

Here are some examples: The SEA-EU and UM Library collaboratively organised several engaging games explaining open science in a kid-friendly manner. The JUSTNature project, run by the University of Malta, provided hands-on activities and experiments to raise awareness for a more sustainable and green Malta. The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering provided a visual experience of a model wave basin that generated waves and crashed them into a mini breakwater to explain their new research project FORTRESS. The Faculty of Engineering and its Departments prepared several activities for the visitors, such as an interactive GUI that calculates the pollution emissions generated by your vehicle based on your travel or showcases what a peltier system can devise. Birdlife opened the opportunity to experience the unique lives of birds and their clever solutions to tricky problems via sensory activities. At the Department of Pharmacy bound, you could do a health check and look into your genetic makeup to understand better how medicines are produced and genetics' implications on managing conditions such as cancer and rare diseases. The Department of Statistics and Operations Research of the University of Malta prepared quizzes and games to showcase how many other essential applications data has to our daily lives. And much more.This format helped us engage visitors with hands-on and interactive activities, as in pre COVID years.

In 2023 the weather was unpredictable and stormy, with strong winds and rain, which curtailed our plans but we still managed to offer our visitors a great festival experience. Some festival-goers continued to enjoy the activities despite the weather. The Performance Festival was not affected by the weather and the number of visitors exceeded all expectations. To increase our reach and enable our audience, we recorded all the performances and launched them on our virtual platforms. We maintained high audience numbers and engagement with real-world and online content.

Despite the existence of measurement indicators for the social impacts of festivals, there has been limited research on how communities felt part of and contributed to the festival experience that was surrounding them. We wanted to examine how SitC currently involves the local communities and identify ways of appraising and widening community participation.

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)

The evaluation reports carried out by Qualia Analytics partner contains findings from the Science in the City (SitC) events held in 2022 and in 2023. The data collection method was a digital questionnaire administered before and after the events. The insights gained through the questionnaire showed that attendees’ experience was an overall positive and enjoyable one. The participants felt comfortable attending the activities and interacting with the researchers and artists. For example, in 2022 among the respondents to the survey conducted after the festival, 48% looked for more information about the topic elsewhere, 36% visited a researcher's web page and 13% contacted a researcher.

After both editions we have received many positive comments regarding the festival's organisation, many expressing a desire for its continuation, and some even recommending that some events should be delivered in schools. We used online and offline media and ensured our messages focused on specific target groups, parents, children, teenagers, and professionals. We also shared the results of the surveys done by Qualia Analytics with our international network of 7 ERNs. We built a strategy to address gender issues during the campaign and the festival. Female scientists led at least 50% of activities. To combat stereotypes, we ensured that female scientists have access to a platform on social media, in the press and in the festival itself, through dialogue. We addressed stereotypes and misconceptions head-on. To ensure the researchers adopt the best approach that the public can understand and enjoy, we provided all the researchers with training in gender and LGBTIQA+ issues, communication, and engagement skills.

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