Periodic Reporting for period 2 - FF2022_23 (European Researchers' Night in Sweden 2022_2023: ForskarFredag 2022_2023)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2023-04-01 al 2024-03-31
European Researchers’ Night in Sweden, ForskarFredag (Researchers’ Friday), is Sweden’s most widely dispersed science festival. ForskarFredag is arranged in 26 cities and towns across Sweden, alongside an online programme of activities. The non-profit association VA (Public & Science) has coordinated FF annually since 2006, and FF2022_23 has built on the success of previous years, drawing on experience, contacts and the ever-increasing national profile.
Activities are organised by 11 Partners (organisations benefiting directly from the Grant) and 35 External Partners (organisations gaining indirectly from the Grant through the national coordination, website, shared awareness campaign) together with dozens of other local collaborating organisations. Local organisers of FF activities include universities, science centres, municipalities, museums and research centres.
The local organisers share experiences and learnings in a national contact network. VA is responsible for the framework, national identity and national awareness campaign.
ForskarFredag increases public awareness of research conducted at universities, research centres, institutes and companies all over Sweden. It showcases how research affects our society today and inspires people to imagine what impact research and innovation could have in the future. Meetings with researchers generate dialogue, which create a better understanding of how researchers work, as well as better understanding of research methods, challenging common misconceptions about research and stereotypes about researchers. European Researchers’ Night provides a high-profile vehicle for increasing the public’s awareness and understanding of research.
Young people aged 12–19 are a key target audience for ForkarFredag, with a special emphasis on teenagers about to make a study choice. In the evaluation of FF2022, 71% of the teachers stated that the class had neither visited nor been visited by a researcher in any other context than ForskarFredag and in the evaluaton of FF2023, this figure was 72%. Thus European Researchers’ Night plays a crucial role in introducing young people in Sweden to higher education and to research as a career opportunity.
ForskarFredag's motto is: "Researchers are ordinary people with extraordinary jobs!"
The main objectives of ForskarFredag in Sweden are:
1. To create meetings between researchers and the general public across the whole country. The activities will generate direct exchange and dialogue through interactive and entertaining activities.
2. To offer something for everyone, regardless of age, education level or scientific background, with a special focus on children and young people.
3. To showcase a wide range of research in different fields: from STEM to social sciences, arts and the humanities, and demonstrate the impact of research and innovations on society and on attendees’ daily lives.
4. To increase awareness of the international aspects of research and of the European Union as a prominent research enabler, as well as showcase local research and innovation activities.
5. To create an understanding of researchers’ daily work and scientific methods.
6. To tackle existing stereotypical images of researchers by engaging researchers with a diversity of age, gender, ethnicity, working environments, disciplines etc.
7. To provide researchers with opportunities to engage with non-research audiences about their research area, and develop their science communication skills.
Activities are organised by 11 Partners (organisations benefiting directly from the Grant) and 35 External Partners (organisations gaining indirectly from the Grant through the national coordination, website, shared awareness campaign) together with dozens of other local collaborating organisations. Local organisers of FF activities include universities, science centres, municipalities, museums and research centres.
The local organisers share experiences and learnings in a national contact network. VA is responsible for the framework, national identity and national awareness campaign.
ForskarFredag increases public awareness of research conducted at universities, research centres, institutes and companies all over Sweden. It showcases how research affects our society today and inspires people to imagine what impact research and innovation could have in the future. Meetings with researchers generate dialogue, which create a better understanding of how researchers work, as well as better understanding of research methods, challenging common misconceptions about research and stereotypes about researchers. European Researchers’ Night provides a high-profile vehicle for increasing the public’s awareness and understanding of research.
Young people aged 12–19 are a key target audience for ForkarFredag, with a special emphasis on teenagers about to make a study choice. In the evaluation of FF2022, 71% of the teachers stated that the class had neither visited nor been visited by a researcher in any other context than ForskarFredag and in the evaluaton of FF2023, this figure was 72%. Thus European Researchers’ Night plays a crucial role in introducing young people in Sweden to higher education and to research as a career opportunity.
ForskarFredag's motto is: "Researchers are ordinary people with extraordinary jobs!"
The main objectives of ForskarFredag in Sweden are:
1. To create meetings between researchers and the general public across the whole country. The activities will generate direct exchange and dialogue through interactive and entertaining activities.
2. To offer something for everyone, regardless of age, education level or scientific background, with a special focus on children and young people.
3. To showcase a wide range of research in different fields: from STEM to social sciences, arts and the humanities, and demonstrate the impact of research and innovations on society and on attendees’ daily lives.
4. To increase awareness of the international aspects of research and of the European Union as a prominent research enabler, as well as showcase local research and innovation activities.
5. To create an understanding of researchers’ daily work and scientific methods.
6. To tackle existing stereotypical images of researchers by engaging researchers with a diversity of age, gender, ethnicity, working environments, disciplines etc.
7. To provide researchers with opportunities to engage with non-research audiences about their research area, and develop their science communication skills.
The ForskarFredag programme offered over 120 activities online and on-site during the week (mainly Friday and Saturday), where school pupils, families and members of the public were invited to meet researchers. In 2022 activities engaged 28,000 participants of all ages and involved 400 researchers and PhD students. In 2023, activities engaged 37,000 participants and involved 525 researchers and PhD students.
Activities included hands-on activities; dialogues with researchers; exhibitions; films; stage shows (live shows involving experiments, plus regional heats of the Researchers’ Grand Prix that challenges researchers to present their research in four minutes); webinars and panel discussions (on different topics with questions from the audience); guided tours (in person and virtual tours of research facilities); and games, quizzes and competitions.
The theme for FF2022 “A healthier and better world” and theme for FF2023 "Humans, health and water" featured topics such as climate change, health and everyday technology that people could relate to, with many event activities exploring the applications of research that benefit everyday life. The theme also stimulated exciting discussions about many different research areas, how research can help to solve societal challenges and improve our lives, as well as the importance of public dialogue in shaping the direction of future research.
The Mass Experiment of 2022 and 2023, the Plastic Experiment invited school pupils and members of the public across Sweden, to work together with researchers to investigate plastic pollution found in the Swedish natural environment. The experiment was divided into two parts, a collection part for everyone, which involved the collection and categorisation of plastic litter, and a voluntary analysis part aimed at older school pupils. In total, 60,019 plastic items were collected and categorised and 207 school classes and 53 individuals participated in the experiment.
In addition, as part of a Researchers at school initiative, FF ran ‘Borrow a researcher’, whereby researchers visited school classes either in person or online to talk about their research, its wider societal context, and explain what being a researcher involves. Schools book researchers directly via a national booking platform. Over 2022 and 2023, 533 school bookings were taken involving 170 researchers.
National as well as local awareness campaigns were executed, with the event being promoted through websites, social media channels and through the media. All events were available on the FF website, where visitors could search for activities they were interested in.
An international collaboration with other ERN projects across Europe involved a number of collaborative activities, such as researcher videos distributed via social media and a European science cafe, in order to further highlight the European dimension of ERN.
The impact of the events was assessed using three different questionnaires targeting general participants; participating researchers; and teachers participating in ForskarFredag activities with their classes. The questionnaires capture both quantitative and qualitative data.
Activities included hands-on activities; dialogues with researchers; exhibitions; films; stage shows (live shows involving experiments, plus regional heats of the Researchers’ Grand Prix that challenges researchers to present their research in four minutes); webinars and panel discussions (on different topics with questions from the audience); guided tours (in person and virtual tours of research facilities); and games, quizzes and competitions.
The theme for FF2022 “A healthier and better world” and theme for FF2023 "Humans, health and water" featured topics such as climate change, health and everyday technology that people could relate to, with many event activities exploring the applications of research that benefit everyday life. The theme also stimulated exciting discussions about many different research areas, how research can help to solve societal challenges and improve our lives, as well as the importance of public dialogue in shaping the direction of future research.
The Mass Experiment of 2022 and 2023, the Plastic Experiment invited school pupils and members of the public across Sweden, to work together with researchers to investigate plastic pollution found in the Swedish natural environment. The experiment was divided into two parts, a collection part for everyone, which involved the collection and categorisation of plastic litter, and a voluntary analysis part aimed at older school pupils. In total, 60,019 plastic items were collected and categorised and 207 school classes and 53 individuals participated in the experiment.
In addition, as part of a Researchers at school initiative, FF ran ‘Borrow a researcher’, whereby researchers visited school classes either in person or online to talk about their research, its wider societal context, and explain what being a researcher involves. Schools book researchers directly via a national booking platform. Over 2022 and 2023, 533 school bookings were taken involving 170 researchers.
National as well as local awareness campaigns were executed, with the event being promoted through websites, social media channels and through the media. All events were available on the FF website, where visitors could search for activities they were interested in.
An international collaboration with other ERN projects across Europe involved a number of collaborative activities, such as researcher videos distributed via social media and a European science cafe, in order to further highlight the European dimension of ERN.
The impact of the events was assessed using three different questionnaires targeting general participants; participating researchers; and teachers participating in ForskarFredag activities with their classes. The questionnaires capture both quantitative and qualitative data.
ForskarFredag offers activities across the whole of Sweden. Evaluation of FF2022 showed that activities were attended by people in 58% of the municipalities in Sweden and over 28,000 people in total. Evaluation of FF2023 showed that activities were attended by people in 55% of the municipalities in Sweden and a record 37,000 people in total.