Researchers in the Knowledge triangle

Project Information

K-TRIO

Grant agreement ID: 101061564

DOI

10.3030/101061564

Project closed

EC signature date 4 May 2022

Start date 15 March 2022

End date 14 January 2024

Funded under

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 297 142,00

Coordinated by

SOFIA UNIVERSITY ST KLIMENT OHRIDSKI
Bulgaria

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - K-TRIO (Researchers in the Knowledge triangle)

Reporting period: 2023-03-15 to 2024-01-14

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The overall K-TRIO objective coincides with the goal of the MSCA & Citizens action: "to bring research and researchers closer to the public at large, to increase the awareness of research and innovation activities and to boost public recognition of science and research education", and “to show the role of researchers for science and economy, as well as the impact of researchers’ work on citizens’ daily lives”.
The long-term objectives are: fostering interest of young talents to STEAM and R&I career, nurturing a new culture of creativity, scientific curiosity, innovative spirit and responsibility to environmental preservation, as well as enhancing the public readiness to engage in Citizens Science, Open Science and Open Innovation.

The K-TRIO consortium responds to a need for nurturing new values and changing the image of science and researchers in economy and society.
The project has an essential complementary role in this process:
- to widely communicate best practice examples in R&I, incl. experience of prominent researchers and MSC fellows, using various communication channels (traditional media, SNS, face-to-face);
- to ensure active involvement of science promotors and multipliers, and to increase the visibility of researchers and their achievements, as well as the European contribution in R&I at national level;
- to put researchers, their teams and achievements in the spot lights, thus, ensuring better societal acceptance and understanding of the importance of their work and contribution to dual transformations;
- to involve young people in activities guided by researchers, thus, helping kids and students to better understand researchers and the importance of their work for economy and society;
- to organize visits of secondary students to partners labs, thus, raising the interest of the youth in R&I;
- to launch a dialogue with citizens on the R&I achievements and their contribution to better work and life.

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

A large number of activities took part in the form of pre-events across the country in 2022 and 2023:
1. Organising awareness-raising and pre-events with different stakeholders (industrial and educational):
- in 2022 training rally “Science in school - communication and mentoring of students” in Plovdiv, Burgas, Russe, and Stara Zagora; Forum "Science for Business", Round tables „Energy and innovative technologies" in Sofia and “Food security – essence, specifics and scientific research” in Stara Zagora, a series of 6 historical discussions were conducted by the RHMS in Sofia region, knowledge fairs in Stara Zagora, Sofia, Plovdiv, Burgas, and Russe.
- in 2023 training rally in Plovdiv, and Burgas, a session on “Building the digital transformation strategy in schools” designed by TrU - Stara Zagora; series of discussion clubs of RHMS, Summer Green Academy of RU, Club Develop Science by TrU, Forum Science for Business by JiC-BAS, focus groups with students, etc.
2. In 2022 FN published more than 50 videos which reached more than 720 000 people, and were viewed by more than 380 000 people, and 31 podcast which had 150 listening in average, more than 5000 in total.
3. In 2023 FN published 47 podcasts (Annex 2) and more than 57 videos which reached more than 700 000 people, and were viewed by more than 400 000 people, and prepared 11 special issues of its online journal Nauka.BG
4. Competitions within the “Atelier of young talents”
- 12th and 13th Competition "Young Energetic Scientists"
- National Competition in 2022 "Following the steps of the Bulgarian Scientists from the region" and National Drawing Competition “Natural vs. Artificial Intelligence”,
- in 2023 National Competition “School of the Future” and National Drawing Competition “School of the Future”
- in both years several local competitions in Russe, Stara Zagora, Plovdiv, Burgas
5. Activities focused on Researchers at School in both years: round tables with teachers and students, training of teachers and discussions on innovative teaching methods to foster interest in STEM, visits to schools of researchers, summer camps for talented students, open doors/labs of universities and museums, partnership with 40 schools in partners cities concluded within the whole project.
6. The newspaper “Home Sciens” was issued by the Union of Scientists in Bulgaria (USB) in both years, focusing in 2022 on well-known Bulgarian scientists and their achievements, and in 2023 devoted to the 135 anniversary of Sofia university and presenting its researchers and achievements in RTD.

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)

In 2022, the analysis of the quantitative data, collected from about 94 young people during the round tables in May and December 2022 support the conclusions that Bulgarian science has a positive impact for the knowledge development. Based on the students’ responses, some of the key conclusions can be made that Bulgarian science has a considerable impact and contribute mainly for discovery of new knowledge, as well as it contributes significantly for the quality of education. According to students, Bulgarian science has a considerable impact for protecting the national cultural heritage, archeology and historical monuments, for increasing national prestige and national self-esteem. It has also some impact for production of goods and services, for environment protection and for more effective decision making. Considering researchers’ social standing, it is important to state that most of the students find that researchers have low or very low salaries and remuneration packages, especially considering competitive industries such as ICT sector.
The analysis of the quantitative data in 2023, collected from about 98 young people during the September- October 2023, and by the focus group of SU students (107 students filled the questionnaire in 2023.) support the conclusions that Bulgarian science has a positive impact for the knowledge development. Concerning the new challenges in front of the knowledge economy, most of the students agree that science should be supported as a national priority (68%). In the same time, the respondents find that the role of science is underestimated by the public authorities (62%) and by the businesses (35%). However, most of the students find that research institutions need to improve the visibility of the research career.

ERN 2023 - Serdica center