Festival der Wissenschaft Kiel Region 2022/2023

Project Information

SCIENCE4FUTURE

Grant agreement ID: 101061603

DOI

10.3030/101061603

Project closed

EC signature date 21 April 2022

Start date 1 March 2022

End date 31 December 2023

Funded under

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 204 813,00

Coordinated by

KielRegion GmbH
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SCIENCE4FUTURE (Festival der Wissenschaft Kiel Region 2022/2023)

Reporting period: 2023-02-01 to 2023-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Through a targeted awareness campaign, a number of regional pre-events, an expanded Researchers-at-Schools programme and a NIGHT packed with activities, shows, exhibitions and expriments, SCIENCE4FUTURE set out to convey three key messages:
1. Research affects every aspect of our daily lives. While there is general recognition about the importance of research in the area of, for example, health or engineering, there is less awareness about the contribution of, for example, the social sciences, the arts or humanities.
2. Research is the prerequisite for innovation. Researchers test new ideas and hypotheses which generate new data and knowledge thus leading to inventions, applications and answers to some of our most pressing societal challenges. This process also requires the active participation of citizens. Local challenges include, for example, developing an environmentally and economically sustainable transport concept or testing innovative agricultural methods for the predominantly rural Kiel region. Through dedicated activities with and for citizens SCIENCE4FUTURE will show, how excellent collaborations between education, research and innovation actors (incl. citizens) across numerous disciplines and countries can lead to future-oriented solutions.
3. Research is the key economic driver in our region: Taken together the 12 research organisations are the main employer in the Kiel region. More significantly, the region’s most important industrial sectors (bio-technology, health, mechanical engineering and renewable energy) are all very research-intensive and will continue to rely on highly-skilled researchers.

The public’s recognition and appreciation of these significant contributions made every day by our researchers is at best superficial and often marred by deep scepticism. Scientifically sound and evidence-based political decision-making has never been more important than in today’s world of multiple crises such as climate change, a pandemic, wars and the ensuing economic downturn. However, fake news and conspiracy theories have eroded trust in science at an unprecedented level. By raising awareness of these three key aspects, SCIENCE4FUTURE has not only challenged those doubts but has encouraged citizens to actively participate in the scientific process and inspired young people to consider research as a rewarding and exciting career option.

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

The pre-events and awareness campaign using conventional and social media reached approximatley 750.000 people.
THe Researchers-at Schools programme offered two distinct formats: Rent-A-Science-Film and Rent-A-Scientist. All in all, about 350 school classes participated in the researchers at schools program (Rent-a-Scientist and Rent-a-Science-Film), so that in total about 10000 pupils of the region could benefit from the Researchers at school program
The NIGHT or Science Day in Kiel saw day full of science and a city full of science on 29 September 2023 in Kiel. More than 120 activities at 12 different locations in Kiel invited young and old to experience a Science Show, take part in experiments, listen to exciting lectures, milk a cow, watch scientific movies,take part in a scientific pub quiz, try out virtual reality gadgets and last but not least have a great party together with scientists from all sorts of disciplines. More than 300 representatives from over 40 regional institutions from science and industry presented their research work and results and made this day a very special event. The program was as colorful and diverse as science itself. A total of 14.000 visits were counted on the day.

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 most important highlights were:
• a record number of young people could be reached through our Researchers-at-School activities (see 1.2.3). They were introduced to scientific work and methods, witnessed the broad spectrum of scientific research from local history or global financial markets to state-of-the art innovations in medical or material sciences.
• the general public at the pre-events and the NIGHT were treated to a potpourri of research questions currently being addressed here in the KielRegion and gain an understanding how these activities can contribute to solving pressing local and global issues (such as environmental conservation of our Baltics Coast, innovations in local transport or global food and energy security). They were invited to engage in discussions, experiments, VR immersive science and research activities.
• Researchers themselves also benefitted from the activities, which included professional science communication training workshops, as well as the networking opportunities offered by meeting and mixing with researchers from other institutions and disciplines.
• Finally, this year was a truly European NIGHT in Kiel, as we not only highlighted research and researchers funded through the European Union and dedicated a large tent to our European University Alliance SEA-EU, but we also invited early-career researchers from our SEA-EU partners, offered them a week-long science communication course together with researchers from Kiel and let them perform during our SEA-EU Science Show during the NIGHT. Kiel University also hosted two SEA-EU staff weeks in the week of the NIGHT, bringing together staff and researchers from 8 different countries. Many of them stayed on for the NIGHT and participated as visitors or as researchers presenting their projects.
ch and researchers funded through the European Union, but our event also included a large tent dedicated to the European University Alliance SEA-EU and researchers from Alliance partners actively participated in the night offereing their own activities. We were also honoured by the visit of Sybille Luhmann of the European Commission, who officially opened the NIGHT this giving it additional European flair.

In terms of content, formats and venues the impact achieved surpassed our initial expectations: we opened more venues than originally planned, we established a very successful cooperation with the Highlights of Physics event, which took place in the same week as the NIGHT and we further integrated the partners of our University Alliance, both as active researchers as well as visitors during the NIGHT, making it a truly European event in Kiel.
In terms of participants the outcome was significantly better than last year. Visitor numbers recovered to almost pre-pandemic levels, but visitors are still less likely to move between venues compared to pre-2020. Instead they prefer to spend longer at a single venue for the NIGHT. More importantly, through the expansion of our popular Researchers-at-Schools programme and by moving Rent-a-Scientist to before the summer holidays, we again surpassed all expectation and reached more school classes than ever before.