The main objective of the LEAF ("heaL thE plAnet’s Future") project was to increase the awareness on the importance of research and innovation and to improve trust in the researcher's work by effectively involving the society in experimenting science through hands-on events focused on a set of EU Green Deal selected topics, summarised as:
1. Increase the awareness on the importance of research and innovation: enlarging the public’s interest on the EU Green Deal topics.
2. Improve trust in researchers' work, by bringing researchers closer to the general public.
3. Better understanding of the key benefits that research brings to society in daily life
4. Reduce the stereotypes about researchers and improve gender equality in STEAM
5. Increase the interest of people in pursuing scientific careers:
In this respect, to achieve all the project objectives, Frascati Scienza realized, in 2024 and 2025 editions, almost 950 events onsite (in 22 Italian cities) and online, with approximately 80.000 participants, increasing all the results achieved in previous editions. The program was divided into two sections: one for schools and one for the general public.
Approximately 2600 people were involved in the organization each year, including almost 2500 researchers or workers in scientific sectors: among them, in the two editions, there were 73 researchers having benefited from Marie Sklodowska-Curie schemes and 356 having benefited from EU support (FP7, H2020…), other than MSCA.
The "Researchers@Schools" activities have been very successful among both LEAF partners and schools, confirming what observed in previous editions, and also for 2025 and 2025 editions, as already happened in the LEAF 22-23 project, we exceeded our expectations, reaching 544 classes from 110 schools, reaching 12177 students and involving 1486 PCTO participants, of whom 642 actively contributed to the organization of the Researchers’ Night events, thanks to the collaboration of 318 researchers.
Researchers showcased their work and engaged both with teachers and pupils on challenges related to climate change, sustainable development, health and other issues related to the European Commission priorities and main orientations, such as the European Green Deal or the EU Research and Innovation Missions. This result clearly showed the success of the EU Commission to insert a dedicated WP for activities inside schools and the enthusiasm of the involved researchers and institutions to go inside schools to directly meet students and teachers.
