Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MEDNIGHT (MEDITERRANEAN RESEARCHERS' NIGHT (2024 AND 2025 EDITIONS))
Berichtszeitraum: 2024-03-08 bis 2025-12-07
The Mediterranean Sea connects more than 500 million people across three continents, creating a shared history and identity with common challenges. The goal of Mediterranean Researchers' Night - MEDNIGHT is to promote unity across the Mediterranean region by raising awareness about common issues, promoting scientific careers, and highlighting the importance of science and scientists. MEDNIGHT offers a range of activities under the umbrella of "Mediterranean Science," which focuses on 7 pillars relevant to sea pollution, climate change, diet and nutrition, life and health, technology and future, history and cultural heritage, geology and biodiversity . The program also emphasizes the potential of R&D as a source of progress and well-being, particularly for female researchers and young people. The consortium organizes a variety of online and in-person activities in cities across the Mediterranean region, as well as in satellite cities.
Mednight falls under the European Researchers' Night, which aims to display the diversity of science and its impact on citizens' daily lives in fun, inspiring ways on the last Friday of September every year. Mednight has received funding for 2 consecutive years under this grant agreement (2024 and 2025) and is unique both in the way that it unites research centres, universities, researchers, scientists, cities, schools and citizens across the Mediterranean (Spain- France – Belgium – Italy – Greece - Tunisia – Turkey – Cyprus) through a common consortium and in the way that it implements a wide range of activities at a transnational level, not only during the Night itself (September 27th 2024 and September 26th 2025) but also during the months leading to the Night in order to motivate, prepare and engage all target audiences in multiple ways.
Mednight's main objectives can be summarised as follows:
● Showcase science, scientific activity and its actors as a source of progress and well-being.
● Highlight the impact of scientific activity in our daily life.
● Emphasize the science developed by women.
● Empower and engage students in STEM areas.
● Show how rewarding it can be as a scientist to participate in research projects.
● Identify the diversity of existing options at the end of the scientific studies while reducing taboos and prejudices about people who develop scientific careers.
● Acknowledge the different skills acquired through a scientific career.
● Strengthen the open character of our scientific research.
● Increase the awareness of the collaborative and European nature of science.
Mednight falls under the European Researchers' Night, which aims to display the diversity of science and its impact on citizens' daily lives in fun, inspiring ways on the last Friday of September every year. Mednight has received funding for 2 consecutive years under this grant agreement (2024 and 2025) and is unique both in the way that it unites research centres, universities, researchers, scientists, cities, schools and citizens across the Mediterranean (Spain- France – Belgium – Italy – Greece - Tunisia – Turkey – Cyprus) through a common consortium and in the way that it implements a wide range of activities at a transnational level, not only during the Night itself (September 27th 2024 and September 26th 2025) but also during the months leading to the Night in order to motivate, prepare and engage all target audiences in multiple ways.
Mednight's main objectives can be summarised as follows:
● Showcase science, scientific activity and its actors as a source of progress and well-being.
● Highlight the impact of scientific activity in our daily life.
● Emphasize the science developed by women.
● Empower and engage students in STEM areas.
● Show how rewarding it can be as a scientist to participate in research projects.
● Identify the diversity of existing options at the end of the scientific studies while reducing taboos and prejudices about people who develop scientific careers.
● Acknowledge the different skills acquired through a scientific career.
● Strengthen the open character of our scientific research.
● Increase the awareness of the collaborative and European nature of science.
During the whole duration of the project) the consortium has worked on all objectives which were originally set out in the proposal and the grant agreement, whilst reaching the foreseen target groups and celebrating research and science across the Mediterranean. The reporting period covers a wide range of project management and preparatory activities, in order to set the objectives and the momentum between the partners of the consortium, engage the researchers who participated and highlight the upcoming events to the target audience, as detailed below:
• School, Teachers, Students
• Citizens, families, parents, general public
• Adults and children in hospitals
• Immigrants
• Research Centres, Universities, Education Centres
• Municipalities.
A wide range of actions across partners and consortium countries, known as Transactivities, have engaged youth, schools, students, teachers, scientists, researchers and the general public during both years of implementation of Mednight, and they were serving as both preparatory and awareness activities. These Transactivities were the following:
○ Kick off meeting
○ Mediterranean Science Team & Mediterranean Universities Gender Equality Pioneers
○ Mind the Lab
○ Exhibition – The Marie Curies of the Mediterranean
○ Mednight TV
○ The Tales from Mednight
○ Young Researchers at School International Meeting
Furthermore, the Main Event took place with great success on 27th September 2024 and 26th September 2025 in 7 different countries, involving 20 cities across the Mediterranean, with over 800 activities.
Except for the transactivities, other activities performed during the Night were:
• Talks, talk-shows, workshops
• Experiments, exhibitions and demonstrations
• Competitions, scientific games, activities for kids
• Shows, scientific art happenings, guided visits, dramatised routes, science films
• EU corners
The consortium’s efforts during the whole duration of the project have a specific focus on linking researchers and scientists with the educational community. The Researchers’ Back to School (RBTS) has approached science for over 38000 students in various educational centres, virtual meetings have been attended by 4800 students, and workshops outside schools over 7500 students. A lot of scholar centres have been part of the Back to School activities and over 500 researchers have been involved.
• School, Teachers, Students
• Citizens, families, parents, general public
• Adults and children in hospitals
• Immigrants
• Research Centres, Universities, Education Centres
• Municipalities.
A wide range of actions across partners and consortium countries, known as Transactivities, have engaged youth, schools, students, teachers, scientists, researchers and the general public during both years of implementation of Mednight, and they were serving as both preparatory and awareness activities. These Transactivities were the following:
○ Kick off meeting
○ Mediterranean Science Team & Mediterranean Universities Gender Equality Pioneers
○ Mind the Lab
○ Exhibition – The Marie Curies of the Mediterranean
○ Mednight TV
○ The Tales from Mednight
○ Young Researchers at School International Meeting
Furthermore, the Main Event took place with great success on 27th September 2024 and 26th September 2025 in 7 different countries, involving 20 cities across the Mediterranean, with over 800 activities.
Except for the transactivities, other activities performed during the Night were:
• Talks, talk-shows, workshops
• Experiments, exhibitions and demonstrations
• Competitions, scientific games, activities for kids
• Shows, scientific art happenings, guided visits, dramatised routes, science films
• EU corners
The consortium’s efforts during the whole duration of the project have a specific focus on linking researchers and scientists with the educational community. The Researchers’ Back to School (RBTS) has approached science for over 38000 students in various educational centres, virtual meetings have been attended by 4800 students, and workshops outside schools over 7500 students. A lot of scholar centres have been part of the Back to School activities and over 500 researchers have been involved.
The project has achieved wide acceptance by the broad public, has showcased the work of scientists and researchers, has managed to make universities more open and extrovert and had conveyed very important scientific messages to the general public, building a bridge between academia, the educational community and the citizens. Special emphasis was given to bridging academia and research with the educational community. Some of the researchers (academic stuff, young researchers, PhD students and PostDocs etc) that participated in the Mednight ransactivities, became Mednight's ambassadors. They were upskilled in science communication and trained in explaining their research as simple as possible to the general public. Ambassadors’ duties include disseminating the resources provided by MEDNIGHT throughout their institutions, participating in activities such as Researchers back to school, and promoting Transactivities in their region. Their involvement helped make MEDNIGHT more international and increased the project’s presence in Mediterranean countries and beyond. For example, Ambassadors from the “Tales” brought MEDNIGHT to the United Nations Ocean Conference, while Ambassadors from the exhibitions extended Mednight’s reach to Cleveland (USA), Portugal, Poland and Austria.
Therefore, during the second reporting period, the consortium partners organised and implemented a range of visits and activities that brought classrooms to the university and the research labs, but also researchers and scientists to schools and classrooms. This resulted both in students becoming more aware of STEM careers, the scientific methodology and the application of science in everyday life and in scientists becoming more extroverted, learning how to communicate science to different/younger audiences and connecting their research to educational process in line with the European Commission priorities.
Therefore, during the second reporting period, the consortium partners organised and implemented a range of visits and activities that brought classrooms to the university and the research labs, but also researchers and scientists to schools and classrooms. This resulted both in students becoming more aware of STEM careers, the scientific methodology and the application of science in everyday life and in scientists becoming more extroverted, learning how to communicate science to different/younger audiences and connecting their research to educational process in line with the European Commission priorities.