EXPLORATHON'16 and EXPLORATHON'17 - EUROPEAN RESEARCHERS' NIGHT SCOTLAND

Project Information

EXPLORATHON-4D

Grant agreement ID: 722967

DOI

10.3030/722967

Project closed

EC signature date 24 May 2016

Start date 1 June 2016

End date 31 January 2018

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 438 956,25

EU contribution

€ 183 387,00

Coordinated by

THE UNIVERSITY COURT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - EXPLORATHON-4D (EXPLORATHON'16 and EXPLORATHON'17 - EUROPEAN RESEARCHERS' NIGHT SCOTLAND)

Reporting period: 2017-03-01 to 2018-01-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

In our first edition of Explorathon 4-D (2016) we engaged over 9000 members of the public with over 600 researchers together. In our second edition of Explorathon 4-D (2017) we built on the success of the previous three editions of the Night in Scotland. Our brand awareness grew considerably amongst researchers and we reached more members of the public than in previous years, with 10,998 members of the public directly engaged by 766 researchers.

Participation has meant that the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Programme has achieved an enviable degree of visibility across Scotland. We have raised the profile of our research, our researchers, Horizon 2020 and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Programme. This has been instrumental in breaking down barriers to communication and have shown researchers as people with extraordinary jobs and showcased research as an important career path.

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

Overview of results of the Awareness Campaign 2016
o Conception, production and display of promotional material: flyers, banners, programmes…;
o Public advertising: outdoors banners and pop pup banners at key venues;
o Publication of articles, interviews, announcements in magazines;
o airing of promotional spots, announcements, interviews through local radio stations (Aberdeen, Glasgow)
o Revamping, constant updating and maintenance of project website, namely www.explorathon.co.uk ;
o Links with popular and institutional websites;
o Revamping, constant updating and maintenance of social networks profiles (Facebook, Twitter) with an emphasis put on young people;
o 3,3 million Twitter impressions;
o Posting of announcements, advertising etc. on E-zines and newsletters;
o Pre-event: launch of a competition specifically addressed to social media users;
o Several hundreds of people made aware about the European Researchers' Night and its objectives.

Overview of the results of the Awareness Campaign 2017

o Conception, production and display of promotional material: flyers, banners, programmes;
o Public advertising: outdoors banners and pop pup banners at key venues; o Publication of articles, interviews, announcements in magazines;
o Airing of promotional spots, announcements, interviews through local radio stations -
Aberdeen (Original 106fm) and Glasgow; o Revamping, constant updating and maintenance of project website, namely www.explorathon.co.uk ;
o Links with popular and institutional websites;
o Revamping, constant updating and maintenance of social networks profiles (Facebook,
Twitter) with an emphasis put on young people; o Over 4 million reached through social media and traditional advertising; o Posting of announcements, advertising etc. on E-zines and newsletters;
o Several hundreds of people made aware about the European Researchers' Night and its objectives.




Activities on the night-Overview of Results 2016

o Offer of the activities as planned in the Annex I Part B to the Grant Agreement, namely:
o Organisation of 88 events
o Involvement of the Universities of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Aberdeen, St Andrews and the Beltane Network of the four universities in Edinburgh –Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier, Heriot-Watt and Queen Margaret;
o Common theme: "Research for all" “Innovation, Architecture and Design”;
o Engagement with the Scottish STEM Ambassador Network (over 6.000 Ambassadors from all walks of life);
o Organisation of multi-exhibit areas in shopping centres and doors open approach o, research and industrial
Activities on the night-Overview of Results 2017

o Offer of the activities as described in the Annex I B to the gran Agreement, namely:
o Organisation of over 50 events across Scotland;
o Involvement of the Universities of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Aberdeen, St Andrews and the Beltane Network of the four universities in Edinburgh –Edinburgh,
Edinburgh Napier, Heriot-Watt and Queen Margaret; o Common theme: "Research for all" “History, Heritage and Archaeology”;
o Engagement with the Scottish STEM Ambassador Network (over 6.000
Ambassadors from all walks of life); o Organisation of multi-exhibit areas in shopping centres and doors open approach of, research and industrial working environments;

o Active involvement of 766 researchers, of whom:
o 26 having benefitted from SMC scheme;
o 53 having benefitted from another EU-support (FP 7, HORIZON 2020);

o 10.998 visitors having taken part in the activities offered.

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)

Overview of the Results 2016

o Collection, analysis and processing of 502 feedbacks, based on:
o The initial online survey, "enrolment questionnaire" (mail address);
o A longer survey requesting feedback on the events including behaviour change) as well as further demographic information;
o Main conclusions:
o Typology of visitors: 43,5 % responders aged 22-25, 21,7 % aged 62-65, relative gender balance, 33 % postgraduate, 32,5 % undergraduate, 17,1 %college, 15,4 % secondary school and 2 % primary school, mostly white (89,4 %), with 7,1 % Asian, 2,4 % mixed or multiple ethnic
groups, and others 1,2 %;
o Overall positive feedback regarding the events( activities, interest, contacts with researchers, venues and locations, scheduling, concrete organisation);
o General positive feedback also from researchers involved;
o Some improvements planned for the event 2017:
o To improve data collection methods so that more survey respondents are enrolled and more of those enrolled respond to the follow-up survey (or an equivalent);
o To refine survey questions further, there are still issues with accessibility and usefulness;
o To better incorporate insights from bespoke evaluations into the overall event evaluation;
o To continue to encourage creative means of evaluation;
o To invest further in a highly-trained team of evaluation volunteers (possibly with unified training across Scotland).

Overview of the Results 2017

o Engagement of qualitative research scientists to undertake intensive training in o Evaluation, interview techniques using social media;
o Analysing qualitative data from questionnaires; (training by Eric Jensen from www.methodsforchange.org) . o Added value of such approach:
o Increase the ownership of the evaluation process by the volunteers who will be able to design bespoke evaluation processes for each of the events;
o Providing training coupled to real opportunities to put evaluation skills into practice, thus enabling a deep and valuable learning experience for the volunteers;
o Enabling creative evaluation practices be developed and produce useful resources such as vox-pops, infographics and other visual feedback as well as increased response rates for the wide variety of events;

o Filling in of on-line surveys with the assistance of volunteer evaluators at ticketed events such as at the Glasgow Science Centre;
o Filling in of paper questionnaires found on seats) at traditional talk events; o Graffiti walls, sticker charts and vox pops for drop in activities;
o Encouragement to attendees to comment on their experiences and respond to questions on Twitter and other social media platforms;
o On-line survey addressed to all researchers involved;
o Sample: at least feedback from 50% of the researchers involved and a minimum of 400 (5%) participants’ from the four cities through the various channels.

Bright Club comedy night during Explorathon 4-D