The theme for 2018 was Science is Culture. The Festival brimmed with culture-infused science celebrating Malta’s European Capital of Cultural Heritage. The audience learned how science shapes all aspects of culture from the way we communicate, prepare food, use technology and entertain ourselves. Most but not all activities in some way or other highlighted how research results are interwoven into the fabric of society and culture, shaping what we do and how we do it.
The management team, partners and associates set up a remarkable number of innovative activities. This involved a huge effort in administration and coordination on behalf of all involved. The work involved the identification and booking of venues, obtaining permits, setting up, lighting of the area, signage, dismantling, security and safety issues, organisation of the space on the night, and so on.
A number of local organisations sponsored or set up their own activities on European Researchers’ Night. With over 30,000 visitors, 80 researchers, 450 volunteers and 100 participants, this EFFE (Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe) awarded national festival is beginning to attract more and more artists, government agencies, private companies and scientists from Malta and beyond.
Over 35 activities, up from 21 last year and over 80 participating organisations, were set up along the main street and in the squares lining the street of the capital city. Due to the large increase in the number of activities, this year the festival spilled out into the large, newly refurbished Triton Square. This made it easy for people to see all the activities and allowed for a better flow as we still managed to have each activity lead to another.
The events can be seen online here:
http://scienceinthecity.org.mt/events/(opens in new window) Science in the City continues to grow attracting more and more people every year.
As in previous years we do our best to reach more people and attract a larger crowd to the festival. This year close to 30,000 visitors graced the main street and squares of Valletta on the 28th September. Our campaign was intense, innovative, focused and targeted different sections of the general public. We again managed to tap into as much free coverage as possible reaching 100s of thousands of people.
This year’s evaluation of the festival indicates that SitC is achieving the primary aim of science public engagement, which is reaching a diverse audience that does not already have a relationship with STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), and increasing their understanding of the subject areas. Furthermore, academics and other across the country, particularly early-career researchers are benefiting from the national platform offered by SitC, which is offering a vital piece of public engagement infrastructure in STEM in Malta and beyond.
The response to the festival is resoundingly positive. 93% of our survey respondents rated the festival positively and 56% claimed to have not attended another science themed event in the last two years. 87% of attendees were aged under 45 and more than half (56%) do not have a degree level education. More women (57%) than man (39%) attended the festival. 67% have reported an increase in understanding of some scientific topic that was being covered by the festival.
