ERN-Apulia targets to bring Apulian population closer to the research world and viceversa. Apulia is an Italian region with about 4.1 million inhabitants (approximately 7% of the whole Italian population), with 4 public universities having a total of about 2750 permanent researchers in addition to those from the Public and Private Research Institutions.
Our specific objectives within ERN-Apulia are:
- to plan and implement preparatory events (during the year) and two ERN (2018 and 2019) where researchers meet the society, with particular attention to students, industrial and professional organizations, municipalities and public administrations;
- to increase public awareness and recognition of the importance of researchers work and impact of research in daily life, with specific examples from technologies to health and life sciences, from elementary particle to astrophysics research, from robotics to the preservation of cultural heritage, humanities, social sciences, etc;
- to stimulate curiosity and interest by disseminating the latest achievements of worldwide and local research, animating a debate with the public on relevant aspects of more general interest;
- to explain the fascinating researchers’ daily work, made of inspiration, creativity, relationships, hopes, expectations, enthusiasm for new achievements without neglecting daily difficulties;
- to establish a tight connection among population/institutions and researchers to continue during the year beyond the ERN through apposite communication and contact channels;
- to explain the spirit and opportunities of the European Research Area, the H2020 agenda, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions.
Preliminary events are organized during the months before the European Researchers’ Night (ERN) to increase interest and expectations over the whole regional territory. Then the European Researchers’ Night takes place in parallel in the main regional cities (Bari, Lecce, Brindisi, Foggia, Taranto as well as Castellana Grotte).
People participating to the event meet researchers, attend seminars and participate to various activities on a wide range of topics, e.g. from Physics to Engineering, from Biology to Medicine, from Cultural Heritage to Humanities, from Economy to Law and many others, with a significant interdisciplinary approach.
