We have maintained some values that have allowed us to consolidate this event as a city event, a cultural event open to all citizens where we put into value the figure and job of researchers.
We gave a training to researchers about How to communicate science to general public, and as a result of this, the autonomy of all researchers and participants in activities has been much better.
The activities where we have tried new things and made mixtures between disciplines worked very well.
As an element to highlight in both cases, all workshops that needed a previous registration completed their capacity the same day opened the registrations and we even had a waiting list.
After the surveys carried out on the activities, the participants highlighted the great offer and diversity of workshops.
The audience profile of the European Researchers’ Night 2019 celebrated in Zaragoza was very diverse regarding gender and age. Some had attended previous editions of the event, and the majority showed a high interest in science.
The general opinion is that the frequency of this type of activities in Zaragoza is insufficient, which is perhaps why most of the attendees participated actively in several activities during the event.
The level of studies is high in general. However, there is no relevant presence of public with scientific training nor professional work related to science.
The valuation of the activities has been thoroughly positive, with scores between 5 and 6, on a scale from 1 to 6 points, in almost all aspects evaluated: satisfaction, achievement of expectations, acquisition of new knowledge and changes in the point of view about research.
In the same way, in general terms the event has also obtained very high ratings, between 4.5 and 6 points on a scale from 1 to 6 points, for aspects such as organization, number of activities, variety of topics of the activities, schedules of the activities, facilities and promotion of the event.
General satisfaction with the event was very high and attendants showed it in their ratings. Adolescents and children stated to have learned a lot and discovered new insights into science.
The high level of satisfaction of the public with the activities and the event in general have meant a massive intention to repeat in future editions and to recommend the event to other people.
Regarding researchers, they also rated the event with a high score, although lower than that from the public. They also showed their general satisfaction and their intention to repeat in future editions and to recommend the participation in the event to other researchers.
The study shows population considers the current role of the researchers as very important but little valued and recognized.
The most used adjectives to describe the figure of the researcher are all of positive connotation.
Impact for collaborating entities
Comparing the results of spontaneous recognition of research programs or centres before, during and after the event, significant evolution can be showed. Before the event, 11 research centres were mentioned. During the event they were over 40 and after the event they were fewer than ‘during‘, but more than in the ‘before’ phase.
