The action has reached the objectives pursued and was successfully implemented. The targets have been reached, some exceeding by far, others falling slightly below the set numbers.
- 389 activities in total were organized by the partners;
- 104 venues in 14 Bulgarian cities, towns, boat, submarine and a train hosted the ERN activities;
- 46 European corners were arranged, and were visited by 35,000 citizens of all ages;
- 68,200 attended the events;
- 5,100,000 were reached through media;
- 436,205 engagements were registered through social media and other channels;
- 3,023 responded to the impact assessment surveys;
- 700 researchers were involved in the activities, incl. 66 having benefited from H2020 and MSC schemes
We have reached out our core audiences - young people, children, teachers and parents thus raising the awareness about the opportunities of choosing a career in STEM among wider audience and showed that researchers are everyday people with extraordinary jobs. The reason we reached 84% of the number of attendees is that the target was set with the assumption that REFRESH would be the only project during the Night in Bulgaria. In reality we have had to share audiences with the second project. The slight shortfall in face-to-face targets is balanced by exceeding Reach targets, as well as geographic spread and associated partners.
We have engaged the largest number of researchers so far – 700, with 14 having benefited from MSC schemes and 52 - beneficiaries of other EU grants (FP7, H2020).
The awareness campaign exceeded the overall target of the project by obtaining a reach of 5,10 mln. people. We received 436,205 engagements, which is slightly less than the target number. However we doubled the number of Engagements compared to 2018 and compensated with other channels of the campaign esp. partners sites and social media.
The Impact assessment study collected 1419 online and 1604 on site responses for the project duration, slightly exceeding the targets set 1500 per year.
Awareness campaign
We set up a country-wide awareness campaign implemented through diverse media channels, with pre-event promotion, broad coverage during the Night, and follow-up media events. The awareness campaign incorporated the key message of the Night: "Researchers are amongst us”
Promotional materials were designed centrally, project beneficiaries also conceived, produced, disseminated and displayed locally-realized promotional material.
In 2019 the Media Report claims 5,100,000 potential viewers. Social media, banner campaign, REFRESH and Partners websites and social media visitors reached 4,242,700 people.
304,405 engagements were registered.
Activities during the Night
Program-wise and location-wise, the Night 2019 was successfully delivered and highly appreciated.
The program began a day ahead and finished a day after the Night. We have succeeded the largest geographical spread of venues across Bulgaria: In 2019 the Night was delivered at unprecedented 53 venues in 13 cities and towns, including non-conventional places thus reaching people who don’t have direct access to scientific content.
The events were structured in 6 pillar categories plus the EU corners organized at each venue.
The access for people with disabilities gave the Opening Ceremony a special Equality, Diversity and Inclusion focus.
The science-linked and entertainment activities during the Night were very well balanced.
REFRESH Ambassadors initiative reached 3,580 students from pre-school to grade 12 and geographically covered almost the whole country.
Impact assessment
The Impact assessment study consisted of three main components: an Online survey during the information campaign; a Survey among the audience of each of the location during the Researchers’ Night’s activities; a Focus group and workshop, comprising school children for qualitative assessment and generating ideas for mutual cooperation of researchers and society. Respondents (647 for 2019) among the visitors were selected randomly. The results in brief:
The most effective way to get information about the event is social media.
Alongside to the “new-comers” (60% of the visitors), the Night has gained a stable group of 8% of the visitors who “never missed a Night”.
More than 2/3 of the visitors of the Night gave “good” assessment to the themes, quality of presentation and access to the venue.
For 76% of the audience, the event enhanced the interest in science and 99.2% declared they would visit next year.
