CORDIS

ARES (Attractive REsearchers in the Spotlight) is a project that unites six of the biggest Universities and Research Centres in Greece. ARES aims at organising six European Researchers’ Night events in 6 big cities (Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Heraklion, Larissa and Rethymnon) geographically covering Greece from north to south and demographically covering more than 60% of the Greek population. Thanks to a multi-channel marketing strategy comprised of a multitude of traditional and modern tools, a strong and extensive network of collaborators and the availability of hundreds of researchers, ARES’ ambition is to get into the households of two million citizens inviting them in the Nights while spreading the key messages of the ERN initiative such as the high-quality research that is conducted in Europe and its importance for our everyday life. Researchers of different career stages and profiles will present their work by visiting high-schools, through radio/TV interviews and will take part in intriguing pre-events that ARES will organise. This active involvement of researchers, selected also for their high communicative skills, will assist ARES in achieving one more goal; successfully fight the stereotype of the boring, male, researcher with the eccentric look that works in dark labs misusing technology for world domination. During the Nights, an array of activities, mostly led by researchers, is foreseen. Exhibitions with hundreds of technological products, hands-on experiments, scientific demonstrations, activities designed specifically for kids in the presence of distinguished researchers and with the engagement of university students, combined with various entertaining activities will give visitors the opportunity to delve into the amazing world of research. Thanks to the size of the cities, the carefully selected venues, the thorough awareness campaign and the appealing programme of the Nights, ARES expects to receive more than 25.000 visitors at its events.