Science promotion in Bistita-Nasaud county

Project Information

Science4future

Grant agreement ID: 955436

DOI

10.3030/955436

Project closed

EC signature date 9 June 2020

Start date 1 July 2020

End date 31 December 2020

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 36 500,00

EU contribution

€ 36 500,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI
Romania

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Science4future (Science promotion in Bistita-Nasaud county)

Reporting period: 2020-07-01 to 2020-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The previous editions of the European Researchers’ Night held in other towns and cities in Romania and other countries had a strong positive impact on the overall attitude of the general public towards science, so that organising such an event in Bistrita is giving hope for a further increase in the interest of potential participants for research-related activities, thus encouraging the proposal of this project.
On 27th of November 2020 the first ever European Researchers Night event was held in Bistrita Nasaud County. It was an event with impact since there was a tremenduous need to change people perception over the Science and to learn which daily opportunities it gives. More than that Bistrita is well known as one of the educational and research centers of western-north of Romania.
The common main objective consists of „bringing researchers to the general public and increasing awareness of research and innovation activities, with a view to supporting the public recognition of researchers, creating an understanding of the impact of researchers’ work on citizens’ daily life, and encouraging young people to embark on research careers”. In order to achieve this goal, we advance several key objectives of the SCIENCE4FUTURE:
• to raise public recognition of researchers and their valuable work as well as strengthening their profile promotion;
• to encourage cooperation and tolerance between society and the research community;
• to break stereotypes and show researchers as ordinary people with an amazing job;
• to ensure transparency and public access to scientific results and researcher’s work to facilitate easy access to the research results and EC Framework Programme for both Society and R&D and Innovative community;
• to draw attention on the role of R&D in dealing with the challenges of the modern society;
• during the awareness campaign, special attention will be paid to young people without scientific background coming from social and economic disadvantaged groups;
• to promote European cooperation in the fields of science and technology and to make European research more visible by underlining how important European support is for science and researchers and by showcasing the results of various research programs;
• to strengthen the collaboration between the R&D sector and Romanian society by encouraging the research community to play a more active role. Based on a strong collaboration, we will continue our tradition to involve all the research institutions, universities, SMEs, NGOs etc. in the activities during the NIGHT;
• equal access for the entire society and R&D and Innovative community to the research results and EC Framework Programme;
• to spur the creation of consortium agreements between researchers in various science fields, and also to promote the cooperation between researchers and companies;
• to encourage young people to choose a career in the field of scientific research. The public will appreciate if they can get some sharing of experiences on how some of researchers started their works and how to get to that level;
• to show to public what resources/opportunities they can use from different European platforms and European mobility programmes such as Marie Skłodowska-Curie, Erasmus, etc.
Impact:
• Increased awareness among the general public of the importance of research and innovation and more favourable general attitude towards its public funding;
• Better understanding of the key benefits that research brings to society;
• Reduction in the stereotypes about researchers and their profession;
• Increase, in the long term, of people taking up research careers;
• Better understanding of the European Union among the general public.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report.
WP1 Awareness campaign. The European Researchers Night event was promoted through online and offline channels:
• General public events and cultural events - 10 amendments where 2 book launches
• Scientific events – 4 scientiffic conferences and webinars
• Workshops, volunteering activities, seminars and summer schools -2
• Mass media: 510 radio promotions 3 regional radio stations, news emissions -7, TV-3 (160 min), video promotion of commercials - 48.
• Direct mailing – 90, inclusive 2 press releases;
• Letters and informative notes and invitations – 4 sent to more than 180 addresses;
• Placing information on billboards -50 billboards, 3 banners
• Non-scientific publications (newspapers) -11 in 10 regional newspapers
• Dissemination and promotion materials – more than 25 categories
• The website - Between 26.10.2020 and 31.12.2020 the website had 378649 hits and 15095 unique visitors (distinct IPs);
• Social networks: Facebook - 90 posts, Instagram - 33 posts, TikTok – 40 posts, YouTube -41 recordings
WP2: Activities during the NIGHT:
Partners: special guests – 7, public institutions-10, education and research institutions -13, private companies – 9, associations and NGO-s – 4.
Activities during the NIGHT: zoom conferences - 21, live workshops - 5, films and video presentations - 51, PDF presentations - 40 and photo galleries – 6, contests -8.
WP3: Impact assessment: 2 surveys, 592 respondents;
WP4: Management – 16 meetings

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Beyond the special attention that was paid to young people and kids, a particular focus was set on women attendees, as well as on special groups, such as pupils and parents from rural regions, children with special educational needs and children from the gifted education programme and their trainers.
As this was the first event of this kind in the Bistrita-Nasaud County, a comparison could not be made with previous similar initiatives which were purely scientific in nature and were not meant for the general public. Although this event was organized in the past in Europe as well as in Romania in a classic format, we got beyond past years’ state of the art and turned a classic event in an online one, using modern, smart communication and presentation technologies. It was imperative to adopt and adapt good practices from colleagues from other cities or countries for the local requirements. Likewise, through various online meeting platforms, there were on-line video connections with other cities so to present the research and activities from other European Researchers Night events, as well as interviews with renowned researchers from other cities and countries.

Official opening of the event