NHM NIGHT5

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - NHM NIGHT5 (NHM NIGHT5)

Reporting period: 2014-12-01 to 2015-12-31

Since 2010 the Natural History Museum has successfully delivered four consecutive European Researchers’ Nights with increasing public participation and engagement year after year.

In 2014 the European Researchers’ night in London and Tring aimed at building on this experience to aid the delivery of at least five captivating events across the UK.

In such context, the main objectvies of the project were:
o actively breakdown existing public stereotypes of researchers;
o drive home to the public an awareness of the role and value of science;
o inspire the next generation of young researchers and demonstrate the varied roles and careers open within science.

The Natural History Museum has an outstanding record in public outreach programmes and the 2014 project was the largest effort of this kind that NHM had undertaken to-date.

Over 400 researchers and PhD students delivered 200 different engaging activities , from EU corners, science stations (showcase of research and specimens), science bar(chat with scientists around a drink), be a scientist (bring an item for identification by scientists), behind the scenes tours accompanied by expert guides, animal vision shows, nature live, to 30 minutes interactive dialogue event linking to researchers behind the scenes and across Europe and formats alongside 50 professional educators in a fun and stimulating atmosphere.

Explanation of the work carried out during the reporting within the whole project in line with the Annex 1 to the Grant Agreement
AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

Target audiences
o Adults of a wide social cultural and age range, in particular those new to science events and interested in sciences/arts/wild life and the environment;
o School students in particular those facing a career choice, families, in particular parents likely to support their choice;
o Local university students, research community and educators, these being the secondary target audience.

Messages conveyed
o Researchers are amongst us;
o Researchers are ordinary people with an extraordinary job;
o Research is fun;
o Come and understand the real job and role of researchers.

Main communication tools to rely on

Off line
o Articles, advertisements, announcements in printed media such as the Time Out, Metro;
o Public advertising (banners) on Cromwell Road and Exhibition Road;
o Announcements and promotion in NHM magazine;
o Posters distribution campaign in particular within London–based universities;
o Direct contacts with schools, in particular in schools with students underrepresented in higher education/university (agreement with local educational authority);
o Cooperation of the researchers involved in the actions with the NHM Media Relations team for optimised media coverage.

On line
o Digital display and search advertising targeting the audiences mentioned above;
o Promotion via NHM website and social media channels;
o General mailing to schools and teachers;
o Openness to cooperation with other EU-funded British projects in particular through social media.

Promotional material
o Banners, ads, websites, links to relevant EU websites and social networks;
o Mention of "This European Researchers' Night project is funded by the European Commission under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions" on all promotional material displayed;
o Promotional gadgets (displayed through the European corner notably), complying with the general guidelines available at
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/communication/services/visual_identity/index.en.htm

Overview of the results
o Publication of articles and announcements in written press (over 20 well-read publications);
o Revamping, constant updating and maintenance of project website namely http://www.nhm.ac.uk/science-uncovered;
o 28.772 visits on project website;
o Revamping, constant updating and maintenance of social networks profiles (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest);
o Over 5.000 clikcs on Facebook;
o Over 930 tweets by 688 different people;
o Airing of one interview on radio (BBC 4);
o Over 23,5 million people made aware of the Researchers' Night and its objectives.

ACTIVITIES DURING THE NIGHT
Locations and venues
o London, South Kensington (NHM) – Exhibition road cultural quarter
o Hertfordshire, The Walter Rothschild building (NHM) - Tring

Main types of activities planned
EU corners, science stations (showcase of research and specimens), science bar(chat with scientists around a drink), be a scientist (bring an item for identification by scientists), behind the scenes tours, accompanied by expert guides, animal vision shows, nature live, 30 minutes interactive dialogue event linking to researchers behind the scenes and across Europe…

Detailed programme of activities
o Nature games:
o addressing mainly young and fashionable audience;
o conversations about scientific findings and their relevance;
o Examples of games: BioPhylo (cooperation with British Columbia university in Canada), Ecosystem collapse, snakes and ladders, about biodiversity loss issues;

FameLab: presentations lasting 3 minutes on line by researcher traveling across EU(notably Sofia and Athens);
o Dedicated school programme : dedicated science stations, nature live events an guided tours for students , in the morning, with a special offer to come back in the evening with their families; (family welcome desk offering a small token/gift for further information about studies, research and research associated careers);
Guided tours within galleries, labs and collection space;
o Science stations: informal conversations with researchers in galleries, hands on experiments, classified according several themes such as evolution, oceans, health (10 stations);
o Soapbox science art: in partnership with Royal college of Arts and Imperial college of London, art and science researchers, in particular early year researchers and London-based NERC funded Doctoral training programme students, as well as Manchester University students, standing on soapboxes and provoking participants on issues they feel strong about;
o Researchers’ reception: informal meeting between researcher and students (having previously met researchers during a school visit or through video conference activities), interesting in particular for students facing a career choice, as well as anyone under 18;
o Hall of FameLab in cooperation with British Council: stand up format, animated by BBC presenter (Quentin cooper), with participation of winners from recent years (gender balance), stressing also the importance of diversity and mobility of research careers;
o Science Bar: informal discussion with scientists about burning issues, based on a menu including a selection of possible discussion points;
o Be a scientists: attendees bringing an unidentified specimen for identification by specialised scientists;
o Collection tours behind the scenes, discussion for a better understanding of the researchers’ environment and of the societal importance of the researchers’ work;
o Learning activators: interferences with attendees in the queue with specimens (such as lion’ skull);
o Animal vision shows, run by educators with live animal highlighting applied research;
o Nature live: 30 minutes interactive dialogues events , with specific efforts to link with across Europe (notably EA and CERN), with also display of films in Attenborough studio when the show is not running;
o Social media activity, on line blogs and for enabling discussions between participants and researcher prior, during and after the event;
Free Wi Fi for Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest as well as other social media during the event;
o 7 bars with food and music;

European corners
Number: at least 2, one in each city involved, 3 in 2015
Location: busy and prominent areas, mainly at the entrance;

Activities planned:
o Display of posters and informative leaflets ;
o Micro exhibitions;
o Presentations of EU major projects involving the participants (NHM, MU);
o Discussions with researchers about their work and its relevance to society;
o Permanent presence of researchers having benefited from EU support;
o European Researchers' Night MSCA roll-up (entrance of the event) complying with the following content and format requirements: 200 X 85 cm, and the mentions: "European Researchers' Night", "Marie Skłodowska-Curie: an inspiration to follow";
o An image to be provided by the European Commission;

Overview of the results
o Offer of 200 different activities as planned in the Annex I part B to the Grant Agreement, amongst which:

South Kensington:
o 22 science stations allocated in 3 themed zones namely “Origin and Evolution”, “Sustainability” and “Biodiversity";
o Science Bars : informal talks about brungin issues of the day with researchers around a glass;
o Giant nature games: exploring ideas around biodiversity and extinction with researchers;
o Soapbox Science: discussion of isseus related to their research by Imperial college and NHM early researchers;
o Spirit collections tours: exclusive torus of the galleries behind the scenes with researchers;
o Animal Vision: family friendly show featuring live animals;
o Welcome of Celebration of Science local year six students (10-11 year olds) to a special science day by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea;
o European corners and European research science stations;

Tring:
o Talks from collection of birds’ eggs and skins (history and key research);
o Library collections;
o Behind the scene tours the Rothschild Library;
o Feather identification;
o Live streaming of presentations from the Natural History Museum in London;

demonstration of birds’ skin preparation

o Active involvement of 407 researchers from the Museum;
o Over 63.000 interactions between participants and researchers , with even more intercations with world class educators;
o Over 8.750 visitors having taken part in the activities offered.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Description of the current situation
o Based on data collected from research investigating public awareness of scientists in visitor attractions (NHM2005, annual surveys of visitors, findings from recent PhD research on the impact of meeting NHM scientists;
o Also relying on previous impact assessment exercises in the framework of previous NHM Researchers’ nights.

Tools
o Package of evaluation interventions piloted by NHM (London, Tring), as well as to other successful projects notably YORNIGHT and BGCN;
o Face to face interviews, self-administered questionnaires, feedback from school students, young people and researchers;
o Focussed evaluations for understanding backgrounds and needs of the participants;
o Evaluation with school kids (mainly focused on understanding the potential of events for inspiring young people to embark on scientific careers, from the ASPIRES project report);
o Advantage will be taken of the 2 years duration for examining longer term impact of the events;
o Use of 2013 methodology with the view to allowing reliable comparison of the data collected.

Indicators and parameters to be applied
o Qualitative: narratives of impact on participants from face to face interviews, responses form self-administered questionnaires, feedback from young people and school students on their views on science and research careers, pre and post feedback from researchers;
o Quantitative: polls for measuring the attitudes and behaviours towards science at multiple sites, demographic and psychographic data, numbers of participants in various activities, virtual participant sin on line activities.
Selection of the sample
o Method: random selection, general encouragement to take part in at least one assessment exercise;
o Absolute figures: collecting feedback from at least 33 % of the attendees through various methods.

2015 Overview of the results

Conception, production and display of promotional material: posters of various formats, banners, leaflets, displayed notably to local contacts;
• Public advertising: digital screens and crown posters in key sites of the NHM premises, external banners (Cromwell road, Tring Tesco), posters displayed to London-based science institutions and universities;
• Publication of advertisements in newspapers, magazines, as well as specialised publications (New Scientist)
• Airing of announcements on local TV stations(Manchester);
• Sending of direct invitations to participants mailing list, as well as to staff's and scientists' network of contacts;
• Revamping , constant updating and maintenance of project website, namely http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/exhibitions/science-uncovered-2015.html ;
• 26.960 page views, with the majority (79%) of the main page about the event hosted under the Exhibitions section of the website;
• Revamping and constant updating of social network profiles, Facebook and Twitter;
• 1 million followers on Twitter;
• NHM Facebook sources accounted for 13.9% of all page views to the Science Uncovered content
• Paid advertising of Facebook;
• About 34 million people potentially made aware of the Researchers' Night and its objectives;

Offer of the activities as described in the Annex I part B to the Grant agreement, namely:
• 21 Science stations ;
• 3 behind the scene tours (Meet the Greenland shark, Stars in Jars and Sprit Collections). Duration of tours between 25 to 30 minutes.(14 tours took place during the event) ;
• 3 science bars located across the museum;
• 4 Nature Live shows;
• 61.212 interactions with researchers of which 670 in Tring and 1.164 in Manchester;
• Active involvement of 550 researchers to the implementation of the activities, amongst which:
• 7 having benefitted from Marie Curie schemes;
• 210 having benefitted from another EU—funding under FP 7 or HORIZON 2020, notably the EC funded SYNTHESYS Infrastructure Programme;
• 6.267 visitors having taken apart in the activities offered, distributed as follows:
• 5.978 in London;
• 219 in Tring, Hertfordshire;
• 250 in Manchester

2014 Overview of the results

o Collection and processing of over 2.850 feedbacks through
o polls, (2240);
o feedback forms (452);
o responses to stamped on science evaluation question (128);
o face to face interviews with kids and young people (38);
o Main conclusions:
o Overall positive feedback about the event (activities, interest, contacts with researchers, concrete organisation, scheduling, venue) (95 % respodners ratng the event excellent or good);
o General astonishment of attendees when discovering the variety of the researchers present (60 %);
o Increased awareness about about the potential benefits of science to society (75 %);
o Increased awareness about the importance of science and consequently of the researchers' job (86 %);
o Increased awareness about the various research careers available (75 %)
o Geenral intention expressed to take part in other science-remaetd events after having participated in the ERN in London and Tring (78 %).

2015 Overview of the results

Collection, analysis and processing of 4.368 feedbacks mainly based on the online survey, as well as the entrance and exit polls;
• Main conclusions:
• Typology of visitors: 66 % responders female, 63 % responders aged 16-34 (harder to reach), combination of students, teachers, young people, adult audience many of whom are already in employment or committed to a course of study.;
• Overall positive feedback about the events themselves (locations, venues, activities, interest, contacts with researchers, concrete organisation, schedule…);
• Witnesses from teachers confirming the effectiveness of the outreach sessions; at challenging the children’s preconceived notions about science and scientists, stimulated their interest in science and encouraged them to think more carefully about possible future careers in science;
• 7Increased interest for science amongst A level students: 70 % (Manchester), as well as their interest in pursuing a research career;
• Increased awareness that researchers are a diverse community (84,2 % responders in London);
• Increased awareness of the key role of researchers and the benefits brought by research to society :69 % responders in London, 86 % in Tring and Manchester;
• Increased inspiration for taking part in other science events: 84 % responders in London, 78 % in Tring and 83 % in Manchester;
• Increased understanding of the diversity of careers open in science: 87 % of responders, both through the online survey and the feedback filled in forms.

Participants and Imaging and Analysis technician

SUSTAINABILITY ZONE

Professor Alice Roberts, talks in the Flett Theatre: The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being - evolutio

Interview with Stephen Roberts

European Corner - Questions being answered by a Marie Curie fellow who is involved in the INT Interc

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - NHM NIGHT5 (NHM NIGHT5)

Share this page

Download