The digital European Researchers Night organized by the S-TEAM consortium gathers more than 40.000 participants
1.190 scientist from the Universities belonging to the “Grupo 9 Universidades” consortium have collaborated with the more than 400 activities, from all branches of knowledge, offered on November 27
The science dissemination program organized by the institutions that form the “Grupo de Universidades (G-9)” has brought together 1,190 researchers with a very clear objective, to bring science and research closer to an audience of more than 40,000 people, mostly young people and children.
The joint project of the Universities of: Oviedo, Cantabria, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, Islas Baleares, Public of Navarra, País Vasco and Zaragoza, with the collaboration of La Rioja, has been a successful event. The S-TEAM consortium, coordinated by the University of Oviedo, has organized more than 400 attractive and dynamic online activities for the European Researchers Night, thanks to the enthusiastic participation of research staff from different areas of knowledge, including social sciences and humanities. The public’s response has been very satisfactory, since more than 40,000 people have enjoyed from their homes or education centers the varied offer in scientific and technological dissemination. Talks, games, challenges, guided visits, monologues, experiments, and contests have been translated to the audiovisual format, showing that scientific dissemination is capable of adapting to different contexts.
Is important to bring attention to the high participation of female researchers in this project, which is framed within the strategic lines of the S-TEAM project to promote gender equality in dissemination as a key component. Specifically, more than half of the researchers who have collaborated in the Night are women, 53%. In this way, the project contributes to promoting the visibility of women in science and technology, while providing female role models and references to girls.
In addition, the program has had a series of common activities that have given a special integrating and cohesion value to this project. The execution has also counted with the involvement of the “unidades de cultura científica” of the universities, whose mission is to bring the knowledge and work of researchers to the citizens, so it con be recognized and valued.
Common Activities
The participating universities have designed some joint activities such as “Ciencia Nocturna”, a radio program about the European Researchers Night coordinated by the scientific journalist Román Escudero from the University of Castilla La Mancha. As a part of the activities, the University of Oviedo has written and programmed a role-playing game Choose your own scientific adventure, an interactive initiative that represents the role of a university student who finishes his degree and wants to work on research. For sixth-grade primary school students from the nine Autonomous Communities, the University of Cantabria coordinates the activity “Kahoot ¿Qué sabes sobre Europa?” that can be followed live through Microsoft TEAMS. This game puts its participants to the test, and ask them: What do you know about Europe?
In addition, the G-9 Universities have developed together a playlist on Spotify with the music that researchers find inspiring or play when they carry out experiments, analyze data, read, or write. Available at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2wxBF212lKZmvEazYveK59?si=ARSbbz3EQ5KqRxipMN-PFg
To allow citizens to know more closely the people who are dedicated to research, so they can value their labor and the benefits that their work brings to society, research staff from the nine universities have joined in the blog “One night I dreamed that I wanted to be … and today I am … ”where you have the opportunity to learn about the professional and human profile of scientists who, in addition to research, dedicate part of their time to the dissemination of scientific knowledge.
The European Researchers Night
The S-TEAM consortium project designed and presented by their respective unidades de cultura científica, has been granted within the framework of the H2020 program (Grant Agreement 954912 – S-TEAM-H2020-NIGHT-2020. The European Researchers Night is funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie (MSCA) actions, an initiative to promote scientific careers in Europe, which is part of Horizon 2020, the Framework Program for Research and Innovation of the European Union.). It is a public event of European scope with the objective of bringing science and researchers closer to the public. The Night offers researchers the opportunity to show the diversity of science and its impact on the daily lives of citizens, and to stimulate interest in research careers, especially among young people.
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