Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EXPLORATHON-4D (EXPLORATHON\'16 and EXPLORATHON\'17 - EUROPEAN RESEARCHERS\' NIGHT SCOTLAND)

Teaser

In our first edition of Explorathon 4-D we engaged over 9000 members of the public with over 600 researchers in a highly successful night which brought many different Scottish Universities together. We have built on the success of the 2014 and 2015 editions of the night to...

Summary

In our first edition of Explorathon 4-D we engaged over 9000 members of the public with over 600 researchers in a highly successful night which brought many different Scottish Universities together. We have built on the success of the 2014 and 2015 editions of the night to create an identifiable brand which both researchers and the public are keen to participate in. Participation has meant that the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Programme has achieved an enviably high degree of visibility across Scotland. We have raised the profile of the partners in our consortium, our research, our researchers, Horizon 2020 and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Programme. This has been instrumental in breaking down barriers to communication and have shown researchers as people with extraordinary jobs and showcased research as an important career path.

In short this has been a highly successful project.

Work performed

\"Overview of results of the Awareness Campaign
o Conception, production and display of promotional material: flyers, banners, programmes…;
o Public advertising: outdoors banners and pop pup banners at key venues;
o Publication of articles, interviews, announcements in magazines;
o airing of promotional spots, announcements, interviews through local radio stations (Aberdeen, Glasgow)
o Revamping, constant updating and maintenance of project website, namely www.explorathon.co.uk ;
o Links with popular and institutional websites;
o Revamping, constant updating and maintenance of social networks profiles (Facebook, Twitter) with an emphasis put on young people;
o 3,3 million Twitter impressions;
o Posting of announcements, advertising etc. on E-zines and newsletters;
o Pre-event: launch of a competition specifically addressed to social media users;
o Several hundreds of people made aware about the European Researchers\' Night and its objectives.



Activities on the night-Overview of Results

o Offer of the activities as planned in the Annex I Part B to the Grant Agreement, namely:
o Organisation of 88 events
o Involvement of the Universities of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Aberdeen, St Andrews and the Beltane Network of the four universities in Edinburgh –Edinburgh, Edinburgh Napier, Heriot-Watt and Queen Margaret;
o Common theme: \"\"Research for all\"\" “Innovation, Architecture and Design”;
o Engagement with the Scottish STEM Ambassador Network (over 6.000 Ambassadors from all walks of life);
o Organisation of multi-exhibit areas in shopping centres and doors open approach o, research and industrial

Final results

\"Overview of the Results

o Collection, analysis and processing of 502 feedbacks, based on:
o The initial online survey, \"\"enrolment questionnaire\"\" (mail address);
o A longer survey requesting feedback on the events including behaviour change) as well as further demographic information;
o Main conclusions:
o Typology of visitors: 43,5 % responders aged 22-25, 21,7 % aged 62-65, relative gender balance, 33 % postgraduate, 32,5 % undergraduate, 17,1 %college, 15,4 % secondary school and 2 % primary school, mostly white (89,4 %), with 7,1 % Asian, 2,4 % mixed or multiple ethnic
groups, and others 1,2 %;
o Overall positive feedback regarding the events( activities, interest, contacts with researchers, venues and locations, scheduling, concrete organisation);
o General positive feedback also from researchers involved;
o Some improvements planned for the event 2017:
o To improve data collection methods so that more survey respondents are enrolled and more of those enrolled respond to the follow-up survey (or an equivalent);
o To refine survey questions further, there are still issues with accessibility and usefulness;
o To better incorporate insights from bespoke evaluations into the overall event evaluation;
o To continue to encourage creative means of evaluation;
o To invest further in a highly-trained team of evaluation volunteers (possibly with unified training across Scotland).\"

Website & more info

More info: http://www.explorathon.co.uk.