Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - BEES (BE a citizEn Scientist)

Teaser

The main objectives of the BE A CITIZEN SCIENTIST project are: - to increase the public awareness of research and innovation - to understand research key benefits - to encourage scientific carriers - to support society to better understand the researcher’s jobs - to support...

Summary

The main objectives of the BE A CITIZEN SCIENTIST project are:
- to increase the public awareness of research and innovation
- to understand research key benefits
- to encourage scientific carriers
- to support society to better understand the researcher’s jobs
- to support the public recognition of researchers

It is important for society:
o bringing researchers closer to the general public
o reducing and possibly deleting the stereotype about researchers’ work
o understanding of the impact of researchers\' work on citizen\'s daily life
o spreading the scientific culture, experiencing the thrill of discovery
o showing science as fun and accessible to everyone
o improve the scientific literacy of the whole society at different socio-cultural and age levels
o encouraging young people to embark on research careers
o underling the National and European dimension of the NIGHT, showing the European Commission the impact of the activities on society and research
o improving the relationship of researchers with policy makers and stakeholders.

Work performed

\"A wide extensive media campaign about the European Researchers\' Night succeeded to reach over 43 million people.
Main target was public at large regardless of age and scientific background.
Awareness campaign was carried on by online and offline tools and promotional materials:
• Conception, production and display of promotional material in schools, universities, research centers, shops and public spaces of the cities involved:
• More than 500 posters and 5.000 brochures
• European Researchers\' Night MSCA roll-up, 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\"\"
• Promotional gadgets (11000 t-shirts, 5000 pins and hundreds of different gadgets, such as notebooks, bags and pens) with link to relevant EU websites and social networks (European Researchers\' Night website, Facebook, etc.)
• Publication of articles, interviews, announcements advertising in main national and regional page press, periodicals, free press. The whole press review (33 articles offline, 425 online articles) is available at this link:
https://www.frascatiscienza.it/pagine/notte-europea-dei-ricercatori-2019/stampa/
• Advertising on subway (metro of Rome, line A and B) and on newspapers website: Repubblica.it, messaggero.it
• A national press conference at the venue of Ministry of Education together with all the national ERN representatives and the Deputy Minister of Education.
• A dedicated press office (10 press releases, coordination of national/international press offices, promotion of ERN message throughout the contacts networks, promotion of European research projects, coordination of web content and newsletters)
• 4,760,000 people reached by radio campaign.
• Media partnership with all the partners involved: 65 articles focused on their research activities
• 15 newsletters sent to 12.000 contacts
• Constant updating and revamping of the project websites and relative social networks profiles
• A cartoon dedicated to Marie Curie realized in collaboration with a regional middle school https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oN2UvCGnS4&t=154s
• A comic campaign
• A complete pictures gallery is available at the following link https://www.frascatiscienza.it/pagine/notte-europea-dei-ricercatori-2019/gallery/

Events:
• Approximately 40.000 people participated in the activities organised by Frascati Scienza in 34 Italian cities: Alghero (SS), Anzi (PZ), Ariccia (RM), Brisighella (RA), Cagliari, Campobasso, Carbonia (CI), Cassino (FR), Cave (RM), Colleferro (RM), Forlimpopoli (FC), Frascati (RM), Frosinone, Gaeta (RM), Gorga (RM), Guarcino (FR), Latina, Marina di Carrara (MS), Matera (MT), Modugno (BA), Nuoro (NU), Palermo, Piombino (LI), Pompei (NA), Potenza (PZ), Rocca Di Papa (RM), Roma, Santeramo in Colle (BA), Sassari (SS), Scicli (RG), Segni (RM), Sovicille (SI), Ventotene (LT), Villanova d\'Asti (AT).
• 352 activities (seminars, shows, hands-on activities, exhibitions, various performances, guided tours inside the labs and outside the research centres, workshops, books presentation, science shows, competitions and quizzes, multimedia activities, science games, European corner)
• 5 pre-events launching the European Researchers’ Night 2019; among them, the most important was Scienza da favola (Fairy-tale science) https://www.frascatiscienza.it/pagine/notte-europea-dei-ricercatori-2019/programma/?evs=2746&bytarget=&bycategory=&bytown=&byday=&byorgs= visited by 800 attendees
• More than 1000 people involved in the organization, including 945 researchers or workers in scientific sectors: 18 researchers having benefited from Horizon 2020 support, 19 H2020 fellows and 2 researchers having benefited from Marie Sklodowska-Curie schemes.

Impact Assessment was evaluated by quantitative and qualitative surveys:
• The total of questionnaires collected is 2278 (625 Ex-Ante, 921 Ex-Post and 732 Kids).
\"

Final results

The majority of the attendees to the ERN 2019 believes that the role of research is very relevant for our country (89,33%), as like as importance of research in Europe (87,60%).
ERN 2019 has strongly contributed to show why it is important doing research (59,4%). The event is a good way to have citizens actively involved in science (41,7%) and to show the benefits it generates for the society (60,43%).
54,1% of people joined the ERN 2019 to get to know the researcher’s work in different sectors.
During the events, the most common comment was about the importance to have funds dedicated to Research, as it is the only way to assure the progress of a country.
Most of the attendees knows that Italian public research is supported by European funds. There still is a crisis of public confidence in national political decision-makers that have to invest more on research and promote the research culture.
Among young attendees, most of the respondents to the questionnaire would like to become researchers (76,77%).
It is evident from the data analysis that kids learned a lot about the researcher work thanks to the ERN 2019, as most of them replied positively to the question.

Website & more info

More info: https://www.frascatiscienza.it/pagine/notte-europea-dei-ricercatori-2019/.