Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - REFRESH (REFRESH - Relate, Experience, Find Research Everywhere and SHare)

Teaser

There is a significant lack of awareness and understanding of researchers’ work and its importance in the country compared to other foreign competitors. According to a special report on “Public Perceptions of Science, Research and Innovation”, Bulgaria has the lowest...

Summary

There is a significant lack of awareness and understanding of researchers’ work and its importance in the country compared to other foreign competitors.
According to a special report on “Public Perceptions of Science, Research and Innovation”, Bulgaria has the lowest percentage in Europe taking up science subjects outside the official education system, while an alarming 41% consider they have not studied STEM at all. Bulgarian respondents to the survey cannot see the link between science and technology and such imperative issues as environment, citizen safety, tackling inequalities, job creation, availability and quality of food. At the same time the Education and Training Monitor for Bulgaria in 2017 continues to demonstrate under-performance of 15-year-olds in comparison to EU averages.

Researchers are expected to contribute to the advancement of science, to the achievement of growth and competitiveness, and to the solution of complex problems, which, in turn, are important factors in attracting and sustaining investment and economic growth. However it is namely this essential role of science that remains hidden and lacks understanding.
This underlines the importance of actions, such as ERN to establish direct contacts between researchers and the public at large so as to increase the visibility and understanding of researchers’ work; To allow a better involvement of various groups of stakeholders, in particular the young to attract them to the research career and further develop the skills and training of current and future generations of researchers.
Societal issues such as brain drain, equality and diversity, support for disabled people to participate also need to be addressed.

The overall objective of the project is to bring researchers closer to the general public and increase 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 citizen\'s daily life, encouraging young people to resume and embark on research careers.

Work performed

\"The REFRESH (Relate, Experience, Find Research Everywhere and SHare) project, which implements the ERN in Bulgaria, involves 21 beneficiaries and more than 30 associate partners among which academic institutions, universities, Bulgaria’s only tech park, a Chamber of industry and commerce, the local office of a pan-European organization, museums, education entrepreneurships and a media outlet.

Awareness campaign
We set up a country-wide awareness campaign implemented through diverse media channels, with pre-event promotion, broad coverage during the Night, and follow-up media events. The awareness campaign incorporated the key message of the Night: \"\"Researchers are amongst us”.
Promotional materials were designed centrally, fully compliant with both project and MCSA brand requirements and shared with all partners.
Project beneficiaries also conceived, produced, disseminated and displayed locally-realized promotional material.
Off-line and online channels were largely used - mailing campaigns, use of partners’ websites and Facebook pages, outdoors advertising, publication of articles in newspapers, magazines, national popular journals, local newspapers, publication of press releases and announcements, airing of interviews through national and local TV and radio stations.
Pre-events such as schools visits, teaser meetings, meetings with opinion leaders and influencers were held.
Four national competitions were launched with 500 young people registered and the process is ongoing.
The media reach from a national PR campaign was 3,6 mln. people. The social media reach (Facebook), banner campaigns and beneficiaries’ promotion campaigns reached 889,321 people. The number of engagements on the social media, downloads and competition participants reached 131,800.
The targets are well on track after the Night 2018 with the huge contribution from all Consortium members.

Activities during the Night
The main ideas on which the NIGHT organization was built were coordinated, multi-city and international series of events under a single, recognizable brand, with familiar formats but with fresh content, led by central “umbrella” themes - European Year of Cultural Heritage and European Sports Capital Sofia for 2018, with a range of topical events, and links through digital broadcasts in other countries.
The country-spread events - 51 venues in 13 cities, including non-conventional places - a mountain shelter, a ship and a train brought science closer to the wider audience.
We involved 614 researchers, among whom 64 were direct beneficiaries of EU grants, including MSCA.
Participation of 16,617 visitors during the ERN events, plus 10,956 online broadcasts and 500 live streams were realized. The number reached during period 1 is 29,304 and it represents 37 % of the overall target for the two years events and activities.
Further activities planned outside the scope of the Night – schools visits and citizen science projects – will contribute further to meeting the very ambitious targets of REFRESH.

Impact assessment
The impact assessment methodology involved - online survey, survey among the Researchers’ Night’s audience and a оne-day focus group and workshop.
2401 feed-backs were collected, analyzed and processed. 80% of the target numbers has been achieved already in Period 1.
The main conclusions from the surveys and the focus groups referred to the Effectiveness of the Information Campaign, the Assessment of the Activities and the Relevance of Science to Everyday Life, in short:
- The most effective way to get information about the event seems to be social media advertising;
- For almost 50% of the respondents the event enhanced their interest in science. 98.6% of the respondents claim that they would visit the events next year.
- Respondents see science as being highly influential for society as a whole (82%) and their everyday lives (43%) and think that researchers are believed to be working for the common\"

Final results

The awareness campaign targets have been met in relation to reach. For the social media shares and for participants to ERN and additional events - activities are ongoing in between the Nights and targets will be reached.
The impact assessment targets have been achieved up to 80%. For Year 2 we will focus more on the quality of the tools and the analysis.

The socioeconomic impact and the societal implications of the project so far show:
• Increased awareness among the general public of the importance of research and innovation and more favorable general attitude towards its funding and better understanding of the key benefits that research brings to society;
• Positive statements towards the image of scientists and higher social prestige of the scientific career;
• Increased number of researchers with experience in communicating to the public in an accessible way;
• Increase, in the long-term, of people taking up research careers;
• Overall positive feedback about the events and general intention (98 %) to attend the future Nights;
• Contribution to mainstreaming scientific knowledge among under-served groups of society;
• Enlarged geographical scope of events’ locations resulting in wider societal awareness of the importance of education, knowledge, research and innovation.

Website & more info

More info: https://nauka.bg/night/eng/.