Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BRIGHT (Brilliant Researchers Impact on Growth Health and Trust in Research)

Teaser

The project is realized by the University of Siena (Coordinator), the University of Florence, the University of Pisa, the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, the University for Foreigners of Siena, the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, the Scuola Normale Superiore.Performing...

Summary

The project is realized by the University of Siena (Coordinator), the University of Florence, the University of Pisa, the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, the University for Foreigners of Siena, the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, the Scuola Normale Superiore.
Performing two interactive nights of entertainment linked by a set of preparatory events: we plan to entertain the general public in interactive ways, bringing researchers closer to the people, in landmark places. Researchers will show what they do, the problems they try to solve, disseminating the achieved results. The atmosphere will be informal, within everybody’s grasp, from children to elderly people.
Making pupils, students, young people and their families interested in a research career to increase the number of would-be scientists.
Engaging academies, other research institutions, local and regional authorities, funding agencies and other stakeholders in a common action to enhance the public reputation of researchers and science in general;
Underlining the European support and the raising confidence in favour of the researcher’s role in an evolving society;
Synchronizing and merging all the events of the BRIGHT partners and collaborating bodies, in two big Events in Tuscany (under the slogan “Researchers make your life better!”), multiplying their resonance at national and European level, also through smart tools - i.e. websites, apps etc. - in order to keep each event constantly “within arm’s reach”.
Creating permanent “Walking through the Science” paths in the city centres to represent the permanent legacy of ERN towards its host cities. City maps with the main “points of Interest” will be promoted giving people the opportunity, to meet researchers showing their research results and the impact research can have in their daily life. The cities maps will be promoted also through an application for smartphones and tablet to be downloaded for free;
Setting up a two-way exchange of knowledge and expertise (scientists to people) and expectations (people to scientists).
Raising awareness of an adequate gender balance as a value for the research world.
Involving and stimulating participation of pupils and students in specifically school-oriented initiatives to be implemented in a preparatory phase before the two “nights”.
Providing specific trainings for Researchers and PhD students in order to improve their communication and dissemination capacity; the impact of research results on the society depends also on the capacity of researchers to draw attention of the general public and to make them aware of the benefit of the results for their life;
Putting in place a science-people interface through a double way of engagement of researchers and the general public: the explanatory model in which researchers communicate to the public and the participatory model in which people actively participate to the events.
Engaging min 300 secondary and high schools students and pupils, on a regional scale, with a 2-years project of Citizen Science aiming at raising awareness on - and contribute to - research on pollinators. Researchers from OPAL (www.opalexplorenature.org) , one of the most relevant EU Citizen Science Projects focused on biodiversity, agriculture, environmental quality and ecosystem.

Work performed

Awareness campaign:
Conception, production and display of promotional material, such as posters, brochures, programmes, take away;
Publication of specific articles on newspapers and research magazines;
Publication of interviews with young scientists and attendees following each Night;
Set up of a press office; press releases, data sets related to the projects, press reveiw;
Proposal of TV and radio interviews to the single journalists and newsrooms, employing all the media relation techniques;
Organisation of a press conference in Florence during the first half of September 2018 and 2019, in collaboration with the press office of the Toscana regional government and the press offices of all project partners, and another one some days later, in Siena, as well as in each of the four main participating cities;
Public advertising regional advertisement common plan
Airing of promotional spots, announcements and interviews with researchers on local radio stations and TV channels such as Antenna Radio Esse, Controradio, Canale 50, RTV38, Canale 3 Toscana, Canale Civico Siena, Toscana TV;
Involvement of the ERASMUS Student Network.

Before the Night Pre events:
Meetigns with stakeholders, regional and local authorities in each participating cities;
Tailored meetings and visits to schools (project\'s presentation and programme);
BRIGHT POLLINATION: Citizen science project aimed at enhancing research on pollinators;
Training activities for researchers (communication and soft skills ), divided in several modules hosted by BRIGHT partners, with teaching and learning material will be accessible on IT platform, open access to all researchers beyond the project life;
BRIGHT News stand: radio and web format to anticipate the themes developed during the events, based on interviews at the UNIPI and Aula 40 radio stations, and short streams created with mobile phones to be broadcast on the Facebook, Instagram and YouTube pages of the participating institutions;
Open museums: in the days preceding the event, with initiatives mainly aiming at young audiences through interactive experiences such as “treasure hunts” and creative laboratories.
Science aperitifs: in local bars and pubs, researchers will informally talk with attendees about their recent studies in front of a glass of wine or beer.
Florence: series of interviews on local media (radio and TV), with both the Rector and selected researchers In all cities the activities of BRIGHT will start at 2.30 p.m. until 12.00 p.m.

Activities during the Night:
Offer of the activitiesas descirbed in the Annex I Part B to the Grant Agreement, notably;
Laboratories for children;
Film Projection;
Exhibitions;
Seminars;
Workshops;
Concerts;
Guided tours:
Didactic shows;
Laboratories;
Quiz;
Showcooking;
“Edicola Bright”;
Speaker’s corners;
Open Labs.
Active involvement of 1.517 researchers, of whom 54 having benefitted from an EU support in the framework of FP7 or Horizon 2020.

Final results

Collection, analysis, and processing of:
1) 1000 telephonic interviews.
The questionnaire was divided in 4 sections;
Socio-demographic questions;
Scientific research in Italy and in Europe;
The researcher;
Knowledge and expectations concerning the event.

2) 270 questionnaires compiled during or after the ERN in Florence, Lucca, Pisa and Siena; About 2/3 females e 1/3 males respondents
The questionnaires compiled during or after the ERN werecomposed of 24 questions with the same structure of the telephonic questionnaire plus a 5th section devoted to the:
“Evaluation of the Event”;

3) 18 Focus groups held before and after the ERN in Siena, Pisa, Florence (9 before and 9 after the ERN)
The focus guidelines where articulated in 4 sections:

Scientific research and its imaginary;
The researcher;
The communication of scientific research;
“The ERN” and its evaluation.

Main conclusions:
Regard to the ERN organization, assessments are generally very positive: interest in the activities carried out during the event (92% positive); logistics (76% positive) - with differences for the different cities where the event took place; organization (82% positive).

Website & more info

More info: http://www.bright-toscana.it/.