Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - HSciRO (Handle with Science)

Teaser

Objectives:- Bringing together the researchers and the public by going where the public is and shaping activities to be fun-filled - outdoor experiments, science talks, edutainment workshops, face-to-face interaction. Special training for better presentation skills will be...

Summary

Objectives:
- Bringing together the researchers and the public by going where the public is and shaping activities to be fun-filled - outdoor experiments, science talks, edutainment workshops, face-to-face interaction. Special training for better presentation skills will be made available to the researchers;
- Increasing awareness of research and innovation activities by using our pre-event campaign to push research in news and social media timelines. Be it pollution, disease, food production, space travel, energy sources and so on - the researchers of our institutions will explain to the public how they are Handling it with Science and shaping their work so that it contributes to solving the problems faced by Romanian society, EU countries or humanity at large are facing. This will help the public better grasp the importance of research and innovation on citizen’s daily life. As Romanian spending on research is hitting an all-time low, it is crucial to make the public aware of the need to invest more in research;
- Creating an understanding of the impact of researchers\' work on citizen\'s daily life, by shaping activities during the event so that they are easy relatable to the public. We will also encourage researchers to be proactive during the pre-event campaign in media and social media accounts, talking about everyday topics. Special media and communication training will be made available for our “ambassadors”, preferably Marie Curie alumni and researchers that were involved in European funded projects;
- Encourage young people to embark on research careers by presenting them Romanian researchers to look up to (especially researchers involved in Marie Curie actions), opening 200 volunteer positions for young people to work closely with researchers and “spreading” the mentality of the innovator - open to uncertainty, curious about the outcome, handling the unknown with science, not with fear.

Work performed

Awarness Campaign
- July 2018, launch the new project public site www.noapteacercetatorilor.ro
- July 10th, 2018 all partners participated to HSCIRO project kick off meeting at Bucharest (at INCDFP);
- September 6th, 2018 we organized a workshop “Cercetarea pe intelesul altora” (Research explained to others) -- 8 hours workshop and training aimed at researchers, PhD’s and volunteers involved in Europeean Researchers’ Night. Over 50 participants learnt how to convey scientific information to both a young audience and also to press and journalists.
- The event was advertised in high schools and media.
- Letters of invitation were sent to various organization in order to participate and to promote the event, while e-mails inviting schools and high-schools were also sent.
- Press conference as well as media bulletin to advertise Night\'s Activities
Activities during the Night:
- Hands on experiments encompassing various fields of sciences: physics, biology, geology, robotics, engineering
- Science Cafes
- competitions on robots, quick quizzes
- guided laboratory tours
- science movies
- astronomical observation

Final results

Level of appreciation was high and very high
94% of the participants gave a rating of more than 4 out of 5 to the item „the event was interesting”
88% of participants like science “more” and “a lot more” after European Researchers Night

Expected results until the end of the project and potential impacts:
- Increase in the awareness of the importance of research and innovation;
- More favourable general attitude towards its funding
- Attracting young people to research and science

Website & more info

More info: http://noapteacercetatorilor.ro.