From music with Mozart to speed dating when research is celebrated all over Europe

On Friday 29 September 2023 the European Researchers Night will be back to build bridges between science and society. In 27 countries all over Europe, researchers will showcase their work, engage young folks, and bring science to everyday life. Here we highlight some of the activities that will be experienced by participants very soon.

Science will be brought to life through exhibitions, laboratory visits, and science shows, and people can actively engage in experiments and games. 

Let Mozart explain maths

The motto for this year’s event in Austria is exploREsearch. It showcases activities from climate and sustainability, to citizen science and ways of connecting arts and research. Art can boost creativity, help to see things from a different perspective, and even facilitate finding new ways in research. One venue of Austria’s researchers’ night is the UNESCO World Heritage-listed city of Salzburg – also known as the city of Mozart. As a special guest, the one and only Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart helps to explain maths through his music.

Scientific speed dating in France

NoS FuturS in France invites people to take part in science in 16 different cities across the country. NoS FuturS explores possible scenarios for our future, and how we can shape it involving all disciplines. Some concepts and formats for facilitating meetings between researchers and the public are common among all locations and include setting up interactive stages, meeting researchers, and a hypothesis game. 

Think of speed dating, but instead of a bachelor, you’ll meet a scientist! And after 8 minutes seats will be changed, and the next date with science is about to start. “HyPoker! A game of hypothesis” puts members of the public into the shoes of a scientist who faces a difficult decision. The scientist will display the different options and make the participants choose. Only then, they will be filled in on the real story and continue debating the different options. Those activities will help promote dialogue and interaction between the public and researchers. 

Greetings from the Future

Trinity College Dublin invites curious people to START (Start Talking About Research Today). For the European Researchers Night, they’ll build a research village that showcases researchers, panels, and science demos. Visitors can travel into the future and send a postcard from the year 2050 in which they describe how the future looks, sounds, and even smells. This initiative is part of the Critical ChangeLab to foster democracy. 

The European Researchers Night in Sweden is called ForskarFredag. On that day, you can participate in an online science café about how human life and nature will be affected by oceans and coastlines shaped by climate change. The event is open to participants from all over Europe.