FAWORIT · The Fascinating World of Researchers in the Age of Technology

Scientists are often not regarded as “ordinary” people, but as queer creatures, who have nothing in common with average humans. The main objective of our proposal is to overcome and change these stereotypes and contribute to the reinforcement of public recognition of researcher. We would like to present the life of researchers from several aspects in order to get it closer to everyday people. The Fascinating World of Researchers in the Age of Technology will reveal in front of our eyes on 24 September, 2010. The series of events – at 6 locations – will focus on the Researcher – on his professional and on his “private” life. The public will be “edutained” during the Night: scientific talks, presentations will be mixed with entertaining elements. There is going to be a laser show, a theatre piece on the life of a young researcher, a poster competition, several concerts by researchers, cooking, fashion show, live TV broadcast, etc. The target audience can thus discover that the life of the researcher is interesting, cool, enjoyable and profitable. We will also show that researchers have a leading role in a competitive, knowledge-based society.Another aim of the project is to motivate the youth to choose scientific profession and thus increasing the number of researchers in the EU. Therefore, the target group of the Night will include younger generations (from the age of 7 to 25), but naturally, everybody can find an attractive programme for him/herself. Our goal is to attract around 10,000 people to the Night itself, but a multiple of that number (around 150,000) will see, hear or read about this unique event. We would also aim at raising awareness of the European engagement in R&D. In the European corner and at each venue, related programmes of the European Union will be visible. The consortium structure – with relevant stakeholders from academia and industry, from not-for-profit and for-profit organisations – will ensure the proper implementation of the project.