Friday 24th september

Travels

image cartenuit_deschercheursb.png (37.7kB)

What does it mean to be a researcher? From hypotheses to results, a whole series of key elements follow one another, nested like gears. This machinery of knowledge can only work if all these elements are brought together and are functional. So, are you ready to go to the other side of the mirror to discover the mechanisms of a successful research?

For this 17th edition, fourteen cities invite you to come and meet these persons, who work daily in order to advance collective knowledge. Through our theme VOYAGES, they well share their experiences, anecdotes of field study, and bring you to discover the intimate and sometimes unexpected links between research and places. Various interactive activities will allow you to meet researchers face to face or in the dark, with their suitcase or with a map.

If you can’t travel to a city with an on-site event, we also have ways for you to encounter researchers via the Online Speed Searching, or wander in our interactive map of the world, populated with testimonies of research studying all parts of the world !

The goals of the European Researchers Night are

Attract a public that is not familiar with science by means of our offer of an exciting event
Ensure that the public spends a long time at the event (more than two and a half hours) to truly interact with the researchers
sharing â??science in the makingâ? : what are the questions, the procedures, the alliances, the successes and the difficulties ?
Involve members of the public and awaken the desire to develop and maintain a connection with research before and after the event

Each city bring his personal touch

Our evening events are all prepared using the same approach, will all rely and will adopt the same common interactions, like Speed-searching, Tell Me a Tale of Research, The Fake News Laboratory, Meetings in the Dark...So 80% of the programmed interactions will be common but 20% is the personal touch of the manager structure almost based on the stage Designs (Scenography).

It is an invitation for people all around Europe to share an evening with researchers in hundreds of European cities, including 14 in France thanks to the LINCS project. On this occasion, conditions for convivial dialogue are created, for simple and unique exchanges. We create innovative activities for the public. In the staged environments we set up, the atmosphere is relaxed, allowing for intimate and special moments of sharing, to discover the researchers as you have never seen or heard them before.

Common interactions

Stage Designs (Scenography)

Playful, aesthetic and interactive presentations and special atmospheres will be created in order to facilitate the encounter between the public and the researchers. The idea is to provide immersion into the researchers' world and highlight its attractiveness. The scenography will be adapted to our particularly evocative themes.

Speed-searching

This is a variation on speed-dating where members of the general public meet researchers instead of bachelors. Every 8 minutes, the public switches to another researcher. We encourage researchers to come with an illustrative object to help get the discussion going. This â??interactionâ? will be adapted to the two themes: in 2018, researchers can begin their presentation with "once upon a time" and recount their research work in a manner inspired by the writing of tales. In 2019, meetings can start in the manner of a police investigation.

The researcher’s suitcase

An open suitcase or a travelling bag of a researcher is on display1. The researcher places objects showing its experiences and research (his geologist’s hammer, her anthropologist’s notebook, the samples they brought back from abroad…), but also associated to the travel itself (GPS, mosquito repellent…). With the public, they unpack their suitcase, showing the objects an engaging a conversation.
The briefing of the researchers will ensure that the objects are not only anecdotical but speak truly about research. They will be trained to truly let room for interaction, for example letting the public’s curiosity drive the conversation by letting them choose the objects to pick from the suitcase. As almost everyone has travelled in their lives, they can exchange tips about traveling! This suitcase and atmosphere will also be a hook to engage attendees in discussions about the benefits of working with other countries and the assets of cultural diversity. In all cities the suitcases will include objects that allow to speak about European funding and European mobility. This way, question about the European funding will come directly from the public, and we will avoid institutional presentations that do not reach the public’s curiosity.

Crossed views on usual travel stereotypes

This device can be realized in conference mode, debate or even in a scenic 'stand'.
Researchers who study travels (displacement, migration, literature, history (time travel)) choose 4 to 5 excerpts from popular culture (e.g. migration in the movies Exodus or The immigrant) and propose a debate on these visions of travel.
Researchers in the field can also comment on excerpts such as " Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey", "Indiana Jones", or other films in which we see researchers in the field. Researchers will take the opportunity to tell their own research stories, and the format of this activity will allow an exchange with the public's views on popular images of both travel and scientists.
The consortium's collaborative work will make it possible to provide about fifteen extracts or references (free of copyright or broadcasted in the specific context of the evening) on which researchers will be able to react, alone, in groups, or subsequently on video. Some of the excerpts will be focused on the future of planet earth, and the imaginary of Science-Fiction films in which humanity leaves Earth.

The slide show

In a vintage setting, playing on a nostalgic emotion, a researcher speaks about one or several of their research trip. The slides are prepared with the researchers so that they are textless and revealing. The researchers are coached to build a touching narrative (which can play with the imaginary of travel). Some partners will also use actors who will interact with the researchers. The format can be prepared as early as spring for researchers who would be in the field during the summer.