European Researchers’ Night 2020 has been postponed until 27-28 November. Activities will be run in around 30 cities across Sweden as well as digitally.
A lot has happened in recent months and many events and activities have had to be cancelled or postponed. The annual science festival ForskarFredag (Swedish Researchers’ Night), has also been affected and this year will be held on 27-28 November, and partly online. The decision was taken after an announcement that European Researchers’ Night, the European science festival of which ForskarFredag is a part, is to be moved to these dates as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
It was 15 years ago that the European Commission declared the last Friday in September as European Researchers’ Night. The following year, in 2006, Swedish events started to be coordinated under the name ForskarFredag (Researchers’ Friday), which has been held each year on the last Friday in September (later also incorporating the Saturday) since then. However, this year will be different:
“We have received a fantastic response from our Swedish partners who organise activities at a local and regional level. This later date means that we have more time to prepare for the events and it will also make it easier for schools to plan their participation,” said Lena Söderström, national coordinator of ForskarFredag at VA (Public & Science).
A new feature of this year’s ForskarFredag will be activities that can be participated in remotely, at home via a computer or in the classroom and the organisers.
“This approach means that we have the opportunity to reach an even broader geographical area, it has always been the ambition of ForskarFredag to reach out across Sweden.” added Lena Söderström.
This year’s mass experiment is the ‘Food waste experiment’ project, whereby pupils across Sweden will help researchers to map the food waste in their schools and calculate the climate footprint of the food that is thrown away. The project will run from 9-27 November.
The theme of this year’s ForskarFredag ”Research for a sustainable future”. More information about the programme will be published on ForskarFredag’s website during the autumn.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 955366.
ForskarFredag 2020 is also supported by AFA Försäkring, Carl Tryggers Foundation for Scientific Research, IKEM (Innovation and Chemical Industries in Sweden), the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, SULF (the Swedish Association for University Teachers and Researchers), the Swedish Research Council, Vinnova and the Wenner-Gren Foundations.
European Researchers’ Night in Sweden, known as ForskarFredag, are coordinated by the non-profit organisation VA (Public & Science).
