SHARPER · SHAring Researchers’ Passion for Engagement and Responsibility

SHAring Researchers’ Passion for Engagement and Responsibility

Researchers love to engage with nature, society, with future and ultimately with all the complex challenges that will allow them to contribute to a better world. Researchers also love to engage with other people to make the quest they’re involved in a collective endeavour. All this make researchers persons passionate for engagement who are developing a growing sense of responsibility related to their work and their role in society. In such a professional life researchers experience strong driving forces such as enthusiasm, emotions, combined with new knowledge and innovative discoveries. All these elements are summarized in the acronym SHARPER - Sharing Researchers’ Passion for Engagement and Responsibility the name of the European Researchers’ Night in the Centre and South of Italy that took place on the 30th of September 2016 simultaneously in five cities: Perugia, L’Aquila, Ancona and Palermo – the four capital cities of the regions Marche, Umbria, Abruzzo, Sicily and in Cascina the city hosting the European Gravitational Observatory one of the cutting edge European research facilities. This network of cities combined with their Research Institutions and with their social and cultural actors provides a team of excellence and reliability both in the fields of research and science communication at national and international level. The SHARPER project will create effective communication bridges between researchers and the cities and communities they live and act within, through: street labs, exhibitions, performances in city squares or activities that will take place in focal city venues, where citizens use to spend their everyday life. SHARPER 2016-2017 will geographically broaden the impact of the communication actions of European Researchers’ Night in Italy massively engaging kids, young students, schools, associations and citizens at large actively involved by researchers since the planning phase of the activities. The overall objectives of the project are: - To establish meaningful connections between researchers and the citizens, namely with those audiences rarely involved in the discovery of research (hard to reach audiences), interested adults and young who want to know more about the researchers and their role in the future society (interested groups), kids and young students (possible future researchers); - To convey the message that a researcher is a passionate person who loves to engage with complex issues and with other people to reach common goals sharing a common knowledge; - To present the researchers as committed citizens that jointly with other citizens face the challenges to build a better future ; - To tell that strong collaboration between researchers and citizens aiming together at excellence triggers innovation; - To broaden the meaning of what we call researchers beyond any stereotypes; - To provide motivated audiences with opportunities of deeper knowledge of the researchers work; - To motivate young students to enter researcher careers and become key actors of the future; - To encourage children to discover researchers as role models because they are passionate and knowledgeable; - To use researchers’ emotions and enthusiasm to make excellent research accessible and comprehensible to everyone, from young students to adults; - To develop a national community of researchers that are excellent communicators. The project SHARPER has reached its objectives and proved to be successful.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union