FREETOACT — FRom ExpEctation TO ACTion

Results in brief

FRom ExpEctation TO ACTion

This projects organizes the European Researcher's Night (ERN) in 16 cities in France. The general goal is to strenghen the links between science and society. Research and Innovation are essential tools to face climate change, rising pollution, social divide and other challenges that we have to deal with today, and are expected to aggravate in the future decades. While researchers are already extremely active on these matters the public does not quite understand their work. But this does not impede it from being trustful toward them. Media debates during the pandemic showed that people can be surprised by the uncertainty inherent to research. This could contradict their vision of a stabilized science. In the project FREETOACT we create the room for public and researchers to meet, and to focus on “science in the making”, to shift from a “public communication of Science” paradigm to a “public understanding of Research” paradigm. For that, it is essential to create the adequate conditions and close encounters that are more conducive to deconstructing fixed opinions. The project resulted in 2 successive years of organizing the ERN in France, in 16 cities. A total of 3000 researchers, 72000 visitors, and 40000 schoolchildren participated in our events. More than 350 activities have been organized to adapt to all publics and to researchers. All researchers have been trained, accompanied by science communication professionals to ensure the quality of the exchanges. In our event, people stayed 2h25 on average, and 70% of their interactions with researchers were real conversations they were implicated in, and not only passive listening. Our presence online, focused on giving floor to researchers even in the awarness campaign, results in more than 8 million views, on Youtube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and X. Our project continues to inspire many other institutions that are not in the consortium to reproduce and adapt our ideas, and give more part to real exchange with researchers in their activities.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

The FREETOACT project involves 16 experienced partners and is the legacy of 16 years of a collective participation to the ERN as a Consortium. We will organize events in 16 different French cities, sharing the same objectives and approach to science engagement, and most of the activities, and involving local researchers. FREETOACT is based on two connected themes. In 2022, the public will discuss the functioning of research through an attractive theme, The unexpected, which will bring surprises to the visitors, while discussing predictability in research. In the process, in 2023, researchers and the public will debate together around the theme ""Our futures"". These themes foster the quality of the discussion with researchers (a key factor in enriching the public's vision of science in society), and renew ERN proposition for the public and the press. During the events, we will create warm and aesthetic encounters and design playful activities to be shared by researchers and the public. The 2,800 researchers involved in the project will be coached and trained by mediators. All the local organizers have extensive experience in conducting researcher-public meetings. Thus, Researchers at school activities will be organized thanks to our existing networks. Adults will also be able to participate through a new edition of the Great Participatory Experiment in 2023 (a research team will propose participatory research for the ERN in 16 cities). Online activities will be proposed to interact with the public located outside our 16 cities. The French Ministry of Culture will financially support the event for the 5th year, fostering the participation of researchers in humanities and social sciences; the Ministry of Research will also maintain its support. The ERN will take on the responsibility of improving the understanding of how research actually works and will get young people, the public and researchers to question the role of research in shaping our (un)expected futures""

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

COMMUNAUTE D' UNIVERSITES ET ETABLISSEMENTS UNIVERSITE BOURGOGNE - FRANCHE - COMTE · BesanconCoordinatorFrance
ASSOCIATION CAP SCIENCES-CENTRE DE CULTURE SCIENTIFIQUE TECHNIQUE ET INDUSTRIELLE BORDEAUX-AQUITAINE · BordeauxFrance
ASSOCIATION TRACES THEORIES ET REFLEXIONS SUR L APPRENDRE LA COMMUNICATION ET L EDUCATION SCIENTIFIQUES · ParisFrance
BREST'AIM SA · BrestFrance
CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · ParisFrance
Centre de Culture Scientifique et Technique d'Angers Terre des Sciences Association · AngersFrance
INSTITUT MINES-TELECOM · PalaiseauFrance
LA COMMUNAUTE D UNIVERSITES ET ETABLISSEMENTS DE TOULOUSE · TOULOUSEFrance
LACQ ODYSSEE, CENTRE DE CULTURE SCIENTIFIQUE, TECHNIQUE ET INDUSTRIELLE DES PAYS DE L'ADOUR · MOURENXFrance
UNIVERSITE COTE D'AZUR · NiceFrance
UNIVERSITE D'AIX MARSEILLE · MarseilleFrance
UNIVERSITE DE LA REUNION · Saint Denis De La Reunion Cedex 9France
UNIVERSITE DE LIMOGES · LimogesFrance
UNIVERSITE DIJON BOURGOGNE · Dijon CedexFrance
UNIVERSITE DU MANS · Le MansFrance
UNIVERSITE MARIE ET LOUIS PASTEUR · BesanconFrance

FREETOACT · FRom ExpEctation TO ACTion

Results in brief

FRom ExpEctation TO ACTion

Project objective

Participants

Links