The European Researchers’ Night, a science festival for the curious, will take place in Groningen’s Forum on the 27th of September.
The European Researchers’ Night is held annually all over Europe on the last Friday of September. In the Netherlands, activities will only be held in Groningen this year.The aim of the festival is to bring science to a wider audience and is co-funded by the European Commission. The theme of this year will be Living in a Smart World.
The Forum and four Schools for Science and Society from the University of Groningen, who are committed to the four crucial social issues health, digital society, technology, and artificial intelligence, sustainability, and energy and climate, are organising it on the European initiative’s behalf.
The night is more than just a festival with music, dance, shows and science battles; it’s almost an ode to the researchers who are looking for solutions to the major challenges we all face nowadays. The festival doesn’t just celebrate researchers doing lab work, but also the ones digging in the ground, diving into the oceans, or analysing texts all for the greater good and everything that helps society move forward.
The festival will have 50 different performances including talks with researchers on topics like AI, brain science, and how comics can save your life. But it won’t all focus on research, there will also be a workshop with creator Jan Kamensky, who created a short animated film about transforming car-dominated streets into human-friendly alternatives and a talk show by artist Lucas de Man and guests about smart cities, textile circulation, and effects of social media on mental health.
The percussionists of BEAT Plastic Waste will create music from instruments made of actual plastic trash in their apocalyptic universe and the film ‘Human Forever’ will be played, which is about 24-year-old activist Teun Toebes’ mission to improve the lives of people with dementia. Embarking on a global journey with filmmaker Jonathan de Jong he seeks solutions to make the future more inclusive. The whole schedule can be found here.
The European Researchers’ Night will be on the 27th of September from 19:30 until 00:00. Tickets are €7.90 including welcome drinks, which can be bought here.
