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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MacaroNight (Macaronesia’s Researchers\' Night)

Teaser

The overall objective of MACARONIGHT is to organise a shared Researchers’ Night for the Macaronesia Region connecting the population of these islands under the umbrella of the universal language of science. By focusing on the scientific and technology areas identified in the...

Summary

The overall objective of MACARONIGHT is to organise a shared Researchers’ Night for the Macaronesia Region connecting the population of these islands under the umbrella of the universal language of science. By focusing on the scientific and technology areas identified in the Smart Specialization Strategies for the Canaries, Madeira and the Azores the consortium aims at raising public awareness for research areas that could be the greatest benefit for the Region. The project also supports the public recognition of researchers, creating an understanding of the impact of researchers\' work on citizen\'s daily life.

The general objectives of the project are:
Research is fun and fascinating;
Researchers are one of us, ordinary people with an extraordinary job as such they share with other people passions, hopes, problems, concerns, dreams…;
Research is an amazing career choice and offering a range of opportunities for entrepreneurship;

In addition, MACARONIGHT 2018 also pursued the below specific objectives:

There is science behind the tradition;
Researchers\' job is very useful, and it contributes to citizens\' daily lives and well-being in the Macaronesia region;
Obtain first-hand information about state-of the art of research conducted in the Macaronesian region;
Better understand the opportunities science may offer you and problems researchers face with in the Macaronesian region;
Europe cares for its researchers – even in an outermost region;
Researchers’ Mobility in Europe is an existing opportunity even for islanders.

Work performed

WP1

During MacaroNight 2018 awareness campaign efforts were focussing on building up a brand mainly using social media and other online tools due to the tight schedule and nature of the main target groups.
Main tasks undertaken: preparation of the project communication plan, specific communication guidelines for internal and external communication, audiovisual promotional material, posters, leaflets, agendas etc;
Main results (as of the NIGHT/end of September 2018):

In total app. 350.000 people were made aware of the night via the awareness campaign;
5.232 pageviews at the event website; 11 website blog entries;
13 MacaroNight banners displayed on the collaborators’ website;
251 followers on Facebook;
2 videos on YouTube;
70 followers on Instagram;
529 followers on Twitter;
Around the time of the Night, MacaroNight’s Twitter reached more than 305.000 users.
4 press conferences were organised accompanied by press-releases;
20 radio interviews conducted;
1 TV ad run in prime time in regional TV;
4 appearances on national/regional TV channels before the event;


WP2
The NIGHT 2018 was organised in four islands: Ponta Delgada (Sao Miguel, Azores), Funchal (Madeira), La laguna (Tenerife) and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, engaged 166 researchers and attracted over 6000 participants;
In total:
103 activities were organised, out of which 9 guided tours, 4 contests, 25 scientific chats, 3 exhibitions, 15 scientific cinema screenings, 42 hands-on experiments and 8 outdoor activties;
33 different entities collaborated with the project, out of which 24 were public entities (museums, institutes, etc.) and 9 private companies;
13 EU projects were exhibited and two EU Corners were set-up (Azores and Las Palmas).

WP3

Tasks undertaken: preparation of guidelines for data collection and training of volunteers and related questionnaires/QR surveys and the evaluation of the data.
In total:
109 pre-event surveys/interviews were gathered from secondary school students of ages 12-14;
662 on-site flash surveys were collected representing approximately 10, 86 % of the participants;
85 & 174 narrative answers were collected (two open questions);
152 children were interviewed (Azores, 2 open questions);

Main results:

The 2018 event can mostly be characterised as an extracurricular school activity (with 62,78% of the on-site survey responders below age 20 attended via school), this was especially a case for Tenerife and Madeira;
Similar to past experiences (other similar science outreach initiatives) the educational background of the applicable age-group (>= 25 years old, 10% of the survey participants) illustrates that the event were mainly visited by people with university background (72,72 % of the respective group);
Almost 80% of the responders participated Researchers` Night for the first time;
The majority of the survey responders found the project concept (90% of the answers), the types of activities (89, 88% of the answers) and the location & schedule (84,9 % of the answers) of the NIGHTs satisfactory and very satisfactory (scored 3-4) and all but 10 persons would recommend to other people to attend MACARONIGHT in 2019;
In terms of interest developed towards science as a result of participation at MACARONIGHT, 80% of the responders considered that attending the event increased their curiosity for knowledge (scored 3 & 4) whereas the vast majority has also improved his/her opinion on the work of scientists (89, 73%). Furthermore, in total, over 90% of the responders (similar figure at all site) agreed (3) or completely agreed (4) that the proposed activities have made them realised how the work carried out by scientists contribute to our daily lives.

Final results

Macaronight is the first of its kind with potential long-lasting beneficial impacts that could extend beyond the immediate objectives of the project as it aims at creating overall public awareness of science, research and innovation, especially in areas where the region of Macaronesia has outstanding performance and results even by international comparison. Public recognition will then result in public support that is much needed for the implementation of the smart specialisation strategies themselves. MacaroNight will also highlight the importance of understanding the connection between investment in science and regional development, also in its actions aimed at building science capital in remote regions.

Website & more info

More info: http://macaronight.eu.