Interest in the Researchers’ Night exceeded expectations. One hundred thousand people across the country visited the event

This year's theme of Transformation attracted tens of thousands of people from Nový Bor to České Budějovice, from Karlovy Vary to Karvina. "Even considering the record number of participating institutions and towns this year, we expected an increased interest in the event, but the reality far exceeded our expectations. We have information from many places that the organizers were literally at the limit of their capacity. We are even more pleased with the influx of first-time visitors to the Researchers’ Night. They accounted for nearly fifty percent of the attendance," calculates Dana Kardová from the University of Chemical Technology in Prague, deputy national coordinator of the Researchers’ Night 2024.

The interactive program at many venues offered glimpses of transformations in all fields of science. From developments in technology in medicine and the natural sciences to law and the humanities, to insights into how our communication and approach to sport has changed. Researchers’ Night has also opened up otherwise closed spaces - from a bunker or the bowels of a hospital's mailroom to the manufacturing areas of companies. "With the twentieth anniversary of Researchers’ Night coming up next year, we would like to gift visitors with even more places and institutions involved in organising the event. We would like to involve, for example, secondary vocational schools or companies that focus on applied science and research," adds Ondřej Martínek from Palacký University in Olomouc.

A tailor-made programme for all

A common website made it easy for visitors to the Researchers’ Night to navigate the plethora of programmes, where they could choose the city or place of interest, including the focus of the programme. Each person could create an individual programme "timetable" depending on their field of interest, whether they preferred a programme for children or adults, wheelchair accessible or in English. In Ostrava, Hradec Králové or Olomouc, the organisers even set up special free bus routes. Visitors in many cities could also use free shared bicycles. "The reservation system for places with limited capacity was also widely used. In total, we registered over six thousand bookings and ten thousand likes for preferred events. The website recorded fifty thousand unique hits on the day of the event," adds Martínek. For the first time this year, Researchers’ Night organisers also focused on "science-remote locations" to bring science in all its forms to areas where universities or major scientific institutions are not located. For example, the Researchers’ Night was to be held for the first time in Jeseník, which was affected by floods. "But we decided not to deprive the children and young people of Jesenice of the event and we sent buses for a hundred pupils of the local grammar school and primary school and arranged not only a tour of the city in Olomouc, but also a visit to the Researchers’ Night itself," says Martínek.

Although the Researchers’ Night is over, the event's website features a year-long online programme, including videos or podcasts, as well as a year-long calendar of popularisation events across Czech universities.

Researchers’ Night in Jihlava

The Researchers’ Night also visited Jihlava on Friday, 27 September. During the Researchers’ Nightin Jihlava, the Jihlava Polytechnic University opened its premises for the fourth time, presenting a series of lectures, guided tours and presentations on topics such as artificial intelligence, healthcare, digitalization or Industry 4.0. Science shows and other interesting activities were also prepared for visitors by the Jihlava Gymnasium, the Museum of Vysočina Jihlava or the Jihlava Astronomical Society.

Czech Researchers’ Night is one of the biggest in Europe

Researchers’ Night has been taking place in the Czech Republic since 2005 as part of European Researchers' Night, a pan-European event supported by the European Union to connect science and society and increase young people's interest in science. European Researchers' Night takes place in 23 countries, with the Czech Researchers' Night being one of the most important in terms of scale.

After several successful years when the Researchers’ Night was organised by the University of Ostrava, this year the University of Chemical Technology in Prague and Palacký University in Olomouc took over the baton of national coordinator. Under their leadership, the Researchers’ Night should expand to other smaller towns and villages in the next two years. "We would also like to focus more on science in localities that are far away from science or making IT fields more attractive for girls and teaching professions for boys," Kardová said.

This year, the Researchers’ Night was supported by the Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions programme with the METAMORPHOSIS project under the HORIZON-MSCA-2023-CITIZENS-01 call.

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