The project Malopolska Researchers' Night will be implemented in the years 2014 and 2015 respectively for the eighth and ninth time. The event has already permanently inscribed in the calendar of Malopolska scientific events, enjoying growing from year to year popular among participants and becoming one of the biggest Nights in Europe. In 2013, this event was attended by over 55 thousand people, while in the first year of the project (2007) the event was attended only by 3.5 thousand people. The event program specified in the application is even richer than before – it will take over 1 thousand activities, mainly interactive workshops, presentations, demonstrations and experiments as well as shows with the participation of scientists. It is estimated that 60 thousand people will participate in the events in 2014 and 65 thousand people in 2015. Malopolska Researchers' Night is to first of all show participants how interesting is the work of scientists and how fascinating they are people. Through fun, in accessible and understandable way for everybody, we want to show that all around us is the science, and that scientists in their laboratories are working every day to make our life better, easier and more modern. The main motto of the project for the years 2014 and 2015 will be to present the successes of Malopolska scientists working in international scientific-research teams. The event will be held in six cities of the Region: Krakow, Tarnow, Nowy Sacz and Niepolomice and - for the first time in 2014 - also in Skawina and Andrychow. In addition, it is planned the live broadcast from selected locations via event website. The program will be prepared by almost 900 researchers, more than 1 600 students, about 120 research groups from more than 30 partners. Thanks to the extensive promotional campaign the information about the event will reach to nearly 3.5 million people each year.

The project covers two editions of the European Researchers’ Night (ERN) in Małopolska in 2018 and 2019, respectively for the 12th and 13th time in our region. The event will be held in 7 cities of the Małopolska Region (Kraków, Tarnów, Nowy Sącz, Niepołomice, Skawina, Andrychów, and Chrzanów) to show the wide scientific heritage, with access not being a barrier to the participation of the residents of various parts of the region. Researchers from participating institutions prepared approx. 1,000 different activities, a total of approx. 2,000 within the entire 2-year project. The preparation of such a diverse programme will involve approx. 4,000 people every year, both experienced researchers and beginners (students, representatives of scientific circles), as well as R&D employees from companies located within the region. In addition, due to the fact that 2018 is the European Year of Cultural Heritage, we have prepared even more attractions and surprises for this year's edition – there will also be the possibility to meet researchers in ... museums, libraries, and even in a historical church which the participants will certainly not be expecting. The next two editions of the ERN in Małopolska focus on showing researchers as ordinary people with extraordinary job that affect our daily lives and how in practice researchers change the world. An important distinction of the ERN among other events is that we focus 100% on interactivity. During the RN, the researchers present their work combining learning with entertainment (edutainment), to make children and young people as passionate about science as possible. But the participants themselves will feel like real researchers performing unusual experiments under the watchful eye of their mentors. The project has European dimension – due to its broad and diversified awareness campaign, we estimate that 4 million people will be made aware of the project and its objectives. Duration of the project: 1.04.2018-30.11.2019.