The main goal of beSCIENCEd is to bring the general public and especially young people closer to the exciting world of research and to show that science is fun and accessible for everyone. Scientists from almost all significant research institutions in Vienna are going to participate in the event and present their recent research results in order to generate enthusiasm among young people for science and research. A focus is laid on the fields science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and the exiting topics cover informatics, mobility, energy, construction, biology, chemistry, mathematics, and automation. Thus, it is shown how broad research can be. Every topic can and will be looked at and interpreted in a different ways and our program is going to cover all these aspects. The beSCIENCEd program will integrate researcher talks, hands-on workshops as well as a range of ongoing activities by the exhibitors and social activities like science cafes where visitors can get in direct touch with scientists and their research. To increase the interest of more young people in research careers, also the opportunities of research during the school time will be shown by the presented projects of the Austrian Sparkling Science initiative as well as by the projects of student researchers active in various research projects. Moreover, to encourage entrepreneurial thinking of young people, a few Viennese innovative start-up companies are going to present their innovation and business cases. To grasp technology with own hands, a series of workshops is provided for different age groups. The social events are aimed at showing that researchers are ordinary people with extraordinary jobs and that research is also much about communication and international cooperation. As the events will take place in Vienna’s biggest high school with approximately 2800 students, science comes directly to the young people. Become a part of science, beSCIENCEd!

Citizen science is an efficient way to democratise science, bring the public and science closer together and enhance both public knowledge as well as understanding of science. The key objective of the Sci4all project is to involve the citizen science movement in a frame of several pre-event activities such as trainings, challenges and conferences as well as in a broad spectrum of innovative event activities at the actual European Researchers’ Night. It will incorporate formats such as Science Slams and Science Cafes, more than 34 scientific booths and 16 workshops as well as social activities to bring the public and science closer together, but also to encourage young people to pursue a career in the STEM domains. Interdisciplinarity plays a significant role in this project and the presented innovations and activities integrate more than 25 domains aiming to increase general public awareness of the diversity of scientific research. An important part of Sci4all is also the dedication to the legacy inherited from past generations in order to encourage more people to discover and engage with diverse cultural heritage topics. In this context, Sci4all fits well into the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018. Researchers from almost all significant research institutions in and around Vienna committed to be part of the Sci4all activities. Moreover. Support for the event promotion was stated by the major public stakeholders, funding agencies, initiatives and therefore according authorities. The Sci4all project integrates 5 partners with different competences, backgrounds and public outreach therefore being able to implement successful European Researchers’ Nights in Austria in 2018 and 2019.

As the world is confronted with climate change it is of vital importance to show the impact of global warming and to promote sustainability. Due to this reason, one of three key focuses of the European Researchers’ Night in Austria will be to enhance the understanding and promote current research in the fields of climate and sustainability. The second key focus is citizen science, which is an efficient way to democratise science and to bring the public and science closer together for enhancing both public knowledge as well as understanding of science. Moreover, in order to open up new perspectives of seeing the world, it is more than necessary to understand arts and show the diversity of research in this area. In this context, the third focus of the European Researchers’ Night event “Forschung begreifen” (Understanding Science & Research) in Vienna will be Arts & Research. All three key focuses will be promoted in several pre-event activities such as trainings, workshops, challenges and conferences as well as in a broad spectrum of innovative activities at the actual European Researchers’ Night. This event will incorporate formats such as Science Slams and Science Cafes, more than 60 scientific booths and 16 workshops, as well as social activities to bring public and science closer together, but also to encourage young people to pursue a career in the STEM domains. Researchers from more than 25 domains and almost all significant research institutions in Austria committed to be part of the European Researchers’ Night activities. Moreover, support for the event and its promotion was stated by Austrian ministries (including also financial support), other public stakeholders, funding agencies and initiatives. The project “Forschung begreifen” integrates 5 partners with different competences, backgrounds and public outreach, therefore being able to implement a successful European Researchers’ Night in Austria in 2020.

Many children lose their natural curiosity for how things function and interrelate to each other along the way into their lives as young adults. The Educational Robotics for STEM (ER4STEM) project aims to turn curious young children into young adults passionate about science and technology with a hands-on use case: robotics. The domain of robotics represents a multidisciplinary and highly innovative field encompassing physics, maths, informatics and even industrial design as well as social sciences. Moreover, due to various application domains, teamwork, creativity and entrepreneurial skills are required for the design, programming and innovative exploitation of robots and robotic services. Children are fascinated by such autonomous machines. This fascination and the variety of fields and topics covered make robotics a powerful idea to engage with. Young girls as well as boys can easily connect robots to their personal interests and share their ideas through these tangible artefacts. ER4STEM will refine, unify and enhance current European approaches to STEM education through robotics in one open operational and conceptual framework. The concept is founded on three important pillars of constructionism: 1. engaging with powerful ideas, 2. building on personal interests, and 3. learning through making (or presenting ideas with tangible artefacts). The ER4STEM framework will coherently offer students aged 7 to 18 as well as their educators different perspectives and approaches to find their interests and strengths in robotics to pursue STEM careers through robotics and semi-autonomous smart devices. At the same time students will learn about technology (e.g. circuits), about a domain (e.g. math) and acquire skills (e.g. collaborating, coding). Innovative approaches will be developed to achieve an integrated and consistent concept that picks children up at different ages, beginning in primary school and accompany them until graduation from secondary school.