Everybody has what it takes to be a scientist! From measuring light pollution via a smartphone app to analyzing pollution on the beach or mapping invasive mosquitoes – these are just three examples of projects in Germany where citizens collaborate with science. Citizen science invites non-professionals to support and conduct scientific research by collecting and analyzing data and bringing in their own questions.
The online platform Bürger schaffen Wissen – Citizens Create Knowledge informs about citizen science, different projects and the opportunities to participate. The platform also connects current projects to each other and seeks to increase public awareness of Citizen science. Bürger schaffen Wissen is a joint project of Wissenschaft im Dialog and the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. The platform is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research; additional funding is provided by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.
The Hochschulwettbewerb is a communication challenge for young scientists from all research areas. Open to college and university students, PhD students and young scientists from all research areas, competitors are asked to design projects on the topic of the current German Science Year. The challenge is twofold: On the one hand competitors must show the value of science for society in an interactive way and on the other they must present research results related to the working life of the future understandably.
I’m a Scientist is an online education activity suitable from Year 5 onwards which connects students with scientists. Through live chats and a question tool, children and teenagers can directly communicate with researchers. In this manner, they learn about the daily routine of scientists and their current research. They get to know that scientists are also "just normal people". In addition, students can vote for their favorite scientist. The winner with the most votes receives a prize of 500 €, which will be invested in science communication projects.
The idea for I’m a Scientist originates from the United Kingdom. In 2022 the project is part of the Science Year 2022 – Participate! and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
What constitutes a coherent and successful presentation? How can one improve one’s self-confidence on stage, and which methods are most effective for comprehensive presentations? Presentations are an inherent part of our daily school life and everyday work. The project “Jugend präsentiert” provides training, concepts and teaching materials to enhance and impart presentation skills, focused on science subjects. Students benefit from the materials applied in class and can participate in the annual competition on presentations in science. The competition is declared nation-wide and amongst German schools abroad, and offers students the opportunity to practice their presentation skills beyond school. During the process of the competition, the students also receive training on presentation skills from professional rhetoric coaches.
In the school year of 2020/2021 “Jugend präsentiert” started “Jugend präsentiert Kids”, a programme to encourage presentation skills already in the early school years. Teachers are invited to attend training and to receive teaching materials. They also get support to organise presentation competitions in their schools.
A team of scientists from the department of rhetoric at the University of Tübingen develop and provide the materials for teacher training days and teaching resources. The project “Jugend präsentiert” is initiated by the Klaus Tschira Stiftung in cooperation with Wissenschaft im Dialog.
Junior Science Café KI - the dialog format with science at your school! Students in grades 8 and up organize their own café events at their schools, which enable an exchange with researchers in a relaxed atmosphere. The students are allowed to think of a specific topic from the field of artificial intelligence, invite experts, formulate questions for the scientists, and moderate the café event. They will be supported by the Science in Dialog project office.
What makes a good school? What are the challenges of everyday school life? And how can they be solved with digital and technical ideas? The project Make Your School – A Workshop for Ideas gives students the opportunity to improve their own school environment and to experiment with programming and electronics. The hackdays contribute to improving digital education and bring the pupils into contact with a broad range of digital and electronic tools. Students also develop their abilities to identify problems and create opportunities for improvement, as well as working independently to develop solutions. Wissenschaft im Dialog, with the support of the Klaus Tschira Foundation, aims to improve digital learning in schools through Make Your School. In the 2019/2020 school year forty hackdays will take place at schools throughout Germany.
Make Your School is subject to scientific monitoring in order to ensure quality and that it meets current standards. The Technische Universität Braunschweig began monitoring Make Your School in February 2018. Francine Meyer is investigating the effectiveness of the hackdays at schools as part of her doctoral work, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Monika Taddicken in the Department of Communication and Media Science.
Since 2002, the floating science center MS Wissenschaft has toured the waterways of Germany and Austria to carry its information to towns and citizens. The former barge, loaded with science and knowledge, offers its visitors an exhibition which focuses on the subject of the current German Science Year. The major objective is to draw attention to current scientific research and to encourage a lively dialogue between the world of science and the general public. The participating research institutes and universities provide the exhibits and thus use the opportunity to present their research to the public in unconventional ways. The project is implemented by Wissenschaft im Dialog on behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
The “IdeenLauf“ (flow of ideas) is the central participatory initiative of the Science Year 2022. In the period from 14 January until 15 April, citizens were able to ask their questions for science in a wide-ranging public campaign. The aim is to initiate a dialogue between the public and the scientific communities, and to get new impulses for shaping the future of research and research policy. The questions will be discussed and classified by scientists and citizens in a cluster conference, and the results will be handed over to representatives from science and politics in autumn 2022. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of the Science Year 2022 – Participate!
POIESIS is a three-year European collaborative project funded by Horizon Europe. Together with six European partners, WiD investigates the influence that the integrity of science and increasing societal participation in the scientific process have on society's trust in science.
What is “green” hydrogen? How can CO₂ become a raw material for the industry? What will the power grids of the future look like? How can we increase energy efficiency in the industrial sector? These are questions that will be addressed by the exhibition "Power2Change: Mission Energiewende" (mission energy transition), starting in August 2022, and developed as part of the joint project "Science Communication Energy Transition".
The "Power2Change: Mission Energiewende" exhibition highlights the path to a climate-neutral future and presents possible approaches towards a secure and affordable energy supply with a focus on the industrial, business and transport sectors. What is special about the project is that partners from research, the museum sector and science communication have developed it together. The exhibition will open in August 2022 at the LWL Industrial Museum Henrichshütte in Hattingen. From January 2023, it will be on display at the Klimahaus Bremerhaven and will then tour Germany, focusing on the regional features of each location. The exhibition will be accompanied by a dialogue-oriented event programme and the “Energiemobil” (energy mobile), which will be on the road. The “Energiemobil” seeks to engage local people near the seven exhibition sites.
The joint project is coordinated by DECHEMA e. V. and Fraunhofer UMSICHT. It was developed by the LWL Industrial Museum, the Westphalian State Museum of Industrial Culture, and the Klimahaus Bremerhaven. Wissenschaft im Dialog is responsible for the supporting programme, the tour of the traveling exhibition and the project communication. The scientific content has been contributed by the Kopernikus projects, the joint project Carbon2Chem®, together with Fraunhofer UMSICHT, the Fraunhofer cluster CINES and other partners. The conception of the exhibition and its reception are researched and evaluated by the Technical University of Ilmenau’s department of communication science. Finally, the joint project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
Since 2000, each year, Wissenschaft im Dialog and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research jointly proclaim the Science Year, aiming to shed light on the major challenges of our society from a scientific perspective. Wissenschaft im Dialog runs several activities as parts of the 2020 Science Year, for instance the floating science center MS Wissenschaft.
Discussions in various German cities include fishbowl discussions, science cafés or other interactive debating formats. The topics are embedded in the theme of the current German Science Year, while the specific topic of each event is selected based on local expertise and local research focus.
Wissenschaft kontrovers encourages dialogue between citizens and scientists, discussing controversial issues under the overarching theme of the Science Year. It aims to inform the public and reflect the public’s expectations and fears regarding science. Wissenschaft kontrovers is organized by Wissenschaft im Dialog in cooperation with regional partners and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
