On Friday, September 29, 2023, we organized the European Researcher’s Night at UP, which was held as an associated event under the slogan “ZnAnosT za vsE (Science for All) – ‘ZATE’”.

We carried out 28 workshops, presentations, guided tours, one storytelling, and various other activities at ten different locations. 

More than 100 researchers, students and university employees participated in the organization and implementation of all activities of the European Researcher’s Night 2023 – the associated event “Science for All – ‘ZATE’”.

This year, scholars and students from 15 primary and secondary schools of the Obalno-Kraška region, their teachers, students of the University of Primorska and other visitors visited the event. There were almost 1,200 visitors at all locations.

In Koper, in the company of our UP Famnit researchers, they got to know the interior of the best-selling mechanical puzzle/toy in the world – the Rubik’s cube,  as well as fidget toys – Pop-It, whose popularity escalated in the spring of 2021.

Our researchers presented to them the apparatus for detecting phenolic compounds in an interactive manner, where they participated in a short quiz and learned about the work of herpetologists – researchers who study amphibians and reptiles. In one of the workshops, they also had fun learning about a geometric object polyhedra. 

At the Livade 1. 0 facility in Izola, young enthusiasts, together with Famnit researchers, participated in four workshops where they learned how to obtain data on wildlife and how to unmask invisible wild animals in our environment. They also entered the world under the microscope, where they learned about its workings and made their own microscopy. (The workshop was held under the auspices of the World Federation of Scientists (WFS) Young Scientists Scholarship. In addition, the young researchers observed how insects drink nectar and why bumblebees are sometimes called nectar thieves. (the workshop was held as part of the COST Action CA18201 ConservePlants).

After the event, we received letters of thanks from the teachers of several schools and an announcement of their arrival at the European Researcher’s Night next year.

The project was co-financed by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation as part of the activities carried out during the Month of Science.opean Researcher’s Night next year.