Exchange and evaluation of the expertise in outreach events between the partner universities.

Regarding the improvement of diversity and equality in physics, outreach events which address especially young women can be an important instrument. All the different partner universities of  “Diversity in the Cultures of Physics” organized outreach events and have gained special expertise in this field. One aim of the Strategic Partnership was the exchange and collection of this international expertise.

Therefore the partners mutually assisted to their outreach-events in order to discuss and share their experiences especially referring to the aspect of diversity. The visited outreach activities were:

“Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften” at the physics department of Freie Universität Berlin in June 2018, visited by Prof. Dr. David Mowbray from UoS. This outreach event is part of a Berlin-wide event with over 70 science institutions opening their doors for the general public from afternoon until midnight with scientific talks by faculty members, guided lab tours, and interactive games.

“Science Evening” at the physics department of the University of Manchester in March 2019, visited by Leli Schiestl from FUB. This was a small outreach activity for school classes with presentations by scientists and interactive games.

“Girls’ Night Out” at Jodrell Bank in Manchester in March 2019, visited by Leli Schiestl from FUB. This is an outreach event specifically aimed at girls with talks and presentations by female astrophysicists and interactive games.

“ScienceX”, hosted by the University of Manchester at the Trafford Centre shopping mall in March 2019, visited by Leli Schiestl from FUB. This is an event aimed at children from age five and their families, with different science departments presenting themselves with small interactive games.

“Festa de la Ciència” at Universitat de Barcelona in May 2019, visited by Dr. Lloyd Cawthorne from UoM. This is a campus-based event for schools and families with a programme of talks, workshops and games.

You can find further information about two more events here.

Based on these outreach activities the Strategic Partnership published a flyer, in which the best ways to conceptualize outreach events are analyzed so that they contribute to more diversity in physics. This flyer addresses outreach practitioners who are working with children and young people (under 18), either in a school setting or informal science learning environments (science festivals, science centres, activity clubs etc.). With inlcuding information about role models, gendered language and a checklist the flyer can support gender inclusive outreach activities.

Here you can also download the flyer as a pdf-file.

The creation of these resources has been (partially) funded by the ERASMUS+ grant program of the European Union under grant no. 2016-1-DE01-KA203-002918.
Neither the European Commission nor the project's national funding agency DAAD are responsible for the content or liable for any losses or damage resulting of the use of these resources.