SciFest 2021 – the science festival is going digital this year

Digital SciFest will be a science festival just like previous years. The digital format will give you new tools to showcase your research and will create new opportunities to reach a wider audience than before as SciFest is now welcoming participants from all over the country!

SciFest 2021 will kick off between the 4th and 10th of March. Weekdays are aiming towards schools and on the weekend, the festival will be opened to the public.

How can I participate?

Going digital with the festival places new demands on the design for both us organisers and the participants. However, there is a great deal of freedom to shape your digital activity the way you like! Pre-recorded material and real-time interaction are both options. (See below for an example of how you can structure your participation). As a researcher and exhibitor, the digital form gives you great flexibility over the days the festival takes place. 

All activities that SciFest offers are gathered into a common digital platform, referred to as an event system, where all exhibitors get their own digital stand that participants can visit to access pre-recorded material and/or booked workshops and meetings. Together, we are working in every way to create that special festival feeling that normally characterises the physical SciFest.

Here is some information for those wishing to participate as a researcher/exhibitor, with tips and information.

Purpose of SciFest

SciFest is and has always been a science festival with a wide range of workshops, shows, competitions, researcher meet and greets, and lectures. Since 2020, the festival is co-organised by Uppsala University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. 

Here, curious people of all ages get a taste of the research being conducted, with laboratory work, current research questions and hands-on activities. SciFest wants to give children and school pupils the opportunity to discover just how much fun science is, and hopefully be able to sow a seed that leads young people to become interested in studying it more and maybe even become researchers.

Over all the years that the festival has been organised, SciFest has gathered almost 8,000 curious visitors over the three festival days. SciFest exhibitors come from schools, universities, companies, authorities, museums and organisations. The first days of the festival are dedicated to school pupils and teachers. On the final day, SciFest opens its doors to the public. A concept that will also work well for a digital SciFest. The web can also offer a longer duration for certain activities, which visitors can return to multiple times.
 

How to turn digital?

How do you turn a hands-on and face-to-face festival into a digital event?
Well, a digital festival can open up new ways to showcase and share research and operations.

Suggestions of possible activities:

• Live experiments.
• Guide a researcher in the lab.
• Digital study visit to a researcher’s workplace.
• Ask a researcher – classes submit questions in advance which are then answered live or in pre-recorded video.
• A pre-recorded lecture (max. 15 minutes) with researchers who challenge or inspire pupils with something they can do at the school.
• Remote workshop – material is sent to registered classes, who are then guided digitally in the workshop.
• Brief videos with an actual research question, phenomenon or laboratory work, with subsequent discussions and meetings with researchers. The video can be linked to a meeting with a researcher or be used as a separate activity. Possibly with tips on what can be discussed further within the class.
• Give one or more school classes an assignment to complete before or during SciFest. Open up a discussion with the researcher during a digital meeting.
• Treasure hunt. Create an event where the pupils move about, looking for clues hidden at different places by the teacher. The clues can be found using e.g. a map or through GPS coordinates, and can consist of QR codes, picture puzzles, etc. that lead to the final treasure.

You are, of course, welcome to come up with your own suggestions for activities.

Some questions to ask yourself?

• How could my research be presented digitally?
• How could a meaningful interactive workshop within my domain be structured?
• What technology would I want to use: pre-recording, live or other?

Don’t worry – we're here to help you

The SciFest team is here to help you all the way from idea to ready-to-use production. We can work with you right from an early stage to develop an interactive digital activity that is suitable for your particular research. We can help you with adaptation to the target group, suggestions and tips.
 

Are you interested in taking part?

Step 1 – Contact us

For the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences

• All disciplinary domains
  Fill in this registration of interest if you would like to participate.
  If you have any questions or need a sounding board for your thoughts and ideas, you are welcome to contact Rebecca Rikner. Send an email to: Rebecca Rikner

For Uppsala University

• Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences
  Send an email to Oddný Ósk Sverrisdóttir, Office for Humanities and Social Sciences, or to Gunilla Sthyr, Communications Division.
• Disciplinary Domain of Medicine and Pharmacy
  Send an email to Carin Marciszko or Maria Ferletta, Office for Medicine and Pharmacy.
• Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology
  Fill in this registration of interest if you would like to participate.
  If you have any questions or need a sounding board for your thoughts and ideas, you are welcome to contact Maria Carlander. Send an email to Maria Carlander

For external exhibitors

• Fill in this registration of interest if you would like to participate.
  If you have any questions or need a sounding board for your thoughts and ideas, you are welcome to contact Katarina Holmborn Garpenstrand. Send an email to: Katarina Holmborn Garpenstrand

Step 2 – The SciFest team will contact you

We will contact you to discuss your idea and how we can proceed with visualising it. Perhaps you need help with a manuscript and/or recording the activity, or help in defining which target group it should be aimed at. New as of this year is that all exhibitors participating from the two universities can apply for financial support for their activity. This is done after contact with the SciFest team.
 

Step 3 – Deadline 9th of December

The 9th of December is the deadline for entering information about your activity in the booking system. For this, you need a description of your activity for presentation to the teachers. You must have also made a decision as to whether the activity will be a pre-recorded “drop-in” activity or live, interactive and thereby bookable as a workshop.
 

Timetable – some important dates

12 Nov 2020, Deadline for registration in workshop 1 for exhibitors
link to registration workshop 1