RYM Research Your Mind

Project duration

01.06.2006 - 31.12.2006

Main objective  

• To highlight the role of researchers for society

• Enhance the attractiveness of the scientific career among young people

• Increase the society's knowledge in research culture

• Learn about the importance that research has for Europe's competitiveness and sustainability
  

Project in brief

The Project "Research your Mind" (RYM) has been a festive event in the frame of the Researchers' Night 2006 which took place in Barcelona (Spain) and Katowice (Poland). The event was addressed to the large public and especially young people, offering them the chance of getting closer to researchers and learn about research in an original, pleasant and attractive way.
Around 750 people attended the two events. During the events, a RYM game competition was organized, within which players with different profiles such as young people, scientists, politicians, journalists and businessmen, divided into groups, took part. The public had a lot of fun during the game as they had an active role by answering some questions. They also took part in a draw which was held between the leaflets, with the correct answer to a RYM question, which were distributed during the awareness campaign, two weeks before the event. Closing the two events a live band with musicians from the research community played and drinks and snacks were offered. 
The RYM game consists of an attractive and educational tool, composed of 200 question cards, based on science-related questions with multiple choice answers covering the 7th Framework Programme research areas. It highlights and disseminates researchers' work in an unexpected way with entertaining and amusing questions, enhancing public recognition of researchers and their role in society. The game has been published in paper version in three different languages: English, Polish and Catalan, which were distributed among the visitors during the event. 
Furthermore, an online version has been created in 5 languages: English, Polish, Spanish, French and Catalan and it is available at the partners webpage. In addition, the consortium published 2.000 CDs which were distributed free of charge after the event to schools and other stakeholders all over Europe.

Key accomplishments  

To bring researchers closer to the large public
Researchers have played a key role in this project. They participated in the event as players of the game, as members of the music group and also as general public who attended with their families and friends. With the objective of presenting researchers as normal people, a live band with musicians from the research community amused the night after the game. That allowed the public to have fun and get to know researchers unexpected skills, presenting them as normal people and bringing researchers closer to the public addressed. 
The questions of the RYM game were addressed to highlight the human aspect of researchers related to present the researchers work as a normal job like any other that ordinary people could have, by addressing the fact that discoveries have been Hands-on experiments conducted by researchers to which the public can identify itself; to show the attractiveness of the research profession and how it is a challenging job with high doses of creativity; and to highlight the normal aspects in the life of famous researchers. The questions used user-friendly terms and include funny experiments and ridiculous possible answers. 

To bring together all the actors of the knowledge society that usually do not interact
The event was the official presentation of the RYM game which was played by three teams composed of people with different profiles belonging to schools, universities, research centres, government, private enterprises and other professionals. Young people had the opportunity to interact with the different actors of the knowledge society in an informal, pleasant and enjoyable way. The event allowed direct exchanges and contact between young people and researchers with a social and festive character. 

To highlight and disseminate the researchers work in an unexpected way
The Researchers' Night was a great event. The stage design, great music and the premiere of the RYM game assured interest among people. Questions aimed at improving the society's awareness of the importance of researcher's role in society and at increasing the attractiveness of research career among young people in an unexpected and amusing way.
The RYM game proved to be a sustainable tool to promote research beyond the event too. The questions were formulated in Catalan and Polish and later on were translated into English and French, an online version being available in five languages. This online version is available on the partners' web pages. In addition the consortium created a CD version which was distributed free of charge among schools of the partners regions and amongst different acts around Europe.

General tasks

The RYM project was organized around five Activities:

• Awareness campaign

• Game production

• Activities during the Researchers' Night 2006

• Dissemination

• Project management, including impact assessment activities
  

IETU's role in the implementation of the project

Awareness campaign - IETU elaborated its own communication plan. The key message of the communication strategy was the slogan "Play Science". The IETU used another slogan in Polish, which was closer to the project title "Research Your Mind". The IETU used the same design as AGAUR for its promotional material in order to create a common visual identity for the two events. The Public Relations, Information and Training Team from IETU adapted the design to their event and produced the material. The promotional material was distributed to universities, secondary schools, media stakeholders, research institutions and other public places. An intensive media relations campaign was undertaken in order to increase the project visibility especially with respect to the project key target audiences.

Game production - IETU produced Polish version of the game on the basis of a common lay-out (design adaptation, preparation of questions, correction, translation, printing).

Activities during the Researchers' Night 2006 - The Researchers' night event for the RYM project took place in two locations: Barcelona and Chorzów. The IETU organized Researchers' Night in Voivodeship Park of Culture and Recreation in Chorzów. The stage design, great music and the premiere of the RYM game assured interest among people spending an evening in the Park. Volunteers were invited to handle out leaflets around the Park a few hours before the beginning of the event. Young people, gladly, took part in the lottery and enjoyed observing the course of the event on the stage. The music group Helikopter played during the event. A lottery took place within the leaflets with the correct answer and prizes were granted to the winners.

Dissemination - The RYM game (paper version, CD and on-line version) proved to be a sustainable tool to promote research also beyond the event itself. IETU distributed the game to the schools and many institutions. 

Co-ordinator of the project

Generalitat de Catalunya
Departament d'Universitats, Recerca i Societat de la Informacio
www.gencat.net/dursi/espaieuropeu 

Cristina Borras Sarda
Directora Servei de Projectes Europeus i Internacionals 
e-mail: cborrass@agaur.gencat.net

Project consortium     

Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas, Katowice
Agencia de Gestio d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca, Barcelona, Hiszpania

Project website:

• AGAUR, Spain : www.gencat.net/agaur/rym

• IETU, Poland: www.sprawdzswojawiedze.pl

Contact person at IETU:

Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas 
Wanda Jarosz, M.Sc.
ul. Kossutha 6 
40-833 Katowice 
tel.: +48-32-254 60-31 ext. 136
fax: +48-32-254 17-17 
e-mail: jarosz@ietu.katowice.pl

Polish Thematic Network for Environmental Technologies

Polish Thematic Network for Problems of Air Pollution and Climate Change