ScienceView | Looking back in time – Seven fruitful months for Science View

It is interesting sometimes to look back in time to see what you have done and what was really achieved. Just before the summer vacations I’m looking back at the past 7 months and wonder “is all this time spent worth it; so many hours with your colleagues and several weeks far from home?”

The Science View team has worked very hard during the past seven months, a period which has been very fruitful and provided us with precious experience, new knowledge and new possible collaborations in new fields. But what do I see in the last 7 months? The Science View team organized two world conferences (GeNeDis and NDSTE) and a science education and engagment event (Greek Student Parliament), participate in an important and innovative EU project (CREAT-IT) introducing creative ways to teach science, organised the first training workshop dedicated in science journalism for students of the Aristotel University of Thessaloniki, travelled across Europe in order to participate in events (e.g. COST event in Italy, ESOF in Denmark) and project meetings, produced several videos on scientific projects and wrote numerous articles for GSRT’s online magazine E&T. But let’s see these in some more details:

Science View was in Thessaloniki from 14 to 16 March 2014, for the Ιnternational Scientific Conference “In & Out of the Lab: Science and Technology in the Public Sphere”. The conference was organized by the Department of Journalism & Mass Communications of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and co-organized by CERN and the Municipality of Thessaloniki, with the support of the European Union of Science Journalists’ Associations (EUSJA) and Science View. Science View held a three hour workshop introducing science journalism to the students of the Department of Journalism & Mass Communications, with the precious contribution of Wolfgang Goede, Honorary Secretary of EUSJA.
Our team successfully organized the Greek Student Parliament on Science that took place between 2-4 April 2014 in Ellinogermaniki Agogi school, Greece. The Student Parliament took place in Greece for the first time. More than 100 students participated in real parliamentary procedures and acted as researchers on specific scientific topics with the help of renowned experts and academics. The students discussed on “The Future of the City” and the issues covered were: Future mobility – New approaches in the city, Demography in the city, City – Climate – Change, Energy efficient houses and flats, Smart city: life in an urban network. Following the April event, Science View was in Copenhagen (June 20-22 2014) with the five students who represented Greece in the European event that took place at Frederiksberg City Hall as part of ESOF 2014.
Science View successfully organized the 1st World Congress on Geriatrics and Neurodegenerative Disease Research, GeNeDis 2014, in Corfu (10-13 April 2014). For the first time in Greece, GeNeDis 2014 (Geriatrics and Neurodegenerative Disease) brought together these scientific fields and focused on recent advances in geriatrics and neurodegeneration, ranging from basic science to clinical and pharmaceutical developments and provided an international forum for the latest scientific discoveries, medical practices and care initiatives.
A few weeks after the GeNeDis 2014 conference, our team organized the New Developments in Science and Technology Education – NDSTE 2014 conference (Corfu May 29-31). The first international conference on new developments in science and technology education brought together educators and scientists from all over the world with an aim to share new practices within the area of research in science and technology education and to provide researchers a significant and friendly opportunity to network and collaborate so as to improve ideas and processes.
Science View is participating in the innovative EU funded CREAT-IT project that aims to develop and support teacher skills in science education by integrating creative, cultural disciplines and social media tools in science courses, engaging students to participate in collaborative, project and case study based activities. The CREAT-IT project aims to take forward the agenda of practitioner led change at a European level by introducing creativity in science education.
From 12th to 14th of May, we participated in the COST Event “Bridging the gap between Science and Art”, where we had the chance to present the scope and the activities of theCREAT-IT project but most important to exchange interesting ideas about the connections of Art and Science. Many interesting contact were maid there that will give the opportinuty for future collaborations in the specific field.
Science View was in Copenhagen, Denmark, attending the EuroScience Open Forum – ESOF 2014 (June 21-26 2014). Our team participated in the first European Conference for Science Journalist (ECSJ) which was organized by the European Union of Science Journalists’ Associations – EUSJA with the co-operation of the Danish Science Journalists Association (DV). Sscience View also participated in EUSJA’s workshop, about the future and strategy of the Union and in the Nano-Debate, a session under the title “Expectations and Risks of Nanotechnology”, organized by EUSJA. And of course was supporting the Greek Students in the Finals of the European Student Parliament in Science that was realised in parallel.
Science View produced several videos for one of the biggest EU projects, Pathway, which develops inquiry activities for schools, connects schools and science centers, connects schools with scientific research, establishes and promotes teachers’ professional development and runs in 13 countries reaching more than about 10,000 teachers. Click here to watch the video!
Science View produced a video for the PlastronicsSpec project, which develops a digital radiographic system to inspect OLED screen panels at high throughput and sentence them as good or bad components accordingly. Click here to watch the video!
Our team produced videos and interviews for the PERSEUS project, an innovative marine research project that merges the natural and socioeconomic sciences in an ecosystem approach to marine degradation.

So if I look to all these I think that I have the answer to my first question. So YES, this worth the effort! But most important is that all these give us the stregnth to go further. From the begining of September Science View will continue to organise trainings, science events (science cafes), educational activities for students (many activities within the CREAT-IT project), and many more.

Great thanks to all my colleagues in Science View, Theoni, Elias and Stamatia but also to all our main collaborator that made all these possible: Roula, Liana, Eleni, Giannis, Maria, Petros, Wolfgang, Gregory, Christina, Dimitris, Lefteris.

Have a nice summer and stay tuned!

Menelaos Sotiriou