A special year for us
We are celebrating a quarter of a century of existence. This anniversary year is full of occasions to celebrate together: numerous events will allow the public to come into contact with science and discuss with researchers.
Our project «Science Rendez-vous. Conversations with Researchers» is back after a year's break. On September 8th and 9th, the public will be able to discuss the topic of energy with various researchers at the Waisenhausplatz in Bern. Once again, numerous Science Cafés with diverse and current topics are planned throughout Switzerland.
- The foundation was established in 1998 and was initiated by the former State Secretary for Education and Research, Charles Kleiber.
- In the anniversary year 2023, numerous events allow the public to come into direct contact with science and scientists.
- The anniversary celebration in November will be the highlight of the year for the science communication community.
Lots going on for children and young people
Numerous projects are also planned for children and young people. Camp Discovery allows children who do not come from an academic background explore scientific topics, and the Science and You(th) school project lets classes from the city and the country discover the scientific method.
A new addition to this category is the project «Game Changers for Change Agents: The UN Sustainable Development Goals in Dialogue». This is project was launched together with the Center for Development and Environment at the University of Bern. Secondary II students get familiar with political participation and sustainability through the bias of CO2 legislation in Switzerland.
Our Instagram account «vierte_stock», directly targets vocational learners and apprentices. They, too, can look forward to a few surprises in our anniversary year.
The anniversary will also take place our social media channels: stay up to date on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.
Anniversary celebration in November
A special anniversary celebration is planned as part of the twelfth annual ScienceComm conference. Both will take place in November at the Progr in Bern.
In March we held the second CitSciHelvetia conference at the Landhaus in Solothurn, where actors in the field of Citizen Science could network and learn from each other. With these two conferences and various Wikipedia training courses at universities, we are strengthening our character as a centre of excellence for dialogue-based science communication.
The foundation of Science et Cité
The foundation was established in 1998 and was initiated by the former State Secretary for Education and Research, Charles Kleiber. It was triggered by the so-called Genetic Protection Initiative, which was voted on in 1998. The initiative was ultimately rejected, but the referendum campaign made it clear that there was a deep rift between science and the public: on the one hand, researchers at universities and in industry who wanted to study genetic engineering and use it for themselves and the common good; on the other hand, the public with its sceptical attitude towards so-called green genetic engineering in agriculture. In this situation, Science et Cité should in future act as a neutral interface to promote dialogue and thus a climate of mutual trust between researchers and citizens.
Uns als Stiftung braucht es mindestens genauso wie damals, wenn nicht noch mehr. Die Bedeutung von Wissenschaft und Forschung in unserer Gesellschaft ist weiter gestiegen. Umso wichtiger ist es, den gegenseitigen Austausch und das Verständnis füreinander zu fördern.
Philipp Burkard, Managing Director Science et Cité