Hybrid format makes Science in the City accessible to all
Science in the City’s return to various venues in Valletta will not mean the end of online events. Having attracted 20,000 viewers to the Covid affected 2020 festival which was completely virtual, this year’s festival will see physical and digital events run simultaneously throughout Friday 24th and Saturday 25th September.
The digital festival will go live at 6.00pm on Friday 24th with a grand festival opening. Like many of the digital festival’s activities, audiences will influence the event through live chats with event hosts. The opening will be followed by a talk from TrustStamp Malta where they will explore how artificial intelligence can be used to hack systems and the measures used to mitigate these attempts. Sharklab will share their passion, exploring the world of sharks.
A live music performance, in collaboration with Nature Trust Malta, by the award-winning British comedy-science-singersongwriter John Hinton, highlights the importance of our natural environment. ‘SciAntific’ by Dr Anthony Galea is a science show complete with experiments for all to enjoy. Vucijiet Beltin, a University of Malta project, supported by Valletta Design Cluster and Valletta Cultural Agency explores festivals and their roles in the community, while the last show for the day takes the audience on a time travelling mission with Solid Eye and University of Malta researchers in an interesting discussion about history and time travel.
On Saturday, the festival continues with more science, research and entertainment in a variety of fields and disciplines. The MaProHand project explains how researchers build a human hand from scratch, what goes into the process and how it all works. Water conservation, physical health during a pandemic will be tackled by Sports science experts from the University of Malta. Aliens land sometime in the afternoon with Prof Mifsud and his team from the University of Malta’s FAST project, exposing their secrets, while Junior College exposes the secrets to wellbeing. The audience will play a little guessing game with different researchers talking about their research, Prof Alan Deidun will dive into the Mediterranean Sea to explore some of the changes happening in its watery depths at the moment. Other topics include mental health as well as opportunities for adults with intellectual disabilities. The aim of all these topics is to sow the seeds of change in the mentality of all citizens, encouraging them to take a more active role in their wellbeing and the wellbeing of the environment.
Explore the Arches, a platform born in 2020 out of necessity, will continue to hold clickable virtual content for all to access at any point after the 15th September. Here the audience can watch Malta’s talented researchers, artists and organisations doing what they do best - using science and creativity to raise awareness about a number of issues that affect us all.
To reserve a place at either a physical of digital event, the public is advised to go to the Science in the City’s website and social media. While physical events will be set up with safety measure in place to combat the spread of the virus, places for the online events are also limited, meaning early bookings are highly recommended.
Science in the City is part of the European Researchers’ Night, an EU-wide celebration. It is co-funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, under grant agreement No 101036030, Arts Council Malta (ACM) and a number of corporate sponsors. It is recognised by Europe for Festivals and Festivals for Europe (EFFE).
The Science in the City consortium is led by the University of Malta and the Malta Chamber of Scientists, in partnership with the Minister for Equality, Research, and Innovation, Trust Stamp Ltd, Malta Enterprise, MCAST, Qualia Analytics, Esplora, BPC International, SEM, PBS, Spazju Kreattiv, Tech.mt, Aquabiotech, Valletta Design Cluster, Valletta Cultural Agency, The Environment Resource Agency, WasteServ, More or Less Theatre and Keen Ltd.