After two years of being held online, the Researchers’ Night at Masaryk University will once again welcome visitors in person. On Friday, 30 September, visitors will be able to attend science lectures, experiments, workshops, exhibitions and games.
As the subtitle of this year’s event suggests, visitors will experience science at Masaryk University on the last Friday of September “With all the Senses”. From 6 p.m. to midnight, they will have the opportunity to see interesting chemistry experiments, listen to lectures on law and new technologies, smell the scent of plants and books, taste the delicacies of our ancestors and far-away countries, try reading and exploring the world around them by touch, and discover that there is such a thing as a sixth sense.
All ten MU faculties and other university departments will take part in this year’s programme. In Brno, a special bus line will connect eight MU locations around the city. A part of the programme will also take place in the town of Telč, where MU operates its detached university centre.
You can begin your night quest for scientific knowledge at the Faculty of Law, where evening visitors will learn about moral psychology and test their sense of justice. People will be able to try and deal with cyber threats at the Faculty of Informatics and learn which senses can be used in the digital world at the Institute of Computer Science.
In the city centre, the Faculty of Science will also open its doors to visitors. In its complex at Kotlářská Street, they will test their knowledge of the universe in quizzes and explore the greenhouses of the Botanical Garden. Registered visitors will participate in an escape game.
People can then move on to the Faculty of Arts, where they will expose their taste buds to the flavours of the Mediterranean and Japan and take a VR tour of the Louvre. At the Faculty of Social Studies, visitors will learn about the science behind the creation of video and sound. At the Teiresias Centre, people will experience how difficult it is to manage without one of their senses. A team of lecturers will introduce assistive sight replacement technologies, tactile writing and acoustic games. Visitors with a prior reservation will see the MU Archives’ depositories, which are not normally open to the public.
As part of the Researchers’ Night, people will also have the opportunity to visit the Mendel Museum, where the Faculty of Education will present its special programme. They will witness various (un)safe chemistry experiments, try to control robots and orient themselves in space from the perspective of animals.
Five faculties and four other MU institutions will present their contributions to the programme at the Bohunice University Campus. At the Faculty of Medicine, for example, there will be an opportunity to test your sense of smell in the olfactory bank and learn many interesting facts about medicine in a series of lectures. Science enthusiasts will find out what the sixth sense is all about at the Faculty of Sports Studies, where they will experience how the senses are linked to body movements. The Faculty of Pharmacy has prepared 3D printing of gummy bears and visitors will have the opportunity to become heroes of metropolitan cooperation thanks to the Faculty of Economics and Administration.
Scientists from the Faculty of Science have also prepared a variety of activities on campus and will entertain as well as educate visitors with an experimental chemistry show. The CEITEC MU research centre, too, will be open to the public and people will be able to create their own chromosomes, among other things. As part of the Researchers’ Night, the University Campus Library will be
The University Centre Telč will also offer its programme and visitors will have the chance to explore the Jesuit College with all their senses.
The Researchers’ Night has been held regularly in the Czech Republic since 2005. Its aim is to present the diversity of scientific work to the public and especially to children and let them visit research facilities that are not normally accessible. This year’s event also includes a popularisation competition called Český VŠEVĚD. Its final round will take place on Tuesday 13 September at the Scala University Cinema.