Silesian Science Festival KATOWICE is currently one of the largest popular science events in Poland and Europe. The international nature of the event is evidenced by the fact that the Festival was admitted to the European Science Engagement Association (EUSEA), under which it will be promoted.
This year, the Festival events will be carried out under the slogan “Science is Closer”. The 4th edition will be officially inaugurated with the opening gala on 25 January 2020 at 18:00 in the Stanisław Wyspiański Silesian Theatre in Katowice. The gala programme includes:
- „StarTalks”– scientific talk show involving one of the special guests of the Festival – Seth Shostak (former Director of SETI Institute specialised in searching for extra-terrestrial civilisations);
- presentation of Silesian Science Awards 2020;
- performance of Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curiebased on the text written by Alan Alda, directed by Robert Talarczyk;
- official opening of 4. ŚFN KATOWICE.
The musical setting of the opening gala will be provided by Cieszyn Brass Orchestra of the University of Silesia in Katowice conducted by Dr. Karol Pyka and “Harmonia” Choir conducted by Assoc. Prof. Izabella Zielecka-Panek.
On Sunday and Monday (26 and 27th January 2020), almost the entire surface of the International Congress Centre in Katowice will be used as the Festival space. The Participants will be able to take part in over 200 exhibition booths, hundreds of lectures, workshops and meetings with interesting people (not only from the scientific community). Like in the previous edition, the Festival activities will be divided into six fields of knowledge (exact sciences, natural sciences, technology, humanities and social sciences, medical and health sciences, as well as the arts).
Spot promoting the event:
There will be special guests from Poland and abroad – outstanding representatives of the world of science and culture, including:
- Austrian science fiction writer Marc Elsberg,
- American astronomer and science communicator Seth Shostak,
- Daniel Tammet – British savant with above-average arithmetic and linguistic skills, current European record-holder in reciting pi number digits from memory.
- Robert Zubrin – American aviation engineer and writer, promoter of the idea of Mars exploration and colonisation.
Moreover, there will be science communicators who cooperate with Northern Ireland Science Festival in Belfast (a partner of ŚFN). The participants can also meet prof. Jerzy Bralczyk – an authority in the field of linguistics, specialised in the language of politics, media and advertising. A representative of the “young generation” will be Paulina Mikuła – author of “Mówiąc inaczej” vlog, which is one of the most popular Polish channels of this type on YouTube. ŚFN will also host: Aleksander and Piotr Stanisławski – authors of the biggest Polish popular science blog “Crazy Nauka”; Dr. Marcin Popkiewicz – analyst of megatrends and journalist promoting knowledge about climate changes (e.g. on “Nauka o klimacie” website); Łukasz Wilczyński – President of the European Space Foundation, founder and co-organiser of European Rover Challenge (prestigious competition of Mars rovers); Prof. Wiesław Nowiński – a world-famous scientist, innovator and entrepreneur, creator of human brain atlases; Weronika Nowakowska – former biathlonist, three-time Olympian (2010-2018), silver and bronze medallist of Biathlon World Championship in 2015, and many more inspiring people. The complete list of guests is available on: www.slaskifestiwalnauki.pl.
The special guests will meet the participants on six stages of different nature:
- Main Stage,
- World Science Stage,
- Science Variety Stage,
- Climate Stage,
- Science Corner Stage,
- E-Sport Point.
On 26 January, the World Science will host the premiere of the first university science fiction series entitled “Dr. Primo and a Huge Brawl Over Insignia!”. This work, which consists of six episodes, was created as part of the University of Silesia jubilee celebration. The whole series will be presented during the screening.
The OFF Science zone and the Review of Garage Inventions organised as part of it were a success during the previous Festival editions. This year, there will also be POP Science competition, which is intended to honour science communicators.
Special attention will be paid to electromobility – the Festival participants may visit a special zone to see the most interesting examples of alternative means of transport.
Participation in the Festival is free of charge and the is free access to most of the attractions. However, certain Festival activities require earlier registration: www.slaskifestiwalnauki.pl.
The idea behind the largest popular science events in Poland (in the single-location indoor category) is to awake scientific curiosity in participants, regardless of their age and interests. The previous edition of the Silesian Science Festival KATOWICE included 79 events, 199 exhibition booths and over 1,400 exhibitors. The Festival space was visited by over 35,000 participants, who took part in science shows, experiments, presentations and discussions, as well as listened to outstanding speakers.
The founder and leader of the Festival is the University of Silesia in Katowice, working with six partner universities from the Silesian Voivodeship and in cooperation with the City of Katowice, Metropolis GZM and Marshall Office of the Silesian Voivodeship.
Silesian Science Festival KATOWICE won appreciation and the first place in the competition for the best communication and marketing initiatives among European universities – EUPRIO Awards 2019.
