On 23 April 2021, the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the University of Silesia in Katowice is organising the Geography Night. The event will be held under the auspices of Prof. Ryszard Koziołek, Rector of the University of Silesia, Prof. Leszek Marynowski, Dean from the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Ewa Łupikasza, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor, Director of the Institute of Earth Sciences, Robert Krzysztofik, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor, Director of the Institute of Social and Economic Geography and Spatial Management, the Mayor of Sosnowiec Arkadiusz Chęciński, and under the media patronage of “Gazeta Uniwersytecka UŚ” (University of Silesia Magazine), UŚ TV (Internet Television of the University of Silesia in Katowice), and “Gazeta Wyborcza” (Polish daily newspaper).
The event will include popular science lectures, shows, and quizzes, which will provide an opportunity to find out, among other things, what geographers do nowadays, what modern tools they use for their work and how diverse is the research they conduct. So there will be discussions on drones, balloons, radars, scanning, GIS, cartography, dendrochronology, landscape research, and pandemic monitoring. That night, together with the speakers, we will travel both near and far away – to the Arctic, Bytom or to… the roof of the “Żyleta” in Sosnowiec, the highest academic building in Poland, which houses: the Institute of Earth Sciences and the Institute of Social and Economic Geography and Spatial Management, where the geographers of the University of Silesia work.
The event is open to everyone, so all geography enthusiasts are welcome to participate. The event will be held remotely and broadcast live on the University of Silesia YouTube channel and on the fanpage of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the University of Silesia.
Geography Night will also include accompanying events that will take place on 22 April 2021: a lecture session dedicated to the celebration of Earth Day and the 6th Evening with Geography before Matura (VI Wieczór z Geografią przed Maturą), as well as two competitions:
- “The Not So Obvious World of Geography” (Nieoczywisty świat geografii), a competition to take a photo depicting an unobvious (ambiguous, surprising, different) perspective on geographical environment, in two age categories:
– primary school category, for students in grades 4-8,
– open category, for students of secondary schools and anyone else who wishes to participate in the competition.
Details and regulations are available at us.edu.pl/zarzadzenie-nr-552021. - “Infographics in geography” (Infografika w geografii), a competition for students of secondary schools to create an original infographic presenting the visualisation of data or geographical phenomena. Details and regulations are available at us.edu.pl/zarzadzenie-nr-562021.
The event is organized as a part of an international initiative GeoNight (Night of Geography), which aims to bring attention to geography and geographers, to provide an opportunity for a larger audience to learn about geographic concepts and research, and to promote geography in the world. This year’s first edition of this event in our institution also relates to the celebration of the Geographer’s Day, a holiday established by the The Committee on Geographical Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences, which takes place on 23 April.
Coordinators of the 1st Geography Night: Marta Chmielewska, PhD, Artur Widawski, PhD, and Agata Daszkowska-Golec, PhD, Associate Professor, Deputy Dean for Research and Internationalisation of the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the University of Silesia. Contact information: nocgeografii@us.edu.pl.
More detailed information will soon be available on the faculty website, on the Faculty of Natural Sciences fanpage, and under the event: Geography Night.
