The University of Copenhagen and Roskilde Festival have entered a new partnership aimed at giving young people a different kind of encounter with research. This summer, researchers will move onto the festival grounds with sensory and engaging activities.
For three days, a handful of experiments will move out of the laboratories and onto the festival site in Roskilde. Here, festivalgoers can stimulate their minds and gain new knowledge in between concerts and camp life.
The initiative has been created in collaboration with Roskilde Festival's Arts and Activism programme. Together with researchers from the University of Copenhagen, they have developed five concepts that combine research communication with body, art and culture.
The initiative is driven by a desire to reach young people where they already are - at a time marked by misinformation and fast-moving news cycles.
"Roskilde Festival is a place where young people are open, curious and ready for new experiences. That makes it an ideal platform for introducing them to science in a different way," says Kristian Lauta, Prorector for Education at the University of Copenhagen and long-time regular at Roskilde Festival.
Science Through the Senses
The five concepts range from a spacey guided meditations based on research into brain anatomy to workshops on cocktails infused with chemical reactions and roadside biology. What they all have in common is that they invite participants to get involved and experience research through their senses.
Emma Aller, a PhD in molecular biology, is one of the people behind the cocktail workshop. She is looking forward to meeting the audience: "When research is communicated through something tangible and interactive, completely different and often surprising conversations can emerge. It's also a fantastic opportunity to engage with a younger audience that we would not normally reach."
What Can You Experience?
Den ultimative fællesdans
Put on your dancing shoes, grease your hips and get ready to learn the professor's power dance: A dance created to make your brain release delicious chemistry, tighten the bond between people and build a bridge from the brain to the body.The dance is put together by choreographer Clara Herman and based on Anke Karabanov's research into the body-brain connection.
