November 20, 2013: PACMAN Kick-off Meeting Introduction to Work Package 6: “Outreach & Dissemination” program for PACMAN a Marie Curie Project of the Seventh

November 20, 2013: PACMAN Kick-off Meeting

Introduction to Work Package 6:

“Outreach & Dissemination” program for PACMAN

a Marie Curie Project of the Seventh EC Framework Programme

Michele Modena - CERN

Page 2November 20, 2013 – PACMAN kick-off Meeting: “Introduction to Work Package 6” (M. Modena)

A definition of the task in agreement with the 7th Framework EC program (Outreach Activities within MARIE CURIE ITN Projects from the Application guide:

Outreach Activities are dissemination initiatives directed at the general public. The primary goal is to create awareness of the importance of research to society and to raise awareness of the Marie Curie Actions.

The type of outreach activities is freely chosen by the consortium and could range from press articles to exposing students from primary and secondary schools or universities to science, research and innovation in order to develop their motivation to embrace research careers.


My practical definition:

OUTREACH: the activity of bringing PACMAN and more general scientific information to people intended as a wide public (mainly not linked with the academic, industrial, etc. domains).

DISSEMINATION: the activity of promoting and disseminating the scientific and technical information and results of PACMAN research mainly to the scientific / technical domain.


WHY ?

Having the honour to have been selected by the 7th EC Framework program, it is a primary duty of PACMAN and of CERN (a publicly funded Organization) to put in place an adequate and efficient O&D program to promote the scientific and technological knowledge transfer to the Scientific and Industrial Research domain and to a wide “not specialized” public.

It is a vital necessity for the public and private research domains to tickle the interest of students and scholars and to try to transmit the knowledge and enthusiasm for the scientific and technical domain, making also them aware of the career possibility that it can offer.

The selection process of PACMAN has showed that the question of female representation in science (starting with the rate of female presence in the studentship program applications) is still an open problem. O&D actions may help to correct this inbalance.


Some O&D actions are already planned and fix as milestones of the general PACMAN plan:

I. Construction of a WEBSITE of the project (available since May 2013): The site will be used for the internal communication and dissemination (ESRs, Partners, CERN, others). As an O&D tool it will serve as a display towards the external world to communicate ESR research achievements and for general public information.



Up to now used mainly for advertisement tasks:

- General information: about the project existence, scope, etc.- For Partners: showing who is in the program- For PhD candidates: to know about the opening of the recruitment

phases and to apply to the program (via a link to the dedicated CERN HR Page for recruitment)

Now we will start a more complete and systematic use of it. The arrival of Alexandra Hati, our project assistant, will help with that.


Some O&D actions are planned and fix as milestones of the general PACMAN plan:

I. Construction of a WEBSITE of the project (available since May 2013): The site will be used for the internal communication and dissemination (ESRs, Partners, CERN, others). As an O&D tool it will serve as a display toward the external world to communicate ESRs research achievements and for general public information.

II. Three main Workshops are planned: They will be the main opportunities for scientific networking inside the network. On these occasions, young researchers, supervisors and associated Partners scientific staff will meet together for few days and discuss the scientific findings and shortcomings of the network research activities.

The final workshop will conclude the project: experts from outside the project will be invited from universities, laboratories and industry.


• The PACMAN implementation program includes several O&D actions:

1. Participation to conferences2. University & Marie Curie ambassadors3. School exhibitions: 4. CERN Visits5. Researchers Nights and other Special CERN

events.6. PACMAN Open Days7. Women in Science/at CERN8. Others (to be defined/finalized).


1. Participation to conferences

(the standard students individual way of dissemination of the Project results):

As presented by Nuria in WP5 each student will have a dedicated plan of participation to Conferences relevant for the domain of his/her specialties.

Besides contributions on the advancement and achievement of his/her research, the student will promote (poster, stand, etc.) the PACMAN program, image, networking, EC programs, etc.


2. University & Marie Curie ambassadors:

Dedicated dissemination actions are planned to be done at each ESR enrolment university:

In agreement and with the support of his/her PhD supervisor the ESRs will present to the university community the PACMAN program, giving details on:

- The scope of the project

- The funding context (with details on the the Seventh EC Framework Marie Curie Programme)

- Potential new and long term evolution possibilities.


3. School exhibitions: outreach actions will be taken with local schools of different grade and training outlook. The PhD students will take the role of presenters.

Reminder: we have to bring the interest of the young students generations towards the scientific and technical domains.

The interest and potential are evident for all of us, but recent statistics are clear: with respect to near past there is a relative decrease of attention and interest for the scientific and research activities.

- We plan to develop and bring to schools in the vicinity of CERN outreach actions (presentations, laboratory practice, colloquia with key persons in the scientific world, etc…).

- Similar actions are also planned in some of the countries of origin of the students.


4. CERN Visits:

CERN has a well established program of visits for the general public with visits to CERN installation and exhibitions (ex the Microcosm).

CERN is always looking for staff of different nationalities and formations to serve as guides for this program.

The PACMAN students will be enrolled in the guides program also in order to develop and train their communication and outreach skills.

This activity will be organized in a well structured and planned scheme by the CERN Communication Group.


5. Researchers Nights and other special CERN events:.Besides the standard “CERN Visits” program, CERN also organizes other Outreach actions, including the “Researcher nights” at the end of September.

Other actions like the “Open Days” are done less frequently.

The PACMAN students will be “enrolled as volunteers” in these outreach events and will participate actively to the organization collaborating with the CERN Communication Group.(for ex. see at: http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?ovw=True&confId=258522)

http://indico.cern.ch/conferenceDisplay.py?ovw=True&confId=258522


6. PACMAN Open Days:

A specific PACMAN “Open Days” session will be organized during the program.

The event time will be chosen depending on the development achieved and in order to have the most successful global O&D value.

Aim will be to provide a clear vision of the status of the project looking backward to what has been achieved and forward to what still has to be obtained as global and individual results.


7. Women in Science / at CERN: we plan to promote/participate in actions supported by CERN and UN on this sensitive and critical outreach aspect (see at: https://cds.cern.ch/journal/CERNBulletin/2013/29/News%20Articles/1561119)

The aspect of the inadequate representation of women in science is of concern for the PACMAN management.

Several actions are on-going in this contest under the aegis of CERN, UN and other International Organizations.

The example of “Expand Your Horizons” :

https://cds.cern.ch/journal/CERNBulletin/2013/29/News%20Articles/1561119


7. Women on Science/at CERN:

“Expand Your Horizons”


Other actions to be defined/finalized:Ex. Specific dissemination events with EUSPEN, METAS, etc.Some other possible outreach activities as suggested by EC:

• Marie Curie Ambassadors: (planned!)

• Workshop Day: (planned!)

• ITN Project Open Day: (planned!)

• Public Talks, TV Talks, Podcasts and Articles in Newspapers: recruited researchers give a

public talk/TV interview or write an article in the local newspaper about the results of the project

and how these results could be relevant to the general public.

• e-Newsletters: recruited researchers develop a web-based document to be released on the

internet for the attention of the public at large (e.g. Wikipedia).

• Summer-School Week: Students spend one week in a summer school where they receive a first

hand experience from the recruited researchers about their current research activities or wider

scientific issues; the recruited researchers prepare specific activities, lectures and experiments.

(…we expect proposals, suggestions and help from Partners!...)


Publication Strategy (1):

1. During the project we will put in place a dedicated system for the classification and dissemination of the internal information on project advancements.

• The system will be structured with different hierarchical levels, with different level of distribution, and confidentiality (General Public, PACMAN Members, Management Team and Supervisory Board).

• The classification and archiving will be done through the EDMS (Engineering & Equipment Data Management System), the most standard and widely used classification system provided by CERN.

• An internal revision procedure will be put in place in order to approve and release the technical notes.

• The technical notes will be freely accessible to the Project Members (through the WEB page section “for Members only”).


Publication Strategy (2):

2. A standard channel to publish the advancement of the work will be through reference Conferences.

This system has the advantage to be the most official one and to bring added value to the students (with list of publications useful to their CVs).

3. Another channel that will be surely be utilized in the advanced phases of the Project will be the contribution to the CLIC Notes and the CERN A&T Sector Notes and Seminars.

4. Other channels will be linked to the specific events that will be organized at CERN and worldwide in the period 2014-2018.

A practical website showing updated situation of future events plan can be found at:

http://cds.cern.ch/events/events.py/index?date=future&categ=All&order=date




In conclusion:• Each student (depending on his/her: language skills, cultural specificity,

formation skills and interests) will be expected to actively participate in the O&D actions. A list of planned actions already exist and others will be planned in the future.

• In a similar way contributions are expected from Supervisors, WP Responsible and Partners, (and we expect to be INFORMED in order to PARTICIPATE in some Partners’ O&D actions).

• We can count on supports of CERN IT (Information Technology) and DG–CO Teams and Resources for help in preparing and organizing the O&D actions.

• A Publication strategy is planned to provide efficient information circulating inside the Project and to guarantee the needed information and dissemination of information outside the Project.

Thanks!

Documents

November 20, 2013: PACMAN Kick-off Meeting Introduction to Work Package 6: “Outreach & Dissemination” program for PACMAN a Marie Curie Project of the Seventh