Sharing Researchers' Passion for Engaging Responsiveness - The European Researchers' Night in Italy in 2021

Researchers are social game changer with the ability to promptly react to crisis and with the passion for preventing and harnessing new ones by addressing global goals with citizens. The pandemic enhanced one of the researchers’ main quality: their responsiveness to new challenges.

It also stressed the need to be responsive actively engaging citizens and communities to obtain socially effective results through collective actions.

SHARPER means: SHAring Researchers’ Passion for Engaging Responsiveness and it is the European Researchers’ Night that aims at making these researchers’ qualities visible, valuable and engaging for everybody, involving all citizens in experiencing the researchers’ commitment for a sustainable and desirable future.

With a shared cultural experience based on the combination of innovative online, onsite and blended formats, SHARPER will let citizens and researchers be part of the same endeavour.

It will focus on topics related to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) interpreted from the prospective of the European strategy towards 2050.

SHARPER involves 16 cities in 10 regions: Ancona, Camerino, Cagliari, Catania, Genoa, Macerata, L'Aquila, Nuoro, Palermo, Pavia, Perugia, Sassari, Terni, Torino, Trento, Trieste through a diverse network of 11 consortium partners including Universities, Research Institutions, Museums and Social Enterprises, and over 167 stakeholders from the civil society, the cultural creative world, industry, research and education.

It will consolidate and innovate the experience developed over the last 8-years triggering researchers’ and citizens engagement across Italy.

SHARPER has a solid European dimension through a collaboration with 11 ERNs in 9 countries to develop: creative online contents and formats, common strategies on impact assessment, researchers’ trainings and a mobility scheme for young researchers. SHARPER also collaborates with other Nights in Italy to share ideas and communication and awareness actions.