The European night of the researchers returns. Sharper (Sharing Researchers’ Passion for Evidences and Resilience) is the name given to the project co-financed by the European Commission, held simultaneously on 12 September in 12 Italian cities (Ancona, Cagliari, Caserta, Catania, L’Aquila, Macerata, Naples, Nuoro, Palermo, Pavia, Perugia, Trieste). Sharper aims to involve all the citizens in the discovery of the profession of researcher and the role it plays in building the future of society through the investigation of the world based on analysis, observations and ability to adapt and interpret social and cultural contexts which are ever more complex and in continual evolution.

In the wake of last year, for this 6th edition, the Polytechnic University of Marche also involved the University of Macerata: two universities united by the common goal of disseminating research results. Two cities, then – Ancona and Macerata – that will come alive thanks to the various events organised by university researchers to tell the passion, discoveries and challenges of researchers from all over Europe through exhibitions, shows, concerts, games, conferences and initiatives aimed at the general public.

Those present at the press conference: the Rector Sauro Longhi, reporting from Macerata the Rector of UniMC Francesco Adornato, Massimiliano Olivieri, director of the Interregional Scientific Police Cabinet, the Rear Admiral Enrico Moretti, Captain of the Ancona Port Authority, Gian Marco Revel Delegate for European UnivPM Research, Carla Danani Delegate of UniMC Research.

The Programmes

Ancona
In Ancona, Sharper doubles. In fact, It will be, scheduled for the day before the event, Thursday, September 26, Research Trekking and Moby Litter starting at 16.00. “Research Trekking” is an excursion through the places of the city contaminated by the Polytechnic researchers, a “scientific” itinerary in stages that runs through the historic heart of Ancona, from the Duomo to the Port, presenting the research projects shared with our researchers that will act as “Cicero”. “Moby Litter” is an initiative to raise awareness about plastic pollution in the sea that arose from the collaboration between UNIVPM and Garbage Service srl, a leading company in the field of Ecological Port Services. Friday, September 27th we start in the morning with a series of events dedicated to high schools, in the Polo Alfredo Trifogli in Monte Dago. At 9.30am there will be a hunt for owls 3.0 and at 11:00 “The Symphony of the Elements: Periodic Table 150” a show made entirely by the students of ITT G. and M. Montani of Fermo with music by the Pergolesi Conservatory of Fermo.

During the afternoon in Piazza Roma and Corso Garibaldi, in the heart of the city, there will be stands and activities for adults and children at the science fair where researchers from the laboratories will exhibit their projects on Antarctica and life at the Polo, on algae flowering and healthy lifestyles. The “Medical check-up”, the “Forensics bus” and the “Sharper micro-genius” children’s area are back. For the children there will be activities for the mind and the body with the Coderdojo and the sports fields dedicated to basketball, volleyball and football. Do not miss the activities of the Inca to control your biological age, Istat and the Omero Museum to touch faces and bodies and discover the works of art with your own hands. Guided tour of the Polytechnic exhibition at the Faculty of Economics, links with the Adriatic Ionian Youth Games and the Festival of history. All the researchers will be broadcast live on Radio Arancia

The evening starts at 21:30 and moves to Piazza del Plebiscito with  Luca Perri and “La fisica di Star Wars (the physics of Star Wars)” following, between music and words, there will be Lorenzo Baglioni on stage, a mathematician who got to San Remo with his piece the Subjunctive that will disclose science and culture through music. Then follows video-mapping “The research of new worlds” a creative visual show edited completely by students, and to close the unmissable appointment with the Silent Disco.

Macerata
“Beyond the walls, up to the Moon…”. UniMc reinterprets the theme tuning it to the peculiar instruments of the University: literature, law, archeology, pedagogy. Piazza Cesare Battisti and the portico of the Palazzo degli Studi will be the heart of the Macerata Night of the Researchers.
On central stage the most spectacular moments will alternate, like the simulated cyberspace process or the demonstration of how the archives can reveal moments and historical characters such as the moon landing, the fall of the Berlin Wall and Leonardo da Vinci.
UniMC is also celebrating the bicentenary of the writer and poet Theodor Fontane, the “cantor of  Brandenburg”, symbol of cultural unity in a Germany divided by the Berlin wall. There will also be a special interview, that of Pepper, the robot designed to help the professors in the classroom, and a quiz game to learn legal Italian.
The loggia of the Palazzo degli Studi will host laboratories, information and performance corners dedicated to literature, theatre, journalism, entertaining applications of Latin studies, digital documents, ecology and recycling, European projects as well as the crime scenes reconstructed by the Scientific Police.
Many workshops for children: ink games and paper trimming, digital tools to discover the territory, creative writing with tarot cards, play with archives. For young and old is, however, the fun tour “Urban TICASS by night”. Finally, the nearby Palazzo De Vico will host an exhibition on the historical and topographical aspects of the ancient Marche.

What is SHARPER?
The SHARPER project is coordinated by Psiquadro, in collaboration with a consortium of partners that includes the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN), the National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF), the University of Palermo, the University of Perugia, the Polytechnic University of Marche, the Imaginary Scientific Museum of Trieste and the Observa Science in Society research centre and involves a wide partnership of over a hundred cultural institutions, municipalities, research institutes, universities, companies and associations. The Polytechnic University of Marche, with the patronage of the Municipality of Ancona, participates in Sharper, coordinating a group formed by its Departments, the Scientific Police, Istat, Inrca, ITT G. and M. Montani, by the G.B. Pergolesi di Fermo, Informagiovani Ancona, Museo Omero, Garbage srl, La Luna Dance Centre and Fosforo the party of Science.

Credits: Adriaeco.eu