Days of Science in Zaporizhzhia
On May 20-21, Zaporizhzhia hosted the Days of Science campaign with the support of the Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants NAS of Ukraine, the University of Fukui (Fukui, Japan), the ZAVTRA.UA Scholarship Program of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, the NGO Unia Scientifica, the my.science.ua educational project, and the Zaporizhzhia Regional Youth Center.
The mission of the Days of Science is to fight against prejudices in science and medicine, improve the image of scientists, and encourage and inspire children and young people to scientific activities in the future even during war. It is especially important now to raise a discussion about the role of citizen science in Ukraine against the background of the full-scale invasion of russia – how society affects the development of science and how science affects the development of society. Because education and science are fundamental pillars of our society. In such events, there is a great demand in our city and for our residents who are traumatized by the war.
12 lectures were held from the Institute for Safety Problems of NPP of NAS of Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia National University, Zaporizhzhia State Medical and Pharmaceutical University: how to use scientific thinking in everyday life, how stress affects the brain from the point of view of Neurobiology, about the past and future of research in Chornobyl, why us taught epidemics, how museums help preserve history, how to support each other during war, how to check information in open sources. Books from the popular scientific literature publishing house Vikhola were drawn for interesting questions. All lectures will be published in open access.
In two days, 9 locations were held: children and young people learned what STEM training is at the location from the After-school Center of Scientific and Technical Creativity of Youth “Polit”, got acquainted with school social entrepreneurship from the Scientific Lyceum of the Khortytsia National Academy, participated in chemical experiments and biological location from Zaporizhzhia National University, were able to immerse themselves in the science of Geology from the Zaporizhzhia Regional Center of Tourism and Local History, Sports and School Youth Excursions.
We had time to hold 7 workshops for children, young people, and adults on microbiology – they learned which bacteria live on our hands or on phones and cash. At the workshop on molecular biology from Ukraine`s first DIY bio lab YaneLab, bacteria were painted on Petri dishes and the genome of Escherichia coli was edited. They learned to date the archaeological finds found at the Mamai-Hora largest multicomplex burial mound of the Zaporizhzhia region, located on the left bank of the Kakhovka Reservoir. The doctors of Zaporizhzhia Regional Center of Emergency Medical Aid and Disaster Medicine held a master class on providing first aid in case of bleeding, and anyone who wanted to was able to perform tamponade of wounds on the simulator. At the robotics workshop, the children made their own robot that runs on a solar battery, and at the pharmacognosy master class from the Zaporizhzhia State Medical and Pharmaceutical University, everyone who wanted to learn how to make essential oil from medicinal plants.
The purpose of the Days of Science is to form a community of science popularizers in Zaporizhzhia and dissemination of scientific knowledge to the general public. During the full-scale war in the front-line city, more than 400 people were able to touch science. We would like to thank for support and inspiration of our Japanese colleagues from the University of Fukui and the Institute for Safety Problems of NPP of NAS of Ukraine for facilitating the event.
This post is also available in: Ukrainian
