Romanian Science Festival (RSF), the first national science festival in the country, was named a Falling Walls Science Engagement winner. Projects from 66 countries competed in this category, and the Falling Walls Berlin Foundation selected 20, including the one from Romania.

Every year, Falling Walls invites organizations and individuals actively promoting scientific disciplines to present their projects in nine categories. This year there were over 1,300 applications from all over the world.

There are two selection stages in the evaluation process. Fifty finalists were selected in the first stage in June, and then, in the second round, the Falling Walls Foundation Advisory Board named the 20 winners.

The best selected winning initiatives are invited to present their science engagement projects in November at the prestigious Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin organized by the Falling Walls Foundation in cooperation with founding partner Robert Bosch Stiftung. Sandor Kruk, co-founder of the Romanian Science Festival, will represent Romania and the local festival at the event in Germany.

Started in 2019 in Baia Mare, Pitesti and Timișoara, the Romanian Science Festival brought science closer to 100,000 students from all over Romania through projects, events and online meetings involving the 120 RSF mentors.

Several cities in Romania will host editions of the science festival this fall - Baia Mare and Sighetu Marmației between September 15-17 and Pitești, Mioveni, and Câmpulung Muscel between September 22-24. During the event, RSF mentors, researchers and STEM students from the diaspora, together with hundreds of volunteers, students and teachers, will organize hands-on experience fairs and interactive presentations for participants of all ages.

Falling Walls Berlin is one of the best-known international science events. Held annually in Berlin, it coincides with the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It aims to promote the "falling of walls" between science and society, attracting leaders from the fields of science, business, politics, arts and community.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Siarhei Yurchanka/Dreamstime.com)