Abstract
Taking place annually in more than 400 cities, European Researchers' Night is a pan- European synchronized event that aims to bring researchers closer to the public. In this paper audience profiles are compared from events in 2019 and 2020. In 2019, face-to-face events reached an estimated 1.6 million attendees, while in 2020, events shifted online due to the COVID-19 pandemic and reached an estimated 2.3 million attendees. Focusing on social inclusion metrics, survey data is analyzed across two national contexts (Ireland and Malta) in 2019 (n = 656) and 2020 (n = 506). The results from this exploratory, descriptive study shed light on how moving public engagement with research online shifted audience profiles. Based on prior research about the digital divide in access and use of online media, hypotheses were proposed that online European Researchers' Night events would attract audiences with higher educational attainment levels and greater self-reported, subjective economic well-being. While changes were observed from 2019 to 2020, results for each hypothesis show a mixed picture. The first hypothesis was upheld for the highest education levels but failed for the lowest levels suggesting that the pivot to online events simultaneously attracted participants with no formal education and those with postgraduate qualifications, while attracting less of those with undergraduate or lower levels of education. The second hypothesis was not upheld, with online European Researchers' Night events attracting audiences with slightly higher levels of economic well-being compared to face-to-face events. The findings of this study indicate that European Researchers' Night events present a clear opportunity to measure the effects of the digital divide in relation to public engagement with research across Europe.
Highlights
Hypothesis 2 (H2): Online European Researchers’ Night (ERN) events in 2020 will attract an audience with greater levels of subjective economic well-being compared to face-to-face events in 2019
We found that a larger proportion of adult attendees to European Researchers’ Night events were more highly educated compared to the respective national populations (See Table 5)
The profiles of audiences engaging with online and offline public engagement with research events were compared, taking advantage of the natural experiment conditions created by the pandemic
Summary
Several studies indicate key socioeconomic factors, such as education and income, contribute to the digital divide via digital and material access [12,13] In this manuscript, we build on relevant studies regarding the internet and its effects on social inclusion [3], namely access and engagement with European research and innovation.The organizers of the 2020 iteration of ERN moved events primarily online for the first time, using a range of digital platforms to fulfil their mission to showcase research and widen access and engagement with European research and innovation. Hypothesis 2 (H2): Online ERN events in 2020 will attract an audience with greater levels of subjective economic well-being compared to face-to-face events in 2019
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