About a hundred scientists and students from the UiO Department of Science and Technology are preparing a small science festival with 150 different events.
The main topics vary from the body, via Earth and Space, to materials, energy and technology.
Interdisciplinary approach
The pharmacist talks about 3D printed medicine, the student of biology explains what programming can add of value for beetle research. The informatics professor helps improving health matters in the countryside of developing countries and the statistician uses the selfie as an opening to talk about signal processing.
Three activities
The pupils get to attend three different activities during their visit. An opening show in Sophus Lies Auditorium, a lecture on a chosen topic with UiO dissemination stars such as Henrik Svensen and Petter Bøckman, popular science authors such as Katarina Vestre, Jessica Lönn-Stensrud and Kathrine Frey Frøslie, international top scientists such as Trond Torsvik and Sven Wedemeyer, and action researchers as Kristin Braa.
The pupils get to attend a workshop with highly beloved professors Klaus Høiland and Anne Krag Brysting, among others. Some of the teens get to visit labs, other solve problems connected to the main topic of the day. Many of our students are also involved in these events.
- We know how important role models are when kids are deciding what to study in higher education. Getting to meet tech girls and biology boys are an important signal from us, says Vice Dean of Studies and Education Solveig Kristensen at The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences.
- They do not only chose what they will become, but who they will become.
Future students
Dean Morten Dæhlen agrees that Ungforsk is an important recruitment measure.
- Today it is even more important than before that we show the young people what they can do with science and technology, both in research and in the society as such. We have to open their eyes to the career opportunities in the STEM fields: in 2030, one out of four tech jobs will be vacant.
- With the new admission criteria where we require R2 maths in almost all our study programmes, it is important to get the students to choose the right math program early on, he says.
The fact that many of the UiO staff is participating at Ungforsk is something that both UiO management and the pupils visiting can be happy about: They meet many of our best people, across subjects, professional levels and gender.