A night for clear heads

The Night of Sciences on Friday 26 June attracted 2,200 curious visitors of all ages to the Mittweida University of Applied Sciences campus between 6 pm and midnight. Lecturers, staff and students showcased the full range of the university’s programmes, from natural sciences through computer science, engineering and business to media and Social Work. With around a hundred hands-on activities, demonstrations, information stands, and open studios and laboratories, visitors were able to experience just how exciting, useful and relevant applied research is – and how much fun it is.

The exciting Science ABC ranged from A for ‘General Forensic Science’ to ‘Experience Biophotonics Live’, ‘Digital and Analogue Games’, ‘Ceramics Workshop’, ‘Mistakes’, ‘Planetary Gears’, ‘Show Lecture: Physics and Lasers’, as well as ‘Virtual Reality’ in the racing simulator, Mechanical Engineering and the film studio, right through to Z for ‘Magic and Juggling’ on the Technikumplatz. The Children’s University took part with a ‘special’ event, giving children the chance to see how a film crew works. Adults also had the chance to snap up the coveted themed bag during the stamp collection event – this year featuring the ‘Echspert:in’ design. A must for anyone wanting to complete or start their collection. Live music and a wide range of food and drink accompanied the evening, which drew to a close with a ‘display of light and fire’ on Technikumplatz.

Sustainability and climate protection were key topics. At the start of the evening, Rector Volker Tolkmitt officially opened the HSMW’s biodiversity trail. The trail, which is open to the public and located behind the Centre for Media and Social Work, is designed to highlight the role played by the campus’s green spaces in terms of sustainability and climate adaptation. At eleven stations – such as the flowering meadow, the nesting boxes, the potted plants on the sun deck and the living Benjes hedge – visitors can view the ‘green exhibits’ along a stretch of just over a kilometre and learn about how they were created. The scope of this initiative extends far beyond the campus: what has a positive impact on the environment there and demonstrates how sustainability is researched and implemented also has an impact across Europe: the HSMW, together with eight other higher education institutions and universities from eight countries, is part of the European higher education alliance ‘EURECA-PRO’. Together, they are establishing an international centre of excellence for sustainable consumption and sustainable production.