[WATCH] Jazz and augmented reality to take people closer to the science shaping their lives

Jazz and augmented reality to take people closer to the science shaping their lives

This year’s edition of the Science in the City festival will be all about visitor participation and interaction, highlighting the importance of citizen participation in scientific research and technological advancement.

Festival manager Edward Duca said that new activities for the festival, held this year on 27 September, would see the direct involvement of visitors in experimenting with, and understanding, science and technology. 

“Public engagement is now expected to be about science as an open, democratic process... something shaped by professionals but led by citizens,” he said. 

This year’s event will include a number of attractions and events for all ages including creative jazz concerts, neurodiverse dance, science shows, magicians, augmented reality, science theatre, puppet shows and a lot more.

The events will be spread across various parts of Valletta, with the festival running from 6pm till midnight

Triton Square would host a series of interactive activities related to health and the digital sciences, as well as the festival’s largest stage.

Magician Gwilym Bugeja will present his magic show ‘Communication, Psychology and Subconscious Influences’, while Esplora will stage ‘Body Wonders’, an activity that delves into the human digestive system. 

In Castille Square, the NGO Green House will be setting up an interactive bat show, where visitors will have to choose whether to save the bat population by becoming citizen scientists, or not.

Parliamentary secretary for Innovation Silvio Schembri said the festival’s theme this year - the Science of YOU - resonates with the times we are living in. “In view of the changes happening before our eyes, we are becoming more conscious that we need to do our part, as little as that may be,” he said. 

Schembri welcomed the festival’s commitment to bring citizens closer to researchers. “I encourage parents to make a family night out of this event, to bring their children and help then familiarise themselves with science,” he said. “And why not? They might be tomorrow’s scientists and researchers.”