Events programme

European Researchers’ Night Events

Every year, on the last Friday of September, the European Researchers’ Night brings research closer to society through public events across Europe. ERNEST contributes with immersive activities where visitors of all ages become investigators, follow clues, test ideas, and discover how scientific research connects people, countries, and everyday life.

European Researchers’ Night

Science as a shared investigation.

The European Researchers’ Night is a Europe-wide public event dedicated to research careers, EU-funded science, and the impact of research on citizens’ daily lives. It welcomes the general public regardless of scientific background, with a special focus on young people, families, pupils, students, and audiences who may have fewer opportunities to engage with STEAM fields.

ERNEST turns this mandate into an open investigation. Escape rooms introduce major scientific cases; hands-on activities and short challenges help visitors observe, test, and interpret clues; the investigator passport records their journey; debrief moments with researchers connect the experience to real scientific practice; and the EU Explorer links each discovery to a wider European research effort.

Entrance

Visitors receive an investigator passport and enter the storyline: every activity is a clue, and every clue helps them understand how science works.

Investigation Area

Escape rooms, hands-on experiments, games, simulations, quizzes, and short challenges invite visitors to observe, hypothesize, test, and collaborate.

EU Explorer

This area links the local investigation to European research, showing how discoveries grow through collaboration, mobility, funding programmes, and shared scientific networks.

Debrief Area

Researchers help participants interpret what they experienced and connect the clues, methods, and discoveries to real scientific practice.

Example of the ERNEST investigator passport

The investigator passport

The passport works as a simple logbook: visitors collect stamps linked to the scientific process, such as observing, testing, collaborating, concluding, and connecting their discoveries. There is no fixed route. Each visitor builds a personal investigation path and can connect the experience to European research through EU Explorer.

This four-zone structure is shared across all ERNEST cities. Open each city programme to discover which activities are part of its Investigation Area.

Upcoming events

Next ERN activities.

Image credits and sources

The event cards use illustrations created with artificial intelligence tools and provided to the ERNEST project. The images do not necessarily show the exact ERNEST event setup.