Outreach

We believe science should be out of the lab as much as possible, easy, and accessible for everyone. Our involvement in outreach and dissemination activities aims to inspire the younger generations encouraging them to pursue a career in science, and increase the general-public trust in research.
"This is the beauty of science: it brings the generations together, because rules don't change as trends from one generation to another, and it is a knowledge path in which everyone can venture, as long as, obviously, the storytelling is clear and easy to understand."
Piero Angela
Iconic Italian science communicator
Image

For Kids

INFN-kids is an outreach activity of INFN focused on kids up to elementary school age and their parents. In Florence, the activities are directed by the INFN LABEC group and we also participate. The actions comprise the realization of short stories, videos, and comics to explain physics simply and effectively, the participation in festivals at the national level, and guided visits at the INFN laboratories.

Group contact: Simone Valdré (simone.valdre@fi.infn.it)
Activity website (in Italian only): https://web.infn.it/infn-kids/

For High Schools

Lab2Go aims at renewing and/or strengthening the laboratories in high schools. The activities range from repairing the instruments and setting up new experiments to creating databases and instructions. All the activities are carried out by and together with the students to show the basic principles of scientific activities. In Florence, our group coordinates Lab2Go for Tuscany.

Group contact: Marco Rocchini (marco.rocchini@fi.infn.it)
Activity website (in Italian only): https://web.infn.it/lab2go/
Image

For Everyone

ScienzEstate

ScienzEstate is a festival organized yearly by the University of Florence in collaboration with the research institutes active in the territory. The INFN Division of Florence offers visits to the labs, including the LABEC Laboratory and its accelerator (as shown in the figure). As the Nuclear Physics Group, we offer visits to our labs where we develop detectors and interactive sessions where people can try some of them and learn more about nuclear physics and radioactivity.

Group contact: Silvia Piantelli (silvia.piantelli@fi.infn.it)
Activity website (ScienzEstate 2023, in Italian only):
https://www.openlab.unifi.it/vp-363-scienzestate-2023.html#
Image
Image

Street Science

Street Science is a format within ScienzEstate created by our group and includes other groups of the INFN division of Florence. In this activity, we perform interactive shows of 2-3 minutes explaining advanced scientific topics in simple words. Engaging the public is key. People select what we are going to talk about and play with us.

Group contact: Alberto Camaiani (alberto.camaiani@fi.infn.it)