Research up Close in Downtown Frankfurt am Main
The MPIEA presented methods from the institute's daily research at the Science Festival. (Image: MPI for Empirical Aesthetics / F. Bernoully)
Hands-on science: The first science festival of the “Frankfurt Alliance”, founded at the beginning of the year, was a great success!
On September 28, the alliance of non-university research institutes in and around Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and the Goethe University, Frankfurt, organized a major festival in the heart of downtown Frankfurt to showcase the strength and diversity of research in the science city of Frankfurt and the Rhine-Main region. The Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics was also represented with a tent and was pleased to welcome many visitors.
The diverse program of the participating institutions offered something for everyone to enjoy: science slams, musical performances and debates on stage, as well as many hands-on activities and things to discover in the tents. Visitors young and old were able to explore a giant model of the human heart, immerse themselves in a cell with VR goggles, experiment and paint in open studios, and submit ideas for peace.
At the end of the event, Coodiny, aka Nikita Kudakov, fired up the crowd with a rap performance, once again demonstrating how diverse science can be.
Dr. Bastian Bergerhoff, City Treasurer and Head of the Human Resources Department of the City of Frankfurt, said in his welcome address in the morning: “The festival is a strong signal for Frankfurt as a science location: Frankfurt is a city of science. The Roßmarkt will be transformed into an open-air laboratory, and science will be brought to life and come out of its ivory tower. The participants are demonstrating that science is also an engine for the economy, culture and urban society.”
Prof. Enrico Schleiff, President of the Goethe University: “Frankfurt is known for its vibrant sports, cultural and museum scene, as well as its role as a banking and data center metropolis—with our first science festival, we are showing that science is also a strong pillar of the city's international reputation. The city of Frankfurt, which stands for openness, diversity and freedom, is an ideal place for scientists from all over the world, and the Rhine-Main region is a great place for internationally visible research on topics ranging from astrophysics to social cohesion—under the protection of academic freedom. As a newly founded science network, we consciously address the public with our festival in order to arouse interest in science, but also to answer questions about the how, what and why of research. Our goal is to strengthen the dialogue between research and society and to disseminate scientific knowledge—and it should be fun, for the whole family!”
About the Frankfurt Alliance:
The Frankfurt Alliance is a regional science network currently under development. On January 30, 2024, 16 research institutions from Frankfurt and the surrounding area signed a Memorandum of Understanding and presented their concept, aiming to deepen existing collaborations, combine the strengths of the participants and further strengthen international competitiveness. The aim of the network is to optimize the structural, personnel and political conditions for top-level research in the Frankfurt Rhine-Main region. It wants to contribute to the positioning of Frankfurt as an excellent science location and an international metropolis worth living in.
The following institutes are members of the Frankfurt Alliance: DIPF—Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE, Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PIRF), Senckenberg Nature Research Society (SGN), GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research, German Cancer Consortium Research—Frankfurt Site (DKTK), Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology (ITMP), Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology (SIT), Max Planck Institute for Biophysics (MPI-BP), Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics (MPIEA), Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research (MPI-HL), Max Planck Institute for Brain Research (MPI-HB), Max Planck Institute for History and Theory of Law (MPI-LHLT), Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI), Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI), Goethe University (GU).
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Contact:
Dr. Dirk Frank, Press Officer, Goethe University, Frankfurt