EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF)

The 10th edition of ESOF in 2022 will attract thousands of delegates to Leiden (Netherlands), the host city of ESOF2022 and the European City of Science 2022, during the week of the conference. Along side with the Forum, the Science in the City Festival will be held between January and December 2022 in Leiden.

The SKAO will participate with a session on the wider benefits of research infrastructures, looking at astronomy’s contribution to societal challenges and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. 

In this session we will explore some of those wider impacts in other areas of society through lightning talks, from facilitating the development of tourism and a local economy in remote regions to protecting and restoring fragile ecosystems; promoting art and heritage or triggering deep societal changes. These brief interventions from China to South Africa and Australia will demonstrate how research infrastructures (RIs) whose primary mission is to advance our understanding of the universe are in fact deeply embedded in society and are addressing both the immediate needs and longer term concerns of local communities and society at large in a more equal and inclusive manner.

Our panel of experts will discuss radio astronomy’s role - with its highly skilled and highly educated workforce - in answering deep societal challenges, and addressing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The panel discussion will also embed a moderated Q&A with the audience on the role of RIs in addressing wider societal needs.

This session will be cross cutting, and address several of ESOF’s themes, including a sustainable environment, cultural identities and societal transformation, back to business, and space science, fully demonstrating the broad range of wider benefits RIs can bring to society. 

See more details:  https://www.esof.eu/