German Science Night 2021

On the evening of August 24th, 2021, the DAAD Regional Office Cairo organised, through its COSIMENA project, the annual German Science Night, for the first time in a digital format.

Under the event theme “Experience the Fascinating World of Science”, participants had the opportunity to engage in the dynamic programme and discover Germany as a study destination. With the aim to spark interest in science by simplifying complex topics and broadening the scope towards global challenges, 41 participants, mainly Egyptian youth, have registered to participate online at the German Science Night.

By facilitating a roadmap for a guided scientific adventure, the workshop facilitators took curious guests on an interactive journey through discovering different parts of the world and global challenges, traveling back in time, diving into the digital spheres of coding or a visual hike through galaxies.

YouThinkGreen and Cairo Climate Talks, in cooperation with Greenish, simplified complex topics to make current climate phenomena such as heatwaves or an early Mango harvest in Egypt more tangible, facilitating a quiz and raising awareness towards ongoing challenges such as global warming, after the small competition to test participants` knowledge on climate change the knowledgeable winner of the quiz received two tickets for the Greenish Environmental Festival.

Subsequently, the journey led into the digital spheres, where participants had the chance for a guided hands-on programming experience with Robone. While examining real-life practice examples, all participating guests got a glimpse into coding, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and learned about the correlation between data science and its impact on daily life. During the workshop the partcipants were provided a showcase “an air traffic control problem” that they needed to solve through learning the basics of programming under mentorship from the Robone team.

Moving further, the team of the DAAD Regional Office Cairo conducted an interactive quiz where participants had the chance to test their knowledge about Germany. Through surprising and insightful facts the vivid exchange on this topic reflected the high interest of the Egyptian society towards Germany and its culture.

The scientific adventure of the German Science Night continued with a creative journey back in time by 1001 Inventions. The presented scientific short movie explored the origins of inventions that are connected to our modern world and everyday life. While acknowledging that science can be complex, the participants discovered that curiosity and ambitiousness are the first steps to develop ideas that might have a sustainable impact on the world.

Inspired by the mindset of starting simple and reaching for the stars the event continued with Bibliotheca Alexandria and the Planetarium Science Center. Guests of the event became imaginary travellers of space in a visual journey to the milky way with its billions of stars and the solar system. These fascinating yet informative insights helped everyone involved to comprehend the vastness of the universe. With a concluding glimpse into Germany as a study destination, the liaison offices of Freie Universität Berlin (FU Berlin), Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin) and the Philipps-Universität Marburg (UMR) offered insightful introductions about these educational institutions.

On this final note, the participants gained once again a deeper understanding of Germany, university requirements, study opportunities and what it’s like to be a university student in Germany. Despite the ongoing challenges of social distancing, the DAAD Regional Office Cairo with its lighthouse project COSIMENA succeeded in bridging the gap between science facilitators and the public by encouraging participants to interactively engage and discover science first-hand. Furthermore, the presented German universities gave valuable guidance to interested Egyptian high school students and graduates for becoming future university students.