A team of researchers from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) has won one of the prestigious 2024 Annual Prizes for Science Communication, awarded by the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium (KVAB) and the Young Academy. The prize was given to Ellen Roels and her colleagues, Gabriel-Mathieu Van De Velde, Hendrik Cools, Niklas Steenackers, and Bram Vanderborght of Brubotics (VUB-imec) for their groundbreaking initiatives to make robotics accessible to a wide audience, with a special focus on children and young people.
The Annual Science Communication Prizes honour researchers who have worked intensively on science communication projects over the past two years. This year, Roels and her colleagues were spotlighted for their inspiring workshops and demonstrations on robotics, including their Guinness World Record attempt for the longest robot chain at the Nerdland Festival 2023. This activity was not only a technological challenge but also an educational event aimed at sparking interest in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) among young participants. Through the workshops, children and young people learned how robots work, what components are needed to build them, and how creativity and technology go hand in hand.
The impressive robot chain was displayed at Technopolis after the festival, where visitors can collect their own mini-robot until the end of the year. In November, the workshop will continue in the form of an educational science kit (in collaboration with VUB Children's University, Brightlab, and Flanders Make), which will be made freely available to schools through Dutch-language libraries in Brussels, further encouraging interest in STEM.
Ellen Roels, the driving force behind the world record attempt, is thrilled with the recognition: "Research is often made possible through public funding, so we believe it's important, as researchers, to bring science back to the public. Unfortunately, science communication doesn't always receive the recognition it deserves within the academic world. We are therefore very pleased that our efforts have been recognised with this award."
In addition to this prize, the researchers are also in the running for the Public Science Communication Award. From 21 October, the public can vote for their favourite science communicator via EOS. Cast your vote here and help them secure this recognition as well.
The official presentation of the 2024 Science Communication Awards will take place on 19 November at the Palace of the Academies, where the winner of the Public Award will also be announced.*
*This is a machine translation. We apologise for any inaccuracies.