Two entries in particular were warmly applauded at the University of Oldenburg’s 14th Science Slam in mid-June: a project on migratory bird research, which won the Open Science Prize, and five researchers who presented their complex scientific work in an entertaining way on stage. Wind turbines, hearing aids, glowing Lego: they covered a wide range of topics.
David Onnen, a doctoral candidate at the Institute of Physics and the Centre for Wind Energy Research – ForWind, was ultimately crowned the winner by the audience’s applause. The slammer received the ‘Golden Brain’ prize, worth 500 euros and sponsored by the University’s Graduate Academy. With his topic ‘The Social Life of Wind Turbines: A Literary Search for Clues’, Onnen won over the crowd in a particularly entertaining and creative way: for example, by rapping and reciting poems he had written himself.
Audience rates slams with applause
The slam participants had ten minutes for their short presentations. The 320 guests rated these with applause of varying intensity. The other entries were also of a very high standard and were closely matched in the ratings. The audience learnt from Kristin Ohlmann, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Medical Physics and Acoustics, about how long a hearing aid is allowed to take to process sound. Simon Jacobsen, also a doctoral candidate there, explored how musical instruments can be distinguished by sound alone. Biology student Gregor Wöhle explained how to create lights using Lego. And Dr Maximilian Pérez Prada, a physicist at the German Aerospace Research Centre, explored the question of how cosmic radiation can be used to scan containers in ports.
A highlight of the supporting programme was ‘PowerPoint Karaoke’. In this, two female professors from the University of Oldenburg each presented the other’s lecture – without any preparation and without knowing the topic in advance. Prof. Dr Stefanie Samida, normally based at the Institute of Material Culture, ventured into the field of modern fall prevention for older people, a topic usually covered by Prof. Dr Tanja Zieschang from the Department of Health Services Research. Prof. Dr Zieschang, in turn, gave a skilful presentation ‘On the Everyday Nature of the Material: Visible and Invisible Constant Companions’.
The Science Slam was organised by the Research Centre Neurosensory Science, the Graduate Academy and the Graduate Schools for Social Sciences and Humanities (3GO) and for Natural Sciences, Medicine and Technology (OLTECH). The award ceremony was also supported by the Klaus Tschira Foundation and the University Society (UGO).
Open Science Prize for the ‘kids4kids’ pilot project
During the event, the Oldenburg University Society (UGO) also presented the Open Science Prize, which carries a cash prize of 1,000 euros. Since 2023, the UGO has been using this prize to honour projects and initiatives at the University of Oldenburg that actively promote the transparent and publicly accessible communication of research findings. This year, the award went to the participatory pilot project ‘kids4kids’ and an interdisciplinary team led by migratory bird expert Prof. Dr Miriam Liedvogel.
In “kids4kids”, school pupils from Wilhelmshaven work alongside researchers to develop their own ways of communicating the topic of bird migration to the public in an understandable and creative manner. “We don’t just address children as a target audience; we actively involve them in communicating scientific content,” says Liedvogel. “In doing so, they engage with current research topics, develop their own focus, ask their own questions and communicate their findings to other children in their own words.” A mobile exhibition and a podcast have already been produced, for which the children themselves conducted interviews and created the content.
The UGO jury praised the project’s exemplary approach. “kids4kids” demonstrates “that science communication can work differently: openly, participatively and in tune with young people’s interests,” said UGO chair Stefanie Abke, explaining the decision. “Children are involved in highly relevant research from Oldenburg in an original way and become compelling communicators of science themselves.”
Exhibition is also coming to Oldenburg
The project idea and its implementation are the brainchild of evolutionary biologist Dr Miriam Liedvogel, Professor of Ornithology at the Institute of Biology and Environmental Sciences (IBU) at the University of Oldenburg and Director of the Institute for Bird Research ‘Vogelwarte Helgoland’. She developed “kids4kids” in collaboration with Dr Wiebke Endres, Director of Studies at the Neues Gymnasium in Wilhelmshaven, who also lectures at the University of Oldenburg, and science communicator Dr Sabrina Satzinger from the Institute for Bird Research in Wilhelmshaven. The project was funded by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and Culture.
The resulting exhibition on bird migration will open on Friday 19 June at 4.00 pm at the Neues Gymnasium in Wilhelmshaven, before museums, other schools or educational venues can book it as a travelling exhibition – including in Oldenburg, where the exhibition will be on display from 5 to 17 October at The Smart House Oldenburg (Schlossplatz 16).
