EC2U Science Battle 2022

Science Battle in Turku, Finland Image: Hanna Oksanen

What is a Science Battle?

A Science Battle is a scientific competition: for the smartest solution, the best approach, the most entertaining explanation. It is a public display of how scientists tackle a new research question while also being creative and "thinking outside the box." The format was developed at the University of Turku (Finland) in 2016 and is now being expanded as a competition between the seven members of the European Campus of City Universities (EC2U) university alliance.

In 2021, Jena's EC2U partner universities Pavia (Italy), Poitiers (France) and Turku (Finland) competed against each other. Pavia won the Science Battle 2021. In 2022, the University of Jena will now compete with teams from Coimbra (Portugal), Iasi (Romania), Salamanca (Spain). In 2023, this year's winner will face Pavia in a third round. The final will be held in 2023 at one of the campuses of the two finalists - so maybe Jena.

How does a Science Battle work?

In the second EC2U Science Battle, four teams of six researchers each from different disciplines will compete against each other. For example, the teams are all given the same question and three minutes to solve it; then they must present their answer. At each of the four venues, there is a moderator who talks to the team and the audience on site. As in a television show, all four venues are connected via livestream.

The judges from Pavia, Poitiers and Turku award points for quick wit, entertainment factor and logical reasoning. The audience awards additional points via online-vote.

Each team has three jokers: a phone call, an internet search or someone clever in the audience on site.

The Science Battle will be held in English.

On youtube you can watch the Science Battle 2021 as a full video or check out the highlights on youtube. Watch the 2022 Science Battle on YouTube.

Since May, we have been looking for six team members for the Science Battle on 30 September 2022. Some candidates put their own name forward, many nominated their favorite professor, smartest co-scientist or cleverest young researcher. Those nominated all

• have a broad range of expertise
• think outside the box
• have fun solving tricky problems
• are able to explain things very well
• have a sense of humor and like to play
• speak English well
• want to win and
• .... convinced us of their enthusiasm!

On 7 July the EC2U Science Battle team of organizers put together an interdisciplinary, diverse team from all those nominated. Please support our team on 30 September:

EC2U Science Battle 2022 TeamJena Collage: International Office

Owl with EC2U logo Graphic: Collage: Liana Franke (Adobe Stock)

In the Science Battle, the teams solve questions from the audience. To get an idea of what kind of questions have made it into the last Science Battles, here are a few examples:

• Why are stars and other celestial bodies like Earth almost round, but our solar system flat?
• Is it ethically better to eat insects than meat?
• Why do water pipes freeze faster when the frost subsides?
• Why are humans so selfish?
• How many balloons does it take to lift an 80kg person into the air?
• How can we control the lack of oxygen in the Baltic Sea?
• What is the decisive factor in the fight against cancer?

And which question will you ask the researchers?

Everyone can ask questions - the people in the Jena region as well as members of the Jena universities.

Your questions could be mailed (keyword "Science Battle 2022") to ec2u@uni-jena.de by 9 September 2022.

Oh yes... and of course you had to be there to see if your question made it into the 2022 show!