Falling Walls Falling Walls Science Summit 2023
Falling Walls Engage Hub Sweden

Falling Walls Engage Hub Sweden: “A platform to exchange ideas and best practices”

Falling Walls Engage Hubs Falling Walls Engage Success Stories

We spoke to Maria Hagardt, Falling Walls Engage Hub Sweden Manager, about the Falling Walls Engage Hub Sweden and the importance of the international Hub network.

 

What is the focus of the Falling Walls Engage Hub Sweden and which countries does it cover?

Our focus is exploring the Science Engagement and science communication (scicomm) landscape in Northern Europe and connecting Nordic-Baltic Science Engagement and scicomm practitioners. The Falling Walls Engage Hub Sweden provides a platform to exchange ideas and best practices with each other and to find synergies and collaborations with engagers globally. The Hub Sweden covers the northern part of Europe and the following countries and territories: Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden and Åland.

What makes the network of the Hub Sweden unique?

Our strength and uniqueness lies in our diversity; we encompass 11 territories, 9 countries and 8 languages. Even though we share some of the same history and culture, we are small countries with small populations, some very remotely situated, that have developed a strong innovative and creative ability and understand that collaboration is key to success.

"The Nordic Baltic region covers a large geographical area but is sparsely populated. Falling Walls Engage offers a unique possibility for small organisations in northern Europe to be a part of a global community."

Maria Hagardt

Falling Walls Engage Hub Sweden Manager

Why do you think a Falling Walls Engage Hub is particularly important in your region?

Falling Walls Engage is the umbrella organisation, the enabler that connects local and regional Science Engagement practitioners with colleagues across the world. The Nordic Baltic region covers a large geographical area but is sparsely populated. Falling Walls Engage offers a unique possibility for small organisations in northern Europe to be a part of a global community.

Which collaborations and cooperations have emerged since the launch of the Hub Sweden in 2020?

Due to the pandemic, we have mainly focused on building the foundation of the hub and engaging its members in dialogue on future aspects of the network. We have also discussed and identified new activities where we can find synergies for collaboration. As for the international hubs, the active hubs were included as a showcase of global science engagement during our annual scicomm conference. We have also engaged with the Hub Canada and their Hub Manager, Brett Hooton, participated in our most recent Hub Sweden meeting and in our annual national scicomm conference. We will also participate in Hub Canada’s dialogue series on science engagement across the globe.

You hosted the event “New perspectives, future possibilities – Nordic Baltic SciComm trends and initiatives” to reunite the Nordic Baltic Science Engagement community as part of the Hub Sweden and the National Forum for Science Communication (FFF) on November 14th. Could you share a few words about this? What were the highlights for you?

To see that there has been a substantial move forward in the region when it comes to both developing policies (Norway and Estonia) and the new investments in developing inspiring national centres for scicomm and Science Engagement (Iceland and Denmark).

"The most inspiring experience is to see the spark of new ideas and collaborations when engagers from different countries meet and exchange knowledge."

Maria Hagardt

Falling Walls Engage Hub Sweden Manager

Where do you see the value of the Hub network?

Being part of the greater Falling Walls Engage community/family of Science Engagement practitioners and scicommers across the world provides a unique opportunity to meet new people working in Science Engagement from outside Europe, share knowledge on similar topics and build new collaborations globally. The Falling Walls Engage network also enables members to launch, run and coordinate actions on emerging issues on a global level.

What was the most inspiring experience you had as part of the Hub network?

The most inspiring experience is to see the spark of new ideas and collaborations when engagers from different countries meet and exchange knowledge and learn about different initiatives from across the globe at the Falling Walls Engage Pitches during the Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin.

Maria Hagardt

Vetenskap & Allmänhet

Maria Hagardt is the Hub Manager for the Falling Walls Engage Hub Sweden, and the International Relations & Communications Manager at Vetenskap & Allmänhet (VA Public & Science). She works mainly with developing VA’s international collaborations, advocacy on national and European level and managing EU R&I projects. As a former National Contact Point for the European R&I framework programmes and Communication Officer at the European Commission, Maria also has a vast knowledge about EU policy.

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