HN: Science is not only for swots, Neuron's event showed

The first ever Neuron Speed Dating event, at which young students debated with experienced scientists on 15 June, was noticed by a number of media outlets — among them Hospodářské noviny (HN). "Interestingly, about a fifth of those who applied for the science speed dating were university students — so even they, although they are at university, do not have an entirely easy route into science. Neuron will select ten students from the speed dating participants. They will be able to take part in a science camp devoted to connecting science with business," wrote Markéta Hronová.

Young people are drawn to doing science but do not know where to start or what their options are. That was shown by a meeting — unique in Czechia — of committed secondary-school and university students with scientists, organised by Nadace Neuron. Its quiz, which is meant to help young people find the scientific field they could pursue on the basis of their interests, was filled in by more than twenty thousand students in two months.

The idea of trying to organise a science speed dating in Czechia came from the microbiologist Martin Schwarzer. "I was on a postdoctoral placement in France and took part in a similar event. Although the French did not speak English well enough and I did not speak much French, I got a lot out of it," he said of how the idea of a meeting between students and scientists came about. So on Monday eighty students debated with fifteen scientists in field-based clusters. Each had a slightly different focus; the aim was to show young people that top research can be the right path for them too. The event was part of the Začni s Proč (Start with Why) campaign, which Neuron launched this spring.

It is not only straight-A students who can excel in science

"Everyone imagines that science can only be done by swots with straight A's. But that is not the case at all. Our hardest job is convincing young people that they can get into science even if their marks at school are not the best," says the director of Nadace Neuron, Monika Řasa Vondráková.

The reactions of the pupils — half of them nominated by the heads of prestigious secondary schools and grammar schools, the other half selected by the foundation on the basis of the completed quizzes and a covering letter — show that school does not give them enough opportunities. Klára Čermáková from the Brno-Řečkovice grammar school, for instance, attends weekend lectures on medicine. But she had to find them herself.

"I think there are real talents in our class, for instance, but they do not develop much. School shows us few options for where to go next," Čermáková says. She would like to try a placement at a university, but until now she was afraid. After Monday (15 June), when she heard the stories of a number of young people who already have that kind of experience behind them, she no longer is.

The other students Hospodářské noviny spoke to also agreed that school does not give them enough opportunity to fulfil themselves in science. In their view schools concentrate mainly on olympiads and school competitions, but those do not have such an impact on students' future scientific development. Much better, according to Johana Jaklová, a student at the Nad Alejí grammar school, is the Secondary School Professional Activity competition — the so-called SOČ, which has been helping students work on real scientific discoveries for several decades and has drawn quite a few of them into science.

Science transfer into business is missing

Recently more projects have appeared — set up by secondary-school students themselves — that try to draw young people towards science. Zvaž vědu! or STEM Hub, for instance. Interestingly, about 20 per cent of those who applied for the science speed dating were university students — so even they, although they are at university, do not have an entirely easy route into science.

Neuron will select ten students from the speed dating participants. They will be able to take part in August's science camp, which will be devoted to connecting science with business. "Czechia has few transfers of science into business, so we focused on that," Vondráková explains. If it turns out that there is great interest in events like this, Neuron is ready to repeat the science speed dating.