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Campus and People<br />
“Smartest<br />
Night of the<br />
Year“<br />
Photos Peter Himsel,<br />
David Ausserhofer<br />
On June 2, 2012, the Long Night of<br />
the Sciences took place in Berlin and<br />
Potsdam for the twelfth time, and the<br />
MDC was once again one of the host<br />
institutions. Like last year, the MDC was<br />
playing a special role in this joint mega<br />
event of the science region. In September<br />
2010 Professor Walter Rosenthal, the<br />
scientific director of the MDC, became<br />
chairman of the Long Night of the Sciences<br />
Association, the executing organization<br />
of the science event, for a period<br />
of two years. During his term as chairman,<br />
the Association’s office is located<br />
at the MDC. imdc spoke with Dr. Kathrin<br />
Buchholz, office manager of the Long<br />
Night of the Sciences Association, in the<br />
run up of the night.<br />
Why does the Long Night of the<br />
Sciences need an association<br />
and a year-round office? Doesn’t<br />
it primarily take place in the individual<br />
institutes, universities and<br />
colleges?<br />
I’m often asked that – with the inference: Are you really busy<br />
all year? Yes, we are! After all, this year more than 70 research<br />
and science-oriented institutions will participate in the Long<br />
Night. I anticipate around 2400 individual events, all of which<br />
must be compiled and presented in the program booklet and<br />
on the website. Around 50 buses will be shuttling to and fro,<br />
transporting eager participants on several routes to the various<br />
science sites. Prior to the event, thousands of posters, transport<br />
info and maps, program booklets, and radio and TV spots will<br />
draw attention to the Long Night. Tickets will be available for<br />
purchase at various distribution partners, in particular the<br />
S-Bahn, the BVG and the ViP in Potsdam, etc. All this means<br />
a massive coordination effort. It begins in the fall with the<br />
invitations to the various institutions to participate and the<br />
acquisition of sponsors and ends with the financial report in the<br />
summer. One can truly say that “after the Long Night is always<br />
before the Long Night”.<br />
There are science nights in many<br />
cities in Germany. Do they all have<br />
an association as organizer?<br />
No, in other cities an agency of the city administration is<br />
often the organizer of the science night. That is unique about<br />
the Long Night of the Sciences in Berlin and Potsdam – it is<br />
supported and organized from the “bottom-up” – by the science<br />
institutions themselves. Our association currently has eleven<br />
scientific and science-oriented institutions as members, among<br />
them the three large Berlin universities, the Forschungsverbund<br />
Berlin (FVB), the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam – GFZ German<br />
Research Centre for Geosciences and of course also the MDC.<br />
What is the role of the Association<br />
office?<br />
In the office all of the different threads converge. The<br />
Long Night Association is supported by an external agency for<br />
project management and public relations. As the Association’s<br />
representative, I commission and coordinate the orders in a<br />
continuing process. In addition, the office coordinates the<br />
decision processes in the Association in consultation with the<br />
Board and manages the budget for the whole organization. In<br />
particular, this includes the preparation and follow-up of the<br />
general meetings of the members. These convene several times a<br />
year to make the most important management decisions for the<br />
joint project.<br />
The chairmanship of the Association<br />
rotates every two years and<br />
the office moves with it. Why is<br />
this so?<br />
As I understand the history of the Board of Trustees of the<br />
Long Night of the Sciences, the precursor to today’s association,<br />
the purpose was that the members should alternate in bearing<br />
the burdens for the joint project, because the presiding institution<br />
contributes more resources than others. At the same time,<br />
this ensures that no single institution can regularly present<br />
itself as initiator and driving force of the whole project. Thus,<br />
the reputation connected with the Long Night of the Sciences<br />
is distributed equally. And the office of course must be in close<br />
proximity to the chairman. The regular moves are strenuous,<br />
but in this way I also really get acquainted with the science<br />
landscape in Berlin and Potsdam. This is an advantage for such a<br />
coordination-intensive job. (kb, co)<br />
After the Long Night is always<br />
before the Long Night: On June 8,<br />
2013, the next Long Night of the<br />
Sciences will take place in Berlin<br />
and Potsdam.<br />
imdc03 2012<br />
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