Science is fancy! - "Nobel-weeks at the University of Szeged" awareness campaign

"It's cool to be a researcher today! Science is fancy! Following in the footsteps of Katalin Karikó and Ferenc Krausz, two Hungarian Nobel Prize-winning researchers, the colourful world of science opens up. Let's go, join us on our voyage of discovery!" - The "Nobel Weeks at the University of Szeged" awareness campaign is aimed at students. The series of programmes aimed at promoting science and research started on 22 November 2023: Katalin Karikó talked to students from Szeged, according to her research is like the thrill of an investigation.

Bridge between Stockholm and Szeged

The Nobel Weeks at the SZTE website provides background information as well as a summary of recent events in Hungary and Sweden related to the University of Szeged's awareness campaign.

The Livestream section of the website, accessible from the SZTE homepage, is a collection of links to events in Sweden that can also be followed online.

In the Nobel Laureates' Programmes section, we describe the duties and responsibilities of Katalin Karikó, research professor at the SZTE and Ferenc Krausz, a scientist collaborating with the ELI ALPS Laser Research Centre in Szeged in connection with this prestigious award. Colourful reports on the events and happenings of the "Nobel Week" in Stockholm, Sweden, its participants and guests will be provided by the University of Szeged's correspondents. Exclusive interviews, photos and vlogs from Stockholm will complement the "official" coverage of the Nobel Week in Stockholm, which also celebrates Hungarian researchers, on the SZTE webpage, the SZTE website and social media platforms.

The Szeged programs section presents the activities of SZTE and its partners related to the Nobel weeks.

The News section contains information on the latest updates and current news.

Seedlings of scientists about scientists

A series of unusual lessons on the Nobel Prize, Nobel Prize winners and Nobel Prize topics will be held in Kisújszállás, Szeged and Veszprém.

For example, at the Lovassy László High School in Veszprém, Tünde Praznovszky, an alumnus of the institution and the University of Szeged, held an unusual lesson about the 50th anniversary of the Szeged Biological Research Centre, presenting the changes in the history of science. As part of the "Nobel Weeks Awareness Campaign", the series of informal lessons will continue in Veszprém as well: students of the Lovassy High School will have the opportunity to meet Katalin Karikó, a fellow student of the University of Szeged, János Géczi, a biologist and multifaceted creator, on 15 December 2023, in an informal lesson, discussing the relationship between natural sciences and arts, biology and literature.

During the "Nobel Weeks at the University of Szeged" campaign, part of the lessons in biology, physics, literature, chemistry, mathematics and class teachers' classes will be dedicated to learning about Nobel Prize-winning topics and researchers, and to student lectures, including in the University of Szeged's practical schools.

More information about Katalin Karikó, research professor at the University of Szeged, is available on the SZTE website, news portal and the website of the SZTE Klebelsberg Library.

The schedule of online lectures of the 2023 Nobel laureates is also available from the website.

Knowledge test and ceremony

At the "Nobel-Weeks at the University of Szeged" campaign on 10 December 2023, we will celebrate together the Nobel Prizes of Katalin Karikó in Physiology or Medicine and Ferenc Krausz in Physics. In line with the great achievements in science, the celebration will also focus on science and creativity in the competitions.

To the university program series in Szeged on December 10, organized in honor of the Hungarian Nobel laureates

Szeged talent management organizations (Csányi Foundation Szeged community house, SZTE Junior Academy, Mathias Corvinus Collegium), SZTE training schools and interested students from other institutions will join the series of university programs in Szeged on December 10, organized in honor of the Hungarian Nobel laureates.

Students, their chaperones and the general public are invited to a series of science-related presentations and quizzes on Sunday, 10 December 2023, from 15:00 at the JATE Club of the SZTE Dugonics Square building.

The programme for primary school pupils is organised by the Juhász Gyula Faculty of Education Knowledge Centre of the University of Szeged.

In the SZTE Junior Knowledge Trial, teams of 3 to 3 secondary school students will compete. Registration is possible online until 7 December.

Participation in the quizzes does not require any special preparation, but knowledge about the Nobel Prize is useful!

The members of the top three teams of secondary school students will receive institutional admission points from the SZTE Junior Academy (1st place: 10 points, 2nd place: 8 points, 3rd place: 5 points), which can be used for the University of Szeged's degree programmes.

Triple exhibition

The University of Szeged has contributed to the Nobel Prize awareness campaign in several cities in Hungary.

The exhibition, which opened in December 2022 and started a travelling tour from Szeged, consists of four parts. Documents from the Karikó Collection of the Klebelsberg Library of the University of Szeged (archival photos, diplomas, school notebooks, university diplomas, academic and company access cards) and objects present important stages of Katalin Karikó's life. In addition to press photos from the last three years' award ceremonies, photographs of artefacts that highlight the beauty of the awards (medals, small sculptures) showcase little-known celebratory moments in the life of the academic. Some interesting awards are on display in all their beauty under glass. Katalin Karikó uses the videos to "address" visitors to the exhibition: she shares her good advice for young people and introduces mRNA therapy.

The exhibition titled "Katalin Karikó's Journey to the Lasker Prize and Beyond", organized by the SZTE, will be open to the public during the Nobel Week in Veszprém in the Lovassy high school between 27 November and 15 December 2023, in Kisújszállás in the Móricz high school between 1 December 2023 and 18 January 2024, and in Pécs in the building of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Pécs between 4 December 2023 and 19 January 2024.

Anniversary Nobel Prize Lectures

Katalin Karikó financially supported the talent development program of the National Medical Biology Foundation, which started from the university ranks in Szeged. On December 13, 2023, the organization's National Scientist Training Academy, which has grown into a national network, will introduce the work of Nobel Prize-winning professor Randy Schekman and his wife, Sabeeha Merchan, to the students of the Lovassy high school. The guests do not know Katalin Karikó personally, but some awards connect the scientists. At the Katalin Karikó exhibition opened under the auspices of SZTE, the American cell biologist Randy Schekman will be able to recognize the Canada Gairdner International Award he received in 1996, which he presented in Veszprém in a photo of an art object and in its beauty.

Katalin Karikó and Randy Schekman have already received the Albert Lasker Prize, also known as the American Nobel Prize, for basic medical research, the Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize, and the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Katalin Karikó, as well as Randy Schekman and Sabeeha Merchant are members of the American National Academy of Sciences. In addition, both researchers were elected members of the German National Academy of Sciences of Leopoldina.

Randy Schekman and Thomas C. Südhof will also participate in the 21st edition of the Nobel laureates and talented students in the Szeged meeting program on December 13-15, 2023. in the congress hall of SZTE TIK on the 10th anniversary of their Nobel Prize.

SZTEinfo

Translated by: D.M.

Photos by SZTE NKI