Through guided experimental research, primary and secondary school students will assume the roles of scientists to discover and compare the properties of different materials originating in the animal world. Based on reporting the results of the experimental exercise, they will reflect on the advantages and challenges of using such materials in everyday life.

Due to the limited number of places available, registration for this experimental workshop is required at the following e-mail address taja.klemen@pef.uni-lj.si. When registering, please indicate:

1. name of the workshop,

2. time of the workshop,

3. number of participants you are registering for the workshop.

Moderation and implementation: Taja Klemen, Faculty of Education, Centre KemikUm, in collaboration with students of the Faculty

Visitors will also acquaint themselves with how widely useful hive products are in our everyday lives. During the lecture, they will be able to ask questions or engage in a discussion with the expert.

Project coordinator: Miha Slapničar, PhD, Faculty of Education, Centre KemikUm

Lecturer: Aljaž Debelak, Slovenian Beekeepers’ Association

Guided by researchers from the Faculty of Education, they will compare the mechanism of the “fish” rising and sinking in the water with such mechanisms in actual fish, discussing the similarities and differences between the model and live fish specimens.

Due to the limited number of places available, registration for the workshop is required at the following e-mail address mojca.cepic@pef.uni-lj.si. When registering, please indicate:

1. name of the workshop,

2. time of the workshop,

3. number of participants you are registering for the workshop.

Coordinator: Mojca Čepič, PhD,  Faculty of Education, in collaboration with students of the Faculty

There will be 10 to 15 pupils participating in the workshop on the mysterious gold of bees, a healing substance for man, they will be able to flow freely between individual experiments. The faculty will take care of the guided conducting of natural science experiments, while the teachers will be expected to supervise the pupils and keep them safe.

Due to the limited number of places available, registration for the workshop is required at the following e-mail address miha.slapnicar@pef.uni-lj.si. When registering, please indicate:

1. the name of the workshop,

2. the time of the workshop,

3. the number of participants you are registering for the workshop.

Coordinators: Miha Slapničar, PhD, Faculty of Education, Centre KemikUm, in cooperation with students of Faculty of Education

This topic will be featured in a lecture by Matjaž Gregorič, PhD, from the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

The lecturer will present, on the one hand, how researchers seek to understand the evolutionary importance of spider silk from the molecular level to the use of such silk in building high-capacity webs, and on the other hand, how spider silk has extraordinary potential as a biomaterial for human use due do its wide range of intriguing mechanical properties.

Although the routine use of spider silk has not been achieved yet for any purpose, this dynamic field promises to be useful in practically all spheres of human life – from direct use of the material and making new chimeric biomaterials to enhancing synthetic materials and inventing new ones.

Lecture: Matjaž Gregorič, PhD, Jovan Hadži Institute of Biology, SAZU Research Centre

Moderator: Vesna Ferk Savec, PhD, Faculty of Education, Centre KemikUm

There will be 12 different workshops, where pupils will mostly discover interesting phenomena, familiarise themselves with living beings and thus get to know the beauty of science. There will be 5 to 7 pupils participating in each workshop, and they will be able to flow freely between the workshops.

The faculty will take care of the guided conducting of natural science experiments, while teachers will be expected to supervise the pupils and keep them safe.

Due to the limited number of places available, registration for the workshops is required at the following e-mail address jerneja.pavlin@pef.uni-lj.si. When registering, please indicate:

1. name of the workshop,

2. time of the workshop,

3. number of participants you are registering for the workshop.

Coordinators: Jerneja Pavlin, PhD, and Ana Gostinčar Blagotinšek, PhD, Faculty of Education, in collaboration with students

The attention will be focused on wassailing, which is a multifaceted show throughout Romania, co-created by words, music, motion, dance and artistic performances.

During wassailing, a village turns into a big stage serving multiple roles as the carnival develops, enabling a group of young boys to play their parts. They are merely the main collective actor in wider socio-dramatic action, where men, women and fantastic beings perform in various ways. The village is not only a stage; it can also be an audience, actor, director or dramatist. The villagers are usually aware that they are creating a show, a carnival performance, and that they are part of it.

Wassailing with the “Goat”

Mimetic plays with an animal mask as the main prop can be found throughout the world and are very diverse; they often appear in Central and Eastern Europe as well.

The goat mask is one of the most widespread; it is related to a character called “rourita” or “blind man”, whose existence in Europe is attested even in ancient times.

Rituals, myths and legends from the Daco-Romanian area are part of the hunter culture, but “a hunter ideology can become a pastoral ideology”, as explained by Mircea Eliade, one of the most prominent Romanian anthropologists.

In the Carpathian lands along the Danube, the image of an animal, achieved by dressing as one and performing a simple show, represents aspects from the lives of animals living in the region. The theatrical image of the goat, however, represents a mythological animal that is separated from reality and normally serves as an abstract symbol for soil fertility.

Coordinator: Ioanna-Carmen Jieanu, PhD, Faculty of Arts

At the beginning, Nina Petek, PhD, from the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, will present the importance of comics as a medium for the dynamic transmission of the philosophical tradition of Buddhism. The presentation will be followed by a screening of the comic created by academic artist and comic artist Ciril Horjak, the event will be rounded off with a workshop of group reading of the comic story.

The activity will address a professional as well as a wider audience in a fun and colourful, yet deeply meaningful way, and will also commemorate the 2500th anniversary of the death of Siddhartha Guutama Buddha.

Project coordinator: Nina Petek, PhD, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts

Making of the comic book: Ciril Horjak, BFA in painting, illustrator, caricaturist and comic book artist

As the European Researchers’ Night traditionally takes place on the last Friday of September, primary and secondary schools will be able to access an online e-classroom with I, Animal content on the ARNES Učilnice portal on 29 September 2023.

Students will be able to familiarise themselves with certain anatomic and physiological characteristics of humans and their distant and not-so-distant relatives. They will answer questions such as: Do frogs have livers? Which is the main sense used by whales? Were Australopithecus better at climbing or walking on two legs? Do all tall animals have blood? And many many others.

They will be able to test their knowledge of different animals and their internal structures, as well as to learn about some interesting facts from the animal kingdom.

The access to the online e-classroom with I, Animal content at https://www.arnes.si/jaz-zival-e-delavnica-na-evropsko-noc-raziskovalcev/ remains open, so students and educators can engage and benefit from them.

Coordinator: Petra Golja, PhD, Biotechnical Faculty

Participating researchers from the Anthropology Group, Chair of Physiology, Anthropology and Ethology, Biotechnical Faculty: Katja Zdešar Kotnik, PhD, Tatjana Robič Pikel, PhD, together with Blaž Režonja, Neža Kokalj and Maruša Poje, students of the Faculty.

This time, the activities of the Festival of Antiquity will focus on exploring the role of animals in ancient cultures (language, inscriptions etc.). The festival will take place in the form of interactive (music, epigraphy, cultural history) and language workshops.

I. INTERACTIVE CULTURAL-CIVILISATION WORKSHOPS (Faculty of Arts and/or Foerster Garden by the Faculty of Arts)

– Ancient Cuisine (between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.; for secondary school students)
– Lessons in Emona (between 9 am and 3 pm; for primary school students)
– Touch Ancient Emona (between 9 am and 3 pm; suitable for all participants)
– Walking tour of Emona (between 9 am and 3 pm; suitable for all participants)
– Let’s Get To Know the Lapidarium: Roman Everyday Life Through the Prism of Ancient Stone Monuments at the National Museum of Slovenia (between 9 am and 3 pm; suitable for primary school children)

II. LANGUAGE WORKSHOPS (Latin, Ancient Greek and Modern Greek, between 9 am and 3 pm; suitable for pupils of grades 6 to 9 of primary school and for secondary school students; Faculty of Arts)

– Hiper! Super! (Did you know that you use Ancient Greek and Latin every day?)

– Latine loqui amo Ave. Quomodo vales?

– Veni, vidi novi! Language Workshop for Secondary School

– Colloquia Latina

III. CULTURAL-CIVILISATION WORKSHOPS AND LECTURES (Faculty of Arts)

– Wrath, Goddess, Sing – Homer’s Iliad Once and Now (from 9.00 to 15.00; suitable for all participants)
– Winnie ille Pu – the unexpected bestseller by Alexander Lenard
– Ancient Mythology: “A picture Tells a Thousand Words” (from 9 am to 3 pm; suitable for all participants)

Coordinator: Sonja Weiss, PhD, Faculty of Arts

Participating researchers from the Faculty of Arts, Department of Classics: Andreja Inkret, PhD, Jelena Isak Kres, David Movrin, PhD, Nataša Gaši, Anja Ragolič, PhD.

External partners: the Vespesjan Cultural Association, the Herodotus Institute, Slovenian School Museum, National Museum of Slovenia, Museums and Galleries of Ljubljana, Institute of Archaeology ZRC SAZU, external researchers

For more information on the events, see the Antiquity Festival programme.