A COVID-19 epidemic was declared in Slovenia in March 2020. With the mass teleworking, the premises of the Institute of Contemporary History were left empty. Employees who occasionally still worked in the office brought their pets with them, which helped them to overcome the long-lasting epidemic.

This positive experience has raised the question how animal-human interaction changed during 20th-century crises. Answers will be sought in the workshop, intended for primary school pupils.

The participants will learn how to find various sources and use them to extract interesting stories about pets. The collected stories, photos and drawings will be used to make a zine, and a delicious snack will be in store as well. For a more authentic atmosphere, participants will be able to bring their own pets (properly socialised dogs).

Coordinator: Andrej Pančur, PhD, Institute of Contemporary History

Younger and older visitors will test how much sugar is in each type of food by seeing how many bags of sugar would weigh down the packets of food items and sugary drinks pictured. The role of fibre in the diet will also be illustrated, along with the benefits of certain carbohydrates in the diet, the types of sugars in foods, drinks, fruit and vegetables and what affects the uptake of sugar into the blood.

Through a specially developed game called SugarScope, children and young teenagers will be able to guess, while moving around, what sugar is in the diet of animals and whether bees can make honey from sugar water.

Adults will get acquainted with sugar modifications of foods and proteins in the body, AGE measurement.

Project coordinator: Irina Milisav, PhD, Faculty of Medicine

The experiment will be used to present the newly established interdisciplinary human behaviour research laboratory and their latest research to secondary school students and other interested public.

The illustrated picture stories book Who’s afraid of a bunny? was published by the Scientific Publishing House of the Faculty of Arts. Cvetka Sokolov, together with other authors, will present it to the youngest readers at the main event of the European Researchers’ Night 2023.

A panel exhibition of the illustrations will also be on display on the occasion. On 29 September the ehibition will be on display in the Mestni trg Square, and in October in the lobby of the Faculty of Arts.

You are cordially invited!

Coordinator: Cvetka Sokolov, PhD, Faculty of Arts

The illustrated picture stories book Who’s afraid of a bunny? was published by the Scientific Publishing House of the Faculty of Arts.

Cvetka Sokolov, together with other authors, will present it to the youngest readers at the main event of the European Researchers’ Night 2023.

On this occasion, Suzi Bricelj and ALUO students will present the picture stories and children will have the opportunity to join a creative workshop.

The activity is for a group of kindergarten children. Registration is now closed. You are cordially invited to the other activities of the European Researchers’ Night!

The panel exhibition of the picture stories illustrations will be on display in the Mestni trg Square on 29 September and in the Faculty of Arts foyer from 2 October onwards. You are cordially invited!

Coordinator: Cvetka Sokolov, PhD, Faculty of Arts

They will ask and answer the questions whether cats really have an easier life because humans allow them to meet their basic biological needs, and whether we humans, through cats, fulfill our own desires instead of meeting their non-obvious needs.

In a conversation entitled The Cat Debate – What does it mean for a cat to be a modern cat? Especially for a brachiocephalic cat, the two will also argue the pros and cons of deepening our relationship with cats, discuss our impact on their psychophysical health and satisfaction, the dictates on feline lifestyle and morphological changes such as brachycephaly.

They are committed to a great relationship with cats, but this should be based on understanding and compromise, not on bad and old practices.

Coordinator: Pšenica Kovačič, Minami Kat – Centre for Cat Culture

They will make puppets and prepare a theatre performance for younger classmates and kindergarten children. The performance will also take place on the European Researchers’ Night on September 29, 2023.

Cvetka Sokolov, PhD, will also talk to the children about her other literary works and introduce them to the connection between her research, teaching English at the Faculty of Arts, and writing for children and young adults.

The activity is for a group of kindergarten children. Registration is now closed. You are cordially invited to the puppet show at 14:00 and to the other activities of the European Researchers’ Night.

Coordinator: Cvetka Sokolov, PhD, Faculty of Arts

Mentor and Class Teacher of class 7 of the Waldorf School of Ljubljana: Gaja Červ

Workshop participants will be acquainted with certain animal species (e.g. cockroaches, snails, spiders, mealworm beetles, wasps, butterflies, toads, hedgehogs and dormice) that share the urban environment with people. They will observe tracks of birds and mammals.

They will also see how animals adapt to the urban environment, where their homes are, what they eat and how people can jeopardise them. They will learn to thoroughly observe and recognise animal tracks (footprints, excrements, food residues, homes etc.).

They will focus on animal species that are active during the night, when people usually sleep and animals can move more freely, so guided tour of the city will also take place in the evening.

Due to the limited number of places available, registration for the workshop is required at the following e-mail address luka.praprotnik@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: Luka Praprotnik, MA, Faculty of Education, in cooperation with students of the Faculty

A presentation at a stall on the European Researchers’ Night will focus on recognising pain using facial expressions.

The last decade has seen the development of pain assessment using facial expressions in different animal species, such as mice, rats, rabbits, skunks, cats, pigs, horses, sheep and cattle. The assessment is simple and does not take much time, and the techniques can be acquired quickly even by people with no prior veterinary education.

Building an awareness that animals feel pain just like people should start as soon as possible in children, in secondary school education at the latest. With this project, Veterinary Faculty researchers aim to “open the eyes” of children and teach them to recognise signs of pain in animal species for which pain assessment scales exist, using facial expressions.

Through pictures and videos, they will show European Researchers’ Night visitors how to recognise pain in animals using facial expressions. They will use quizzes to test the success of the presentations, encouraging visitors of the stall to think critically and transfer the acquired knowledge to their home environments.

Coordinator: Alenka Seliškar, PhD, Veterinary Faculty

African Swine Fever (ASF) is a viral disease that can decimate domestic and wild pig populations but poses no threat to humans. The disease results in high economic losses as trade in pigs, their meat and meat products are affected in addition to pig deaths.

ASF has not been confirmed in Slovenia, but the situation in Europe has deteriorated significantly in recent years. The virus is very resilient in the environment, meat and meat products.

Humans have a very important role in the spread of the disease. The only way to curb the disease is prevention, i.e. a consistent implementation of measures preventing the introduction and spread of the virus to pig farms.

The first aim of the project is to raise public awareness about the interdependence of the human and animal worlds when it comes to viral diseases, as well as about the role of humans as indirect carriers of the virus and the possible ways of preventing transmission.

Another aim is to involve students in animal health and preventing animal-human-animal transmission in schools with a veterinary or agricultural programme. The activity will take place through interactive activities (e.g. experiments, debates, games and quizzes).

In order to better understand the interdependence (and draw a parallel with COVID-19), the Veterinary Faculty researchers selected a currently raging animal disease where humans play an important role in its spread.

Coordinators: Irena Golinar Oven, PhD, Jan Plut, PhD, Veterinary Faculty