Researchers' night

2nd-floor atrium 
The programme is subject to change  

The Great Science Stage brings together people, science and art. Here you will meet University of Latvia researchers whom we got to know through the Science rockSTARS campaign, while improvisational actors will perform everyday-life sketches together with them. Scientific data will be transformed into music, science into movement and dance, while a Baltic live broadcast will connect Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. 
Moderator: Emīls Gatis Liepiņš, TV personality  

• 17:00 Aurora Nexus: Connecting People, Science and Art – Opening of the Great Science Stage 
  Address by Guntars Kitenbergs, Vice-Rector for Research of the University of Latvia
   
• 17:15 University of Latvia Researchers – Modern RockSTARS
  They are modern rock stars because their “hits” are changing the world. Their stage is made up of laboratories and lecture halls, while instead of guitars they use lasers, microscopes, data and ideas that seemed like science fiction only yesterday. Attention – the science rockSTARS!
   
• 17:20 Science Improv. Featuring University of Latvia science rockSTARS Aina Semjonova and Dainis Krieviņš together with the comedy troupe “IB draugi”
• What happens when science and the stage meet? An experimental “connection” between science and performance, where Aina Semjonova, a chemistry researcher at the University of Latvia’s Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, and Dainis Krieviņš, professor at the University of Latvia’s Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, professor of vascular surgery and vascular surgeon, will look at science from a different perspective.
   
• 17:50 The Breathing Choir – Singing and Science
  Complex and serious science – neurobiology – will be transformed into stage art. “The Breathing Choir” explores the connection between breathing and the brain’s stress centres. Through the interaction between the artists and the audience, the stage and the auditorium become one unified, breathing space. Come, join in and breathe with us as part of this shared experience!"
   
• 18:00 Science Improv. Featuring University of Latvia science rockSTAR Mārcis Auziņš together with the comedy troupe “IB draugi”
  What happens when science and the stage meet? An experimental “connection” between science and performance, where Mārcis Auziņš, a physicist, professor and leading researcher at the University of Latvia’s Faculty of Science and Technology, will look at science from a different perspective.
   
• 18:30 Science-and-Music Performance “The Third Sound Phenomenon”
  The University of Latvia Wind Orchestra and researchers from the University of Latvia’s Faculty of Humanities meet on stage
   
• 19:00 Science Improv. Featuring University of Latvia science rockSTARS Zanda Rubene and Raivis Vilūns together with the comedy troupe “IB draugi”
  What happens when science and the stage meet? An experimental “connection” between science and performance, where Zanda Rubene, Director of the University of Latvia Doctoral School, professor and leading researcher at the University of Latvia’s Faculty of Education Sciences and Psychology, and Raivis Vilūns, a researcher in journalism and media studies at the Institute of Social and Political Studies of the University of Latvia’s Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, will look at science from a different perspective.
   
• 19:30 The Microcosmos in Motion – A Symbiosis of Dance and Science
  Did you know that, from the perspective of physics and meteorology, a snowflake is a single ice crystal in which water molecules are arranged in a precise hexagonal lattice? Nature and the world around us are based on such subtle patterns – from this ice crystal all the way to the spiral of our DNA. Members of the University of Latvia’s dance groups will show how the delicate architecture of the microcosmos unconsciously resonates in dance as well.
   
• 19:45 Baltic Live Broadcast
  In a live video broadcast, the science of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia will “meet”.
   
• 20:00 Science-and-Music Performance “The Third Sound Phenomenon”
  The University of Latvia Wind Orchestra and researchers from the University of Latvia’s Faculty of Humanities meet on stage
   
• 20:30 Science Quiz for Everyone
   
• 20:45 Baltic Live Broadcast
  In a live video broadcast, the science of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia will “meet”.
   
• 21:00 An Experiment with a Folk Song
  Scientific discoveries require us to break out of established frameworks and search for the deeper code. Together with the ensemble, we will break with tradition by radically changing the rhythm and genre of a folk song and improvising. The latest research proves the therapeutic power of singing together – come, free yourself from stereotypes and surrender to a shared transformation of sound!
   
• 21:15 Aurora Nexus: Connecting People, Science and Art – See You Next Year! 

How do light, colour and matter shape our world? Light installations; colour laboratories; demonstrations of material transformations; astronomy activities; co-creative science and art objects; interactive experiments on energy, matter and technologies, as well as light as a metaphor in the context of the humanities.  

The Future of Work: Humans, Artificial Intelligence and Attention 
Location: 3rd floor, next to Room 314 
Organised by: Department of Human Factors and Work Environment, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Latvia  

• Test your attention, reaction time and decision-making skills through short tasks in a calm environment and under conditions of information overload. 
• Find out how humans will collaborate with artificial intelligence in the future. 
• Take part in a discussion on creating a healthy and inclusive working environment for the future. 

Live Image Diagnostics
Location: Room 317
Organised by: Institute of Clinical and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Latvia  

• Find out how mathematics helps analyse medical images. 
• Stand in front of the camera and watch on the screen as a computer identifies your body contours in real time and performs immediate video segmentation. 
• Discover, in a simple and visual way, how mathematical methods are used to analyse medical images. 

**Body in Crisis: A Rescue Laboratory** **Location:** next to Room 317 Organised by: Riga Medical College of the University of Latvia * Find out what happens to the human body in different situations and how these situations can be prevented. * Learn various facts about the human body and try out practical skills, including providing respiratory support through intubation, stopping life-threatening bleeding and using different massage techniques.  

Live Healthy – Live Well 
Location: 4th-floor corridor 
Organised by: P. Stradiņš Medical College of the University of Latvia  

• Learn about the human body and health through practical activities. 
• Discover the world of radiology. 
• Examine blood cells and microorganisms under a microscope. 
• Find out how to choose suitable footwear correctly. 
• Analyse the condition of your skin using a digital microscope. 
• Discover technical aids that will help you understand the everyday challenges faced by people with functional impairments 

Physics Is Cool
Location: Room 508
Organised by: Young Physicists’ School, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia  

• Discover different fields and phenomena in physics. 
• Find out why you are more stable on a moving bicycle than on a stationary one. 
• Find out how generators actually produce electricity. 
• Meet students and young scientists who will answer these and many other questions interactively – both about phenomena encountered in everyday life and those invisible to the naked eye. 

Watch Videos, Learn Physics 
Location: Room 509 
Organised by: Physics Education Research Group, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia  

• Watch various videos and digital materials for learning physics: 
• Video experiments and demonstrations from physics competitions, 
• Opportunities to learn physics through Khan Academy videos on the LUKA learning platform, 
• Find out about the new teaching materials being developed by the University of Latvia for Physics II and for learning physics in primary school. 
• Meet researchers and find out what blended learning is, how videos and digital resources can be used to learn physics, and what the current topics in physics education research are. 

How Heat Becomes Visible
Location: 5th-floor corridor
Organised by: Institute of Numerical Modelling, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia 
– Watch everyday and unusual demonstrations using a thermal camera.  

• Discover surface emissivity, the heat capacity of materials, the transparency of materials and cooling with warm water. 

Enter the Laboratory of Future Medicine!
Location: Rooms 608 and 609
Organised by: Laboratory of Advanced Biomaterials and Biophysics, Institute of Atomic Physics and Spectroscopy, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia  

• Find out how nanomaterials, cells and artificial intelligence help scientists develop new solutions for treating infections, promoting wound healing, cancer therapy and the regeneration of damaged tissue. 
• Discover how the medical technologies of the future are created – from an idea and a laboratory experiment to a practical solution! 
• Find out about MXene nanomaterials. 
• Examine materials used in research and discover how science helps address health problems that are important to society. 

All the projects in the laboratory share one goal: to use modern nanotechnologies, biomaterials, cell biology and artificial intelligence to address significant medical challenges. 

Green Energy: Wind
Location: Room 636 and corridor
Organised by: Institute of Mechanics of Materials, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia 
Watch demonstrations of how environmentally friendly and strong composite materials for wind turbines are developed and studied.  

A Reliable Optical Frequency Standard 
Location: 6th-floor corridor next to Room 643 
Organised by: Quantum Optics Laboratory, Institute of Atomic Physics and Spectroscopy, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia  

• Microresonators as sensors for exploring the world. 
• Lasers for telecommunications applications and the future development of quantum technologies.  
• See how it is possible to scan an optical wavelength range of 100 nm within a few seconds to obtain the spectrum of an acetylene molecule. 

What Can Be Done in the Environment Using Light? 
Location: next to Room 646 
Organised by: Laboratory of High-Resolution Spectroscopy and Light-Source Technologies, Institute of Atomic Physics and Spectroscopy, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia  

• Find out how artificial intelligence learns to recognise atomic spectra. 
• Identify different spectra! Are you smarter than AI? 
• Find out what can be seen with ultraviolet light and how it can be used to kill bacteria and viruses. 
• Find out whether there is mercury in your body and in the surrounding environment, and whether it is dangerous. 

See Your Nose in Laser Light 
Location: Room 605 
Organised by: Biophotonics Laboratory, Institute of Atomic Physics and Spectroscopy, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia  

• Examine an endoscope that uses three-colour laser illumination. 
• Look inside a model of the nasal cavity and find the blood vessels in it. 

Using Active Thermography to Monitor Blood Circulation 
Location: next to Room 605 
Organised by: Biophotonics Laboratory, Institute of Atomic Physics and Spectroscopy, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia  

• Cold versus your circulation – which will win? 
• Using a FLIR thermal camera, observe in real time how your palm cools down and then warms up again. 
• Try it yourself and find out how quickly your body can restore its temperature after exposure to cold! 

Three-Dimensional Assessment of the Human Skin Surface 
Location: next to Room 605 
Organised by: Biophotonics Laboratory, Institute of Atomic Physics and Spectroscopy, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia  

When assessing various skin diseases, such as psoriasis, it is necessary to know what proportion of the body’s total skin surface is affected. This assessment helps the treating physician monitor how the disease changes over time – whether its extent is increasing, decreasing or remaining unchanged.  

• How easy is it to accurately assess what percentage of the body’s surface is covered, for example, by disease-related redness? 

How Can You Protect Your Skin from UV Radiation? (Plus Bead Bracelet Making for Children) 
Location: next to Room 605 
Organised by: Biophotonics Laboratory, Institute of Atomic Physics and Spectroscopy, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia  

• How can you protect yourself from sunburn? 
• Watch demonstrations of the effects of UV radiation. 
• Explore light-based methods for the early diagnosis of skin lesions. 
• Make your own “sunny” bead bracelet. 

Meet the Luminophore 
Location: Room 649 
Organised by: Optical Biosensors and Functional Nanomaterials Laboratory, Institute of Atomic Spectroscopy, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia  

• Find out what a luminophore is and where it is used. 
• Watch 3D-printing demonstrations. 
• Take part in optical testing.  

Creating 3D Metamaterials 
Location: Corridor next to Room 636 and Room 636 
Organised by: Institute of Mechanics of Materials, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia  

• Watch the production of 3D-printed honeycomb structures. 
• Discover the journey from a digital model to a real sample. 

The Secrets of Forensic Examination 
Location: Public space on the 7th floor 
Organised by: Faculty of Law, University of Latvia  

• Step into the role of a real investigator and find out how light helps reveal the invisible. 
• Examine unique fingerprint patterns and learn the technology used to collect them. 
• Using special ultraviolet and forensic lamps, illuminate the darkness to search for hidden traces and decipher invisible, secret texts. 

How Did You Spend Your Summer? CERN Summer School 2026 
Location: Room 714 
Organised by: Laboratory of Atomic Physics, Atmospheric Physics and Photochemistry, Institute of Atomic Physics and Spectroscopy, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia  

• Meet master’s students from the University of Latvia’s Department of Physics who attended the CERN Summer School of the European Organization for Nuclear Research this summer. 
• Find out how to “touch” the atomic nucleus and what the much-discussed Higgs boson is. 
• Ask the students whether there is life after visiting CERN. 
• Find out in which areas of nuclear research Latvian researchers are world-class “stars”. 

VESTA Digital Zenith Camera – Photographing the Stars 
Location: Rooms 717, 726 and 725 
Organised by: Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformatics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia  

• See the VESTA digital zenith camera in action. By photographing stars, it can be used to determine the Earth’s gravitational field. 
• Find out how images of stars help us study the Earth! 

Demonstrations will take place every half hour.  

Come and Visit the Telescope 
Location: Rooms 717, 726 and 725 
Organised by: Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformatics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia  

• Enter the telescope control room. 
• See the equipment that makes it possible to track satellites, space debris and asteroids. 
• Learn about the methods scientists use to identify and intercept objects that may affect the Earth and geospace. 

Fighting Disinformation: Natural vs. Artificial Intelligence 
Location: 7th-floor corridor 
Organised by: Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Latvia  

• Test whether you can always distinguish authentic content from content generated by artificial intelligence. 
• Test your attention and ingenuity by completing engaging digital and hands-on tasks about AI and information reliability. 

*Some activities will take place on the 3rd and 6th floors; see the programme.  

Science and art bring together artificial intelligence (AI), data, algorithms and the digital society. 
Digital art workshops; data visualisations; AI demonstrations; virtual worlds; data-driven interactive stories; digital culture and media activities.  

When Data and Machine Learning Meet Dynamic Systems 
Location: 2nd-floor corridor 
Organised by: Data-Driven Systems Modelling and Control Group, Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia  

Today, increasingly complex dynamic systems are found both in technology and the natural sciences. Machine learning helps us understand this complexity, but models that are used incorrectly can also be misleading.  

• Explore, through simple examples, how modern machine-learning methods help model and analyse complex dynamic systems. 

The Practical Side of Mathematical Statistics  
Location: 2nd-floor corridor 
Organised by: Laboratory of Statistical Research and Data Analysis, Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia  

• Find out how numbers help us understand and predict the world.
• Play chess with a professor and test your strategy against logic honed over many years.
• Take part in a probability theory quiz and find out how much of your life is actually determined by chance.
• Explore various types of Latvian data and their analysis.
• Test your ingenuity in an escape game for data experts.
• Try out how forecasting and classification work.
• See how strategic decisions emerge from data chaos! 

The Magic of Mathematics 
Location: 2nd-floor corridor 
Organised by: Little University of Mathematics, Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia  

• Do you know how good your mathematical thinking is?
• Come and join the Little University of Mathematics team in discovering surprising patterns, solving tricky problems and playing mathematical games. 

Fuzzy Mathematical Logic – Where Can It Be Useful in Everyday Life? 
Location: 2nd-floor public space 
Organised by: Research Group for Fuzzy Mathematical Structures and Technologies, Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia  

• Find out whether fuzzy mathematical logic is really as complicated as it sounds.
• Try out decision-support tools.
• Learn about the principles of fuzzy logic and its usefulness in data processing and decision-making. 

Teach a Computer to Read Handwriting 
Location: Room 201 
Organised by: University of Latvia Library and the Centre for Digital Humanities, Faculty of Humanities  

• Teach a computer to read handwriting!
• Take part in training a handwriting-recognition model.
• Write a text by hand, scan it on the Transkribus platform and check whether the computer can recognise your handwriting. 

Project ȬPEN, or “Open Knowledge Ecosystems for the Advancement of Citizen Science” 

The Word Laboratory 
Location: Room 201 
Organised by: Faculty of Humanities, University of Latvia  

• Create new words and terms.
• Find out how word formation works.
• Discover the elements of word-formation nests.
• Explore the everyday work of Latvian language researchers – its creative processes, challenges and fascinating discoveries. 

Language Detectives 
Location: Room 201 
Organised by: Faculty of Humanities, University of Latvia  

• Explore the similarities and differences between Slavic languages by looking for common Slavic words and borrowings.
• Create your own language profile and a shared language map while discovering the diversity of European languages.
• Trace the journey of your name through Europe and receive a personalised “name passport” in Slavic languages. 

The Quantum Computer Is Real! 
Location: Room 205 
Organised by: Quantum Computing Centre, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia  

Quantum computers are a reality, and we have a physically accessible prototype with three qubits.  

• See a quantum computer in action.
• Find out about quantum phenomena such as superposition and quantum entanglement.
• See for yourself how a quantum computer is programmed. 

The Money Suitcase Challenge 
Location: Room 207 
Organised by: FinTech Business School, University of Latvia  

• Hold one suitcase in each hand, both filled with paper banknotes, and compete to see how long you can hold them and which hand can hold one longer!
• Cash vs. digital/cryptocurrency: Which is heavier – the physical or the technological? 

Art Workshop and Exhibition “The Money of the Future” 
Location: Room 207 
Organised by: FinTech Business School, University of Latvia  

• Art workshop and exhibition “The Money of the Future”.
• What will money or payment look like in 2050?
• Draw or create your own vision of how you will pay 25 years from now.
• Let your imagination run wild and create money or a wallet that no one has ever seen before! 

How Is the Future Created? 10 Studies. 10 Questions. Ideas That Drive Change 
Location: Room 207 
Organised by: FinTech Business School, University of Latvia  

• Discover how science is changing our everyday lives and the future.
• Explore artificial intelligence, FinTech, cybersecurity, sustainability and innovation.
• Join the conversation and test your ideas together with researchers. 

Throw It Away or Give It a Second Life? 
Location: Room 207 
Organised by: FinTech Business School, University of Latvia  

• Do you have an unused pack of tiles or a tin of paint left over from your last renovation sitting at home?
• A materials exchange point would allow such materials to reach someone who could use them.
• Vote: Would you use it? Help us develop the idea further! 

Live Image Diagnostics 
Location: Room 317 
Organised by: Institute of Clinical and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Latvia  

• Find out how mathematics helps analyse medical images.
• Stand in front of the camera and watch on the screen as a computer identifies your body contours in real time and performs immediate video segmentation.
• Discover, in a simple and visual way, how mathematical methods are used to analyse medical images. 

Voice Crowdsourcing for the Latvian Language 
Location: Room 650 
Organised by: University of Latvia Library and the Centre for Digital Humanities, Faculty of Humanities  

• “Donate” your voice and help train Latvian speech-recognition technologies.
• Take part in the Language Technology Initiative’s “Voice Crowdsourcing” project by recording your voice and checking texts recorded by others. 

This is where sound, vibrations, molecules and human perception come together. Soundscapes; sensory workshops; experiments in human perception; language and communication activities; the interplay between music and science; stories about “invisible” processes in nature and the human body.  

Mind Laboratory: Myths, Perception and Mental Health
Location: Rooms 103 and 104
Organised by: Department of Neuromedicine and Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Latvia

• Test your knowledge of mental health, dispel common myths and complete attention tasks!
• Experience a simulation of an auditory hallucination. 
• Gain an understanding of the fundamentals of neuroscience and psychiatry.
• Find out what experiences people with mental disorders go through. 

Eye-Movement Measurements and Illusions 
Location: Room 105 
Organised by: Perception and Cognitive Systems Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia  

• Take part in scientific experiments and games exploring the many aspects of human perception. 
• Discover the research findings of the Perception and Cognitive Systems Laboratory. 
• Find out how researchers study shapes, colours, tastes, emotions, personality traits, haptics, spatial skills and cross-modal associations. 
• Eye-movement measurements and illusions. 

Voices of Atoms: What Do Romance Languages Sound Like? 
Location: Room 106 
Organised by: Faculty of Humanities, University of Latvia  

• Take part in interactive activities and discover the sounds, origins and similarities of French, Spanish and Italian. 
• Test your knowledge in quizzes, audio tasks and language games – distinguish between different Romance languages and their dialects, guess the meaning of words and sentences you hear. 

Computational Chemistry – What Is It? 
Location: Rooms 103 and 104 
Organised by: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, University of Latvia  

• See chemistry from a different perspective. 
• Watch H₂, O₂, CO₂ and N₂ molecules move and collide in computer models. 
• Find out how visualisations help us understand sustainable reactions for energy and climate technologies. 

Phonetics Games 
Location: Room 106 
Organised by: Faculty of Humanities, University of Latvia

• Gain an interactive experience of phonetics and English pronunciation.
• Discover the interplay between intonation, stress, tempo, pronunciation, reading skills and thinking. 
• Explore poetry reading as a cognitively based speech activity, in which the text is examined semantically and emotionally and transformed into spoken language. 
• Learn interactively about the fundamentals of how the speech organs work and how their activity is coordinated with cognitive processes. 
• Explore the mechanisms behind the pronunciation of sounds and words, creating a visual and hands-on understanding of the characteristics and diversity of languages. 

Muonium: Two Microseconds for an Experiment
Location: Corridor next to Room 643
Organised by: Theoretical Physics Laboratory, Institute of Atomic Physics and Spectroscopy, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Latvia  

• Find out what this exotic atom, muonium, is.
• Discover why physicists study it and what a theoretical physicist can calculate about its interaction with light. 

In the foyer on the 2nd floor 
The programme is subject to change and may be expanded! 

The Small Science Stage is a place where people, science and art come together. A special role is given to the University of Latvia Doctoral School and early–career researchers–their research will be transformed into short stories and science improvisation. 

 Authors of the best scientific research projects by Latvian school students will also take the stage. 
The programme will be complemented by quizzes, discussions and musical performances–here, science can not only be discovered, but also acted out, sung and experienced. 
Moderated by: Endīne Bērziņa, Radio NABA 

• 17:00 Aurora Nexus: Bringing People, Science and Art Together – Opening of the Small Science Stage
   
• 17:20 Europe’s Contribution to Science – An Engaging Short Presentation
   
• 17:30 The Future of Our Science – presentations of the best scientific research projects by Latvian school students
  Participating in the presentation are students from all over Latvia who have received high evaluations in Latvian and international scientific research project competitions.
   
• 18:40 Science Quiz for Everyone
   
• 18:40 Science Improvisation. Featuring University of Latvia doctoral students Anna Stepanova and Klāvs Ēvelis
  What happens when science and the stage meet? An experimental “combination” of science and theatre, in which early–career researchers from the University of Latvia will talk about their research from a different perspective. The first improvisation features Anna, whose research focuses on computational and theoretical chemistry, and Klāvs, whose areas of interest are sports, brain function and psycho–emotional health.
   
• 19:10 Breathing Choir – Singing and Science
  Complex and serious science–neurobiology–will be transformed into a performing art. “Breathing Choir” explores the connection between breathing and the brain’s stress centres. Through the interaction between the artists and the audience, the stage and the auditorium become one unified, breathing space. Come, join in and breathe along with us in this shared experience!
   
• 19:20 Europe’s Contribution to Science – An Engaging Short Presentation
   
• 19:30 Science Improvisation. Featuring University of Latvia doctoral students Ildze Šķestere and Mārtiņš Lastovskis
  What happens when science and the stage meet? An experimental “combination” of science and theatre, in which early–career researchers from the University of Latvia will talk about their research “from a different perspective”. The second improvisation features Ildze, whose interests include Asian studies, and Mārtiņš, a researcher of marine macroalgae, aquaculture and the blue bioeconomy.
   
• 20:00 An Engaging and Educational Science Quiz for Everyone
   
• 20:15 Microcosm in Motion – a symbiosis of dance and science
  Did you know that, from the perspective of physics and meteorology, a snowflake is a single ice crystal in which water molecules are arranged in a precise hexagonal lattice? Nature and the world around us are based on such subtle patterns–from this ice crystal all the way to the helix of our DNA. Members of the University of Latvia dance groups will show how the delicate architecture of this microcosm is unconsciously echoed in dance as well.
   
• 20:30 Science Improvisation. Featuring University of Latvia doctoral students Eva Gaigalniece and Edvards Kuks
  What happens when science and the stage meet? An experimental “combination” of science and theatre, in which early–career researchers from the University of Latvia will talk about their research “from a different perspective”. The third improvisation features Eva, whose research addresses political radicalisation, extremism, disinformation and social polarisation, and Edvards, who is interested in what influences the everyday work of scientists and how scientists choose the resources in which to publish their findings and discoveries.
   
• 21:00 Aurora Nexus: Bringing People, Science and Art Together – See You Next Year! 

Some activities will take place in the basement; see the programme.

How will we live in five, ten or 100 years? Workshops on future scenarios, activities exploring nature, health and well-being experiences, climate and environmental initiatives, co-creation activities on sustainable living, and exploration of the relationship between humans and nature.  

Disordered, but Stable and Improved
Location: Room 020 (basement)
Organised by: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, UL

• Find out how the effectiveness and stability of pharmaceutical substances can be improved using various preparation methods.
• Discover how the physicochemical properties of pharmaceutical substances can be improved.
• Carry out an experiment to obtain amorphous (disordered) structures of pharmaceutical substances and identify them.

A Scientist’s Hobbies and Passions
Location: Corridor next to Room 107
Activity organised by: UL Museum 

• What does a scientist do when they put aside their microscope, books or laboratory notes?
• Discover how mathematics can be combined with painting, zoology with drawing, geology with folklore, engineering with flying and botany with literature.
• Discover the unusual passions of five UL scientists and try them out yourself!

Science for Little Ones
Location: Room 223
Organised by: Faculty of Education Sciences and Psychology, UL 

• Discover, Create and Play in the VR World!
• Enter virtual reality.
• Discover the world of VR.
• Draw in three-dimensional space.
• Play an exciting robot game.
• Try out how virtual-reality technologies work.
• The Robot Challenge
• Discover educational robotics.
• Try out Photon, LEGO, Ozobot and mTiny robots.
• Solve tasks, create algorithms and see whether the robot can bring your ideas to life.
• Fruit Piano
• Find out how apples and bananas can be used to play music.
• Come and play the fruit piano!

Science for Grown-Ups
Location: Room 223
Organised by: Faculty of Education Sciences and Psychology, UL 

Catch the Fake News! 

• Test how well you can distinguish fact-based, truthful news headlines from false ones.
• Find out to what extent this ability depends on what you already believe, what you want to believe and what you do not want to believe.
• Learn simple techniques for evaluating information more critically and avoiding mistakes.
• Discover the IDEAL Future Teachers Academy digital learning platform and professional development opportunities for educators.
• Choose a topic that is relevant to you, explore the learning materials and try one of the activities.
• Think about what you would change in your school if you could start today.
• Choose a real challenge in the learning environment, look at it from different perspectives and create, together with others, a solution for a school where everyone can learn, collaborate and feel good. 

Discover the IDEAL Future Teachers Academy digital learning platform! 

Let’s Transform the Learning Environment Together! 

Create a School Where People Want to Learn!

• Explore the school learning environment from different perspectives – the physical environment, a technology-enhanced environment, as well as the social-emotional and inclusive environment.
• Choose ideas, combine solutions and create a plan for the learning environment of your future classroom or school.

How Can Education Be Measured? 

• Try out the tests and tasks completed by students in IEA and OECD educational studies and explore the variety and content of the tasks.
• Step into the role of a researcher and policymaker.
• Find out what the PIRLS, TIMSS, PCILS, ICCS and PISA studies are and how they can influence the quality of education.
• Step into the role of a teacher, solve situations from everyday school life and test your abilities.
• Find out whether you might discover here that teaching is your next career step.

Do You Have What It Takes to Be a teacher? 

• Step into the role of a teacher, solve situations from everyday school life and test your abilities.
• Find out whether you might discover here that teaching is your next career step.

The Oldest Land Plants
Location: Room 320
Organised by: Department of Ecology, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, UL 

• Look at mosses in a whole new way!
• Explore the world of mosses under a microscope and discover their ability to come back to life after drying out.
• Find out how these ancient plants help protect our ecosystems and climate.

How Can We Count Bees and Bumblebees? 
Long-Term Ecological Research (eLTER, SEPPI projects)
Location: Room 324
Organised by: Institute of Biology, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, UL 

• Find out about innovative methods for counting insect pollinators.
• Explore large-format photographs and insect collections to discover how bees, bumblebees, hoverflies and other insects contribute to nature and help care for our ecosystems.
• Challenge artificial intelligence – find an insect in a photograph, cast your vote with a sticker and compare your choice with the computers and the researcher’s answers to find out whether the algorithm can make mistakes.

Sustainable Blue Bioeconomy
Location: Room 320A
Organised by: Institute of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, UL 

• Test your skills in a video game and discover career opportunities in the blue economy sector!
• Discover the diversity of macroalgae through creative activity and learn about their role in the cycling of nutrients in ecosystems.

Plastic Troublemakers. Mission for the Future
Location: Rooms 301 and 327
Organised by: Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, UL 

• Test your knowledge of climate-friendly actions.
• Complete various tasks and receive a climate comic book.
• Explore the devices and technological solutions that can already help us plan how to manage our homes more efficiently in the future.

Natural Pigment Colour Experiments
Location: Rooms 301 and 327
Organised by: Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, UL 

• Can you change a colour with just one drop?
• Experiment with how natural pigments react to acidic and alkaline environments.
• Draw on specially prepared pigmented paper and watch your drawing change colour.
• Find out why berries, fruits and flowers are so colourful and how chemistry allows these colours to change.

Reeds for Our Future (+ Reed Straw Workshop)
Location: Rooms 301 and 327
Organised by: Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, UL 

• Discover the ReCreateBiobases project and the possibilities of using reeds as a local, renewable raw material.
• Make useful items from reeds in a creative workshop.
• Find out how reeds can replace fossil raw materials and become a source material for new products, such as sound-insulation solutions for the construction industry.
• Discover sound-insulation solutions and examples of other potential products.

Sustainable Choices for Our Future
Location: Rooms 301 and 327
Organised by: Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, UL 

• Find out how to manage resources, sort waste and care for our planet in everyday life.
• Play “Sustainability Lotto”, test your knowledge and learn something new!
• Play, learn and help create a greener future!

Natural Colour Laboratory – Materials from the Past for the Art of the Future
Location: Rooms 301 and 327
Organised by: Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, UL 

Experience and see how many different colours can be created from clay accumulated at different times and under different conditions. 

Attention – the Geographers’ Mafia!
Location: Rooms 336/335
Organised by: Department of Geography, Faculty of Science and Technology, UL 

• Discover the world through the lens of geography!
• Visit the photo exhibition “Passers-by”.
• Form your own idea of the ideal international student in Latvia.
• Explore physical and digital maps.
• Test your knowledge in an exciting Kahoot quiz.
• Find out where and how geographers work.

The Biggest Book in Red Covers – The Red Data Book
Location: Room 433
Organised by: Institute of Biology, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, UL 

• Discover the new Red Data Book of Latvia and protected nature!
• Examine mosses and insects through a magnifying glass.
• Put together puzzles and discover rare plant and animal species together with researchers from the Institute of Biology.

Know or Guess: Asia’s Past and Future
Location: Room 405
Organised by: Faculty of Humanities, UL 

• Test your knowledge and luck while exploring the history of Asian countries and their role in the 21st century.
• Identify historical events and symbols of contemporary culture.
• Decipher words and characters from Asian languages and test your linguistic intuition.
• Explore cultural codes by reading body language and identifying what is considered beautiful, polite, lucky or unlucky in different Asian cultures.

Plant Cell Pearl Laboratory
Location: Room 432
Activity organised by: Plant Biotechnology Laboratory and Institute of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, UL
Encapsulate plant cells in alginate and discover how plant and bacterial cells can be grown together. 

• Use a pipette to add liquid, create solid cell-containing beads and examine them under magnification.
• The activity is also suitable for the youngest visitors.

Discover Latvia`s Collection of Microorganism Cultures
Location: Room 432
Organised by: Institute of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, UL 

• Discover the diversity of the microbial world in a variety of ways.  
• Explore the diversity of microorganisms and learn about lactic acid bacteria in our bodies and in bees.
• Try creating your own oyster mushroom farm.

Discover India!
Location: Room 406
Organised by: International Centre for Indian Studies, Faculty of Humanities, UL

Discover India’s diversity by taking part in creative activities that will offer a new perspective on Indian culture, the environment and research.

Frankenstein – The Philosopher
Location: Room 408
Organised by: Faculty of Humanities, UL 

• Explore contemporary philosophical perspectives on life.
• Think, discuss and experiment by solving philosophical tasks and thought experiments, and taking part in conversations.
• Reflect on questions about nature and value of life, as well as the responsibility of scientists and society.

The Twists and Turns of the Energy Maze
Location: Room 502
Activity organised by: Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, UL
What is the machinery of energy? 

• Discover glucose metabolism through an exciting relay race:
• receive a glucose molecule,
• carry out enzymatic reactions,
• earn ATP energy in the form of sweets.
• By searching for hidden Krebs cycle enzymes, older participants will gain an understanding of biochemical processes, while younger participants can have fun running around.

The Invisible Beauty of Seeds
Location: Room 509
Organised by: Institute of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, UL 

• Discover the beauty of nature in an unusual way.
• Examine seeds with the “naked eye” and discover their hidden forms.  
• Learn about the importance of seeds and discuss the latest research by scientists.

From Mortar and Pestle to Reactor: The Journey of Co-crystals
Location: Room 623
Activity organised by: Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, UL 

• See mechanochemical synthesis in action.
• Grind substances in a mortar to create new compounds.
• Watch the synthesis take place in a ball mill.
• Understand crystallisation and learn about the applications of cocrystals, from the laboratory to industrial production.

How do light, colour and matter shape our world? Light installations; colour laboratories; demonstrations of material transformations; astronomy activities; co-creative science and art objects; interactive experiments on energy, matter and technologies, as well as light as a metaphor in the context of the humanities.

Skaņotne 
Location: 2nd-floor atrium 

In collaboration with mycologist Evita Veinberga, sound artist “SKANOTNE” will use sensors and technology to transform plant activity and other environmental processes into a real-time soundscape.
The music and light performance will be complemented by: 

• A lecture by mycologist and fungi researcher Evita Veinberga, “Fungi: From Cultural Heritage to Science”. 
  Lecture times: 18:30, 19:30, 20:30

Lecture duration – 30 minutes

• A fungi paper and fungi ink workshop led by mycologist Andra Simanova

Can You Charge Your Smart Devices by Walking?
Location: Room 007 (basement) and Room 604
Organised by: Institute of Chemical Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, UL 

• See how an atomic force microscope works.
• Find out how this microscope can also be used to study the generation of electrical energy through friction.

Can You Generate Electricity from Your Body Heat?
Location: Room 007 (basement) and Room 604
Organised by: Institute of Chemical Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, UL 

• Turn your body heat into electricity!
• Touch thermoelectric materials, measure the electricity generated and compete with others – who can produce the most energy?
• Find out how temperature difference can generate an electric current and how body heat can be used to power small devices.
• Step into the role of a battery researcher – assemble a coin-cell battery yourself and find out what it consists of and how energy is stored inside it.

What Is Nano?
Location: Room 007 (basement) and Room 604
Organised by: Institute of Chemical Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, UL 

• Take a glimpse into a world thousands of times smaller than a human hair.
• Discover 1D, 2D and 3D nanomaterials.
• Find out how they are created and where they can be found in our everyday lives.
• Complete various tasks and discover, step by step, how nano-devices are created.

How Can You Touch the Invisible?
Location: Room 007 (basement) and Room 604 

• Discover a world that our eyes cannot see!
• Learn about the atomic force microscope, or AFM, which uses a very fine needle and a laser to study the surfaces of samples at the nanoscale.  
• Find out how very small vibrations can provide information about the properties of materials and cells.
• Can you imagine what it would be like to “touch” the world at the nanoscale?

Prussian Blue – From Art to Science
Location: 1st-floor corridor
Organised by: Department of Chemistry and Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, UL 

• Discover how a random chemical discovery became a revolution in art, medicine and technology!
• Synthesise the Prussian blue pigment and watch it form.
• Take part in creating a collaborative work of art.
• Find out about the applications of Prussian blue in water purification and energy storage.

The Earth Tells Its Story
Location: Rooms 108 and 109
Organised by: Department of Geology, Faculty of Science and Technology, UL 

• Explore the stories told by planet Earth.
• See the past – fossils and ancient environments.
• Observe the present – soil, groundwater movement and active processes within the Earth.
• See the invisible – signals and data from vibrations, electromagnetic waves and magnetic fields.

Sensory Laboratory
Location: Room 217
Organised by: Career Centre, UL 

• Find out how our senses affect emotions and the body’s responses.
• Through experiments and personal experience, discover scientific insights into sensory perception, emotions and the body’s responses to various stimuli.

Imagination Laboratory
Location: Room 217
Organised by: Career Centre, UL 

• Why do people tend to see completely different things in one and the same object?
• How does a completely new idea suddenly emerge from something familiar?
• Test what your brain is capable of when you let your imagination run free!
• Look for the familiar in the unfamiliar and play with associations.

Communication Laboratory
Location: Room 217
Organised by: Career Centre, UL 

• Can you “read” a person without a single word?
• Find out how much we communicate even when we remain silent.
• Explore how accurately you can express and recognize emotions without words, and why this skill is essential in our everyday communication and relationships.

Try On a Profession!
Location: Room 217
Organised by: Career Centre, UL
– Have you ever imagined that your everyday “likes/dislikes” and “wants/don’t wants” could accurately reveal your strengths and weaknesses when building a career? 

Discover Medicine!
Location: Room 107
Activity organised by: Riga First Medical College of the UL
Get hands-on and test your skills in everything from providing first aid to modelling the anatomical shape of a tooth! 

DNA Detective: Decipher the Code of Life
Location: Room 401
Organised by: Centre for Genomics and Bioinformatics and Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, UL 

• Decipher the code of life.
• Enter the molecular world.
• Use 3D models and images of laboratory methods to create a chain of amino acids from DNA and RNA strands.
• Touch the molecule found in every cell of our bodies.

See Through Different Eyes
Location: Room 427
Organised by: Department of Optometry and Vision Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, UL 

• Does the fact that another person also has two eyes mean that they see the surrounding environment in the same way as you do?
• Find out about the technologies of the future that will help us see more!

From Haiti to the Baltic Sea
Location: Room 545
Organised by: Dendroecology Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, UL

• Discover the unique story of tropical wood that has been washing ashore near Ulmale in the Baltic Sea for more than 140 years, following the wreck of the French sailing ship “Le Tage”.
• Examine wood samples and artworks.
• Find out about the research conducted by scientists from the Dendroecology Laboratory.
• Make a postcard using wood pigment.

Follow the Light!
Location: Room 615
Activity organised by: Centre for Analytical Measurement Solutions, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, UL 

Follow the light! Complete clever tasks, search for clues and uncover the faculty’s lost secret! 

• Follow the light even in the deepest darkness and test your powers of observation.

Light and Matter 
How do light, colour and matter shape our world? Light installations; colour laboratories; demonstrations of material transformations; astronomy activities; co-creation objects combining science and art; interactive experiments on energy, matter and technology; and light as a metaphor in the context of the humanities. 
 

Location: 8 Ķengaraga iela, Riga 
When? 17:00–21:00 
Organised by: the University of Latvia Institute of Solid State Physics  

• An exciting science show featuring colourful flames, burning foam, experiments with liquid nitrogen and an explanation of why helium makes the voice sound different. Particularly brave visitors will also be able to try some of the experiments themselves!
• The secrets of light – surprising experiments and an opportunity to test the different properties and practical applications of light for yourself.
• The Neon Dimension – darkness, colours and musical rhythms will merge into one extraordinary experience. Drinks will glow under UV light, while liquid nitrogen will transform snacks into a special adventure.
• Demonstrations of future technologies, including oil purification simulations, smart-window dimming, sensors and light-emitting chips that could enable faster smart devices and the internet of the future.
• Fascinating experiments and hands-on activities – explosive H₂ bubbles, microfluidic chips and the opportunity to assemble your own battery.
• Games, a quiz and an escape room where you can test your knowledge and ingenuity! 

We invite groups of more than 10 visitors to register by writing to info@cfi.lu.lv. 

Folklore, Literature and Art = Science 
Location: J. Šteinhauera iela 2, Riga 
Directions: Google Maps
Organised by: the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia  

• Folklore corner – explore the lyrics of folk songs mentioning parasites, such as fleas and lice, through games. The activity is organised in cooperation with the University of Latvia iGEM Latvia–Riga student team.
• Literature corner – take part in memory games, explore photographs of writers and literary scholars “Then and Now”, play reading-habits bingo, explore the map “Where Does Literature Live?” and create literary mimes.
• Art corner – test your knowledge of the world of theatre and explore contemporary art and its materiality in a task for art observers.
• Folk knowledge in crisis situations – take part in a rapid survey and micro-interviews about experiences in crisis situations.
• Keep the youngest visitors entertained – games for children.
• Listen to a popular-science lecture on culture, heritage and security. 

Biologically Synthetic 
Location: J. Šteinhauera iela 2, Riga 
Directions: Google Maps
Organised by: the iGEM Latvia–Riga student team  

iGEM is the world’s largest synthetic biology competition, in which more than 300 student teams from different countries around the world participate every year. Using the knowledge and methods of synthetic biology, the teams develop innovative solutions to current problems.  

• Discover the fascinating world of parasites and the secrets of synthetic biology!
• Examine various parasites under a microscope, learn more about their spread and discover how to protect yourself from infection, so that the parasites remain on the microscope slide rather than entering the human body.
• Gain practical experience with methods that turn scientific ideas into real-world solutions. This year, the iGEM team is developing a portable diagnostic tool that could make it possible to detect the presence of Trichinella parasites in samples of hunted meat more quickly and easily in the future.
• Take an interactive test to check your knowledge, learn more about the current situation regarding trichinellosis in Latvia and find out how well you know safe preventive measures.
• In cooperation with the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art, take part in a creative mini-research project on images of parasites in Latvian literature, which will allow you to look at parasites from a completely different perspective—outside the microscope and scientific laboratory. 
   

Data Art 
Science and art bring together artificial intelligence (AI), data, algorithms and digital society. 
Digital art workshops; data visualisation; AI demonstrations; virtual worlds; data-driven interactive stories; digital culture and media activities.  

Location: 1 F. Candera iela, Riga 
Organised by: the Department of Computing of the University of Latvia Faculty of Science and Technology and the University of Latvia Museum 
When? From 17:00 to 22:00.  

Do you know who Latvia’s Elon Musk is? He grew up in Riga, and his childhood home holds stories about his life. A scientific study is currently being conducted in this house on body measurements and avatar prediction.  

Anyone can participate in the study as a volunteer by providing their data and receiving their own 3D avatar in return. 

Living in the Future 
How will we live in five, ten or 100 years? Workshops on future scenarios, activities for exploring nature, health and well-being experiences, climate and environmental initiatives, co-creation activities on sustainable lifestyles, and exploration of the relationship between people and nature.  

A 9,000-Year-Old Past through the Lens of Bioarchaeology 
Location: Room 121 and the basement 
Accessibility: The basement can only be reached by stairs. 
Organised by: the University of Latvia Faculty of Humanities  

• Discover skeletal evidence of the people who lived in Latvia up to 9,000 years ago.
• Find out how researchers study the diet, health, demographics and lifestyle of ancient people.
• Step into the shoes of a scientist and determine the age of buried individuals using anthropological material.
• Explore social differences and living conditions in different historical periods.
• Discover international research into coastal stone age archaeology, guided by doctoral student in archaeology Don Kevin Sleebos.

Atoms of Language 
Location: 1rd floor*
Organised by: the University of Latvia Faculty of Humanities and the Latvian Language Institute of the Faculty of Humanities  

• In a creative workshop with interactive games, look for the historical forms of modern first names and find modern equivalents for historical names.
• Practise reading texts in old orthography.
• Guess the meanings of dialect words.
• Take a look at how electronic dictionaries are created.
• Discover the diversity of language and learn how words change over time, preserve traces of the past and continue to shape the Latvian language. 

_{Please note! The activity was originally planned to take place on the 3rd floor of the building. However, to ensure easier access, the location was changed. The previous location may still be indicated in printed materials or other resources.}

Light and Matter  

How do light, colour and matter shape our world? Light installations, colour laboratories, demonstrations of material transformations, co-creation projects combining science and art, and light as a metaphor in the context of the humanities.  

Draw and Write Your Own Blanket! 
Location: Hall on the 1st floor 
Accessibility: The activities will take place on the 1st floor, which is easily accessible to people using wheelchairs and to visitors with prams. 
Organised by: the University of Latvia Faculty of Humanities  

• Step into the role of an ethnographer and artist who took part in an expedition 50 years ago.
• Explore blanket patterns and draw the most beautiful one.
• Record the colours of the blanket using a typewriter.
• Watch documentary footage about applied art and ethnography. 

The activity is organised as part of the project “Ethnographer, Society, Art: The Symbiosis of Ethnology and Art and the Discourse of Soviet Colonialism in Latvia”, presenting the collaboration between ethnographers and artists and its results.