Iscte-University Institute of Lisbon will be present at the European Researchers’ Night (ERN) 2023, taking place on September 29 at the National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) in Lisbon. Between 5 p.m. and midnight, ERN participants will have the opportunity to get to know some of the studies and projects carried out by Iscte’s six research units. Admission is free.

Researchers from the Business Research Unit (BRU-Iscte) will be at MUHNAC to share their research results and projects.

Irene Ciccarino will talk about the value created by a social innovation hub (Obidos Hub) whose main mission is to generate opportunities for training young people while increasing their civic participation and making them aware of activities that create value for society and the environment. ; and Rita Guerra, coordinator of the kNOwHATE project, will represent the Associate Laboratory SocioDigital Lab for Public Policy and challenge adults to identify examples of online hate speech, through a Quiz. Check the details of each activity below.

  • To Unlock Potentials and Democratize Knowledge: Training through Skills Volunteering (21:00-23:00)

It will be necessary to imagine that society is a living being called “People” who can listen and make decisions. The aim of the activity is to create a well-founded recommendation that convinces “People” to take the best possible course of action. 1 (one) challenge will be presented on each of the following topics 1) Young people and the job market; 2) Production, consumption, society, and the planet; 3) Links with a community. The team must create 1 (one) recommendation that brings together these three challenges. The concepts of scientific knowledge, sustainability, social innovation, and skill-based volunteering will be presented in the form of clues that will help participants develop recommendations. Each round will have a random combination of challenges and clues. Consequently, the recommendations will be diversified and will form a wall for inspiration for sustainable solutions. The rounds of handson activities will be interspersed with brief presentations on the following themes:1) sustainability, 2) social innovation, and 3) skills-based volunteering. The content will be transmitted in a simple way for practical use, allowing participants to associate with their knowledge and practice to apply this knowledge in their lives.

  • Are you better than the algorithm at detecting online hate speech? (21:00-23:00)

Online hate speech is widespread on many social media. The kNOwHATE project (CERV-2021-EQUAL)* aims to understand online hate speech, detect it automatically (through an algorithm) and fight it. In this Quiz, you will have access to real situations/comments already analyzed by human annotators. We challenge you to identify them as being – or not – examples of online hate speech. Can you do it?

The full program of all of Iscte’s R&D units for the ERN 2023 is available below.

*The project “kNOwing online HATE speech: knowledge + awareness = Tackling Hate (kNOwHATE)” is funded by the European Union (CERV-2021-EQUAL). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.