Researchers’ Night, an event that, for one evening, brings life to hundreds of science buildings that no ordinary mortal can enter. Visitors pass through laboratories and lecture halls, experience exploding experiments, and learn about hot topics in depth. Everyone with a passion for science – children, adults, and seniors – is welcome. Visitors to the Researchers’ Night at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of Brno University of Technology had the opportunity to get in touch with the BAANG project on 6 October.

Mechatronics student Jan Bajer presented the first tangible results of the BAANG project at the Researchers’ Night. In the exhibit, it was possible to see and directly test the function of a piezoelectric deformation sensor placed in a segment of an airfoil. The deformation was displayed in real time on a monitor. Such sensors will later be incorporated into the morphed wing to accurately describe its actual shape.

Researchers’ Night was initiated by the European Commission in 2005 and its mission is to show that science is not boring, but on the contrary is a source of interesting and fascinating phenomena. One day a year, universities, research and development centres, science centres, and other places open with free guided tours, popular education presentations, workshops, experiments, science shows, music, and performances, amongst others, taking place. The aim of Researchers’ Night is to dispel myths about scientists as people locked in laboratories and to show the general public that they are “ordinary people” who do work for each of us, they can present it in an engaging way, and they can also have a good time.