Athens Science Virtual Festival 2021

Heroes step up when the going gets tough. Greece’s largest annual science fair, the Athens Science Festival, rebounds with a new digital format and a timely hook: our new world order of heroes. The three-day virtual festival is devoted to scientists: those extraordinary humans who are fighting every day to expand the boundaries of human knowledge, and provide viable solutions to the pandemic and its devastating effects on the entire planet (and our everyday existence). Broadcast live from the Technopolis City of Athens – with the support of the educational organization “SciCo – Science Communication” and the British Council - there will be 50 speakers from 8 countries (including 3 Nobelists), 100 experiments, 60 virtual activity sessions for all ages, documentaries and some celebrity science.  Those who attend will have the opportunity to “meet” some of the most distinguished scientists in the world.  And this year, you’ll be much more than a passive spectator. Internet visitors can participate online, thus evolving the Festival into a multidimensional scientific event. Here are three highlights we think you’ll dig:

Peter Agre, the 2003 Nobel Chemistry winner, and Director of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Malaria Research, will present medical science as a source of optimism for the future of our species in his talk "Shaping a Better World through Medicine". 

Susan Schneider, an internationally renowned academic and philosopher and author "Artificial You: AI and the Future of the Mind", will present the philosophical implications of technology and, in particular, our continued attempts to reproduce consciousness by artificial means.

In a talk entitled "Delicious burger from...stem cells!”, the famous doctor and Professor of Physiology at the University of Maastricht, Mark Post, will propose a novel and environmentally friendly alternative to the way beef is currently produced.