On 25 September, the last Friday of the month, the evening will be dedicated to science across much of Europe: it is the European Researchers’ Night (ERN), and the IHC has answered the call. We will be organising various activities in the city of Évora, where the meeting point is 1.º de Maio Sq. In 2026, we will once again focus our participation on two of the major projects currently underway at the IHC, with interactive activities offering direct contact with the researchers: KNOW-AFRICA, coordinated by Sara Albuquerque, and PHONLAB, coordinated by Quintino Lopes.

At Évora Town Hall stand, the short film Frederico e a Planta Maravilhosa [Frederico and the Wonderful Plant], based on the children’s book of the same title written by Sara Albuquerque and illustrated by Ricardo Roque, will be screened. This forms part of the activities of the KNOW-AFRICA project. Meanwhile, at the IHC stand, PHONLAB is showcasing PHONLAB: repensar centros e periferias científicas no século XX [PHONLAB: Rethinking Scientific Centres and Peripheries in the 20th Century], an exhibition that explores the history of experimental phonetics through a study of the Coimbra Experimental Phonetics Laboratory (1936–1979), founded by Armando de Lacerda. There will also be two interactive activities, led by Ângela Salgueiro: The Mirror of the Voice, which invites participants to record their own voice and observe, using specialised software, the waveform and spectrogram of the sounds produced; and Memory of Phonetics, an interactive game that invites participants to discover the history of speech science and experimental phonetics by matching pairs of cards featuring instruments, researchers and concepts.

Anyone visiting the IHC stand and taking part in the interactive activities will be entered into a prize draw for books and other gifts. ERN’s main aim is to bring researchers and science closer to civil society, raising awareness amongst “younger people of the importance of research and innovation, with a view to a more sustainable and inclusive future” and demonstrating that scientific careers can “play a decisive role in finding solutions that minimise societal problems.” All activities are free of charge.