IP/09/1356 Brussels, 25 September 2009 25 September: Meet scientists in 200 cities, 30 countries - it's European Researchers' Night! 200 cities all over Europe will be celebrating science in different ways, but under the same flag, during The 5 th European Researchers' Night. Theatre plays in Lisbon, sport competitions in Brussels, collective mural painting in Milan… At the same time, in other European cities, all eyes will be on the sky to observe the cosmos.. Tonight, Europeans from 30 countries will have the chance to meet with professional researchers, to join in with scientific experiments, to handle sophisticated research equipment, to understand the links between science and art, and to figure out just how far the knowledge boundaries go. For one night, everyone can be a scientist. This fifth Researchers' Night, first launched in 2005 by the European Commission, offers people a unique opportunity to really engage with researchers, bringing them closer to each other through the magic and beauty of science. The event is also an excellent chance to discover outstanding European scientific research projects and to find out more about how to develop a scientific career. Here are some examples of tonight's events: Rally-star Henri Pescarolo and Kim Gevaert will challenge local scientists in sports competitions in Redu-Transinne (Belgium). In Frascati (Italy), children, students, researchers and musicians will compete, researching musical sounds. In the UK, TNS Durham will broadcast a Researchers' Night radio programme encouraging listeners to participate in a kitchen science experiment. Meanwhile, a show on climate change will be performed in the Hamburg Planetarium, in Germany. Researchers and members of the public will even sail together on the Lake of Zürich, Switzerland. The list is too long to cover in detail the full agenda . Over the years, the initiative has proved to be a success in terms of participation. In 2005 it attracted the interest of 20 000 Europeans from 15 European countries; last year's Researchers' Night saw 320 000 people involved in 28 EU and non-EU countries. Background The European Union co-funds the Researchers Night events as part of the Communities 7th Framework Programme for Research ( FP7 , PEOPLE Programme). The calls for proposals are managed by the Research Executive Agency (REA), a new European executive agency. The total indicative budget for Researchers Night 2009 is € 3 million. The European Union also helps European researchers fulfil their potential and deliver a productive contribution to science research as well as to society as a whole through the FP7 Marie Curie Actions . Links Agenda for "The Researchers' Night": http://ec.europa.eu/research/researchersineurope/events/researchersnight09/index_en.htm 7th Framework Programme for Research: http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/index_en.cfm Marie Curie Actions: http://ec.europa.eu/mariecurieactions/