Participants include the winners of the Russia-wide children’s intellectual competition “Icebreaker of Knowledge,” held to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Russia’s nuclear industry, as well as the winners of Rosatom’s Tournament for Young Professionals, participants of the Russia-wide public and state children’s and youth organization “Russian Schoolchildren Movement,” participants of the Russia-wide “Big Change” competition, and other olympiads and competitions. Amongst these students are not only future mathematicians, physicists, and biologists, but also future musicians, artists, and writers.
The expedition, whose mission is to popularise science and generate a hunger for knowledge and academic and scientific research amongst the younger generation, consists of three pillars of activities: lectures, creative tasks, and projects. The goal is to create a comfortable environment for everyone who is looking for scientific information and prepared to share it. The project is designed to form pathways that combine the interests of its participants and Rosatom’s overall goals. The icebreaker will host a series of fascinating lectures, videos of which will be posted on the Homo Science online platform, while a pool of Homo Science ambassadors will be created from amongst the country’s most talented youth.
The trip includes a stop at the Russian archipelago Franz Josef Land, where participants will have the chance to experience Arctic flora and fauna. A flash mob involving all participants is also set to take place at the North Pole itself, where they will travel around the world in 30 seconds by crossing each of the meridians that meet at the North Pole. On August 20, the students aboard the nuclear icebreaker will chat live with an audience from the Homo Science science and technology marathon taking place in Nizhny Novgorod, a marathon dedicated to both the 800th anniversary of the city’s founding and the start of the Homo Science educational project. The event will be held at the “Academy Mayak” education and cultural centre. High school students will share their impressions of the unique journey and their success stories.
The schedule of lectures will include meetings with scientists and polar explorers. For example, Dmitry Gorchakov, an engineer with the Alfa-X91 Environmental Safety Agency and a member of the DUHF working group of Rosatom’s Public Council’s Ecology Commission, will tell the participants about the history of the development of nuclear energy and the nuclear industry from its inception to the present day, as well as about the energy of the future and a world without CO2. Ruslan Yusufov, the founder and managing partner of MINDSMITH and an expert in the field of digital transformation, will talk about which professions are expected to survive into the digital age and what it means to be a “digital person”, as well as to analyze what threats and opportunities can be expected from our new reality. The polar explorer and doctor of physics and mathematics Viktor Boyarsky will share stories from his life during research expeditions to the North and South Poles and talk about his participation in “Transatlantic”(1989-1990), the legendary international expedition to Antarctica. The blogger Dmitry Pobedinsky and host of the YouTube channel “Physics from Pobedinsky” will make a presentation on the mysteries of the Universe, explain what new physics is, and discuss discoveries that the global scientific community is looking forward to. He will also share life hacks on how to create a popular science channel with a million subscribers. Elena Sudarikova, an anthropologist and senior researcher at the State Darwin Museum will give a lecture titled “Generations of people: From the anthropological bell tower.” Dmitry Lobusov, the captain of nuclear-powered icebreaker “50 Let Pobedy,” will tell participants about the Northern
Sea Route and nuclear-powered ships’ responsibilities in the Arctic and answer any participants’ questions. Viktor Kuznetsov, Advisor to the Director of the Russian Arctic Park, will talk about the development of the Arctic region, as well as Arctic flora and fauna.
Creative activities will involve workshops in which participants will have to prepare their own mock business cards specifying areas of research interest, composing and telling scientific fairytales, showing the film “Sipelki“ Za bortom” (Overboard),” participation in “Arcticvision,” playing athletic versions of various well-known children’s games, and embarking on quests. The expedition’s curators will hold masterclasses on business communications, time management, event management, marketing, role assignment, video editing, developing and promoting online courses, creating exciting presentations, recording podcasts, creeting scientific comic books, and shooting videos of the Arctic. Participants will also take several special workshops, including “Emotional Intelligence,” “Project and Process Management,” and “Self Management.”
As for projects, the programme envisages the creation of communications-related, educational, and popular science projects which participants will have to defend before experts. The best projects will be funded by Atomic Energy Information Centers (ICAE) in the areas of their presence and posted on the Homo Science online platform.
