The Mediterranean diet is often hailed as a gold standard for health, but its true impact depends on one critical factor: long-term adherence. Without addressing the barriers that prevent lasting…
Science, Memory and Belonging: Lessons from a Rural European Researchers’ Night
Image credit
Photos by ARMA-Sci (João Lourenço and Sara Carrulo). CC BY 4.0
What if Science Could Protect a Community’s Memories?
In Armamar, a small rural village in northern Portugal, that question found its answer when nearly a century of stories from the local fire station converged into a collaborative project, showing how knowledge, identity, and community can grow together.
Every year, on the last Friday of September, hundreds of cities across Europe open their doors to science during the European Researchers’ Night (ERN). On 26 September 2025, Armamar once again stood out from the rest. Now in its third edition, the European Researchers’ Night in Rural Settings (RERN–Armamar) has become a significant event in the village. To the best of our knowledge, it is the largest science event ever held in a rural area in Portugal. Beyond numbers, its ambition lies in redefining how scientific culture can take root in rural contexts.
Image credit
Photos by ARMA-Sci (João Lourenço and Sara Carrulo). CC BY 4.0
The initiative opened new spaces for dialogue between researchers and community members, inviting stories, experiences, ideas, and proposals for addressing local challenges and imagining new futures together, while also nurturing a sense of belonging and collective agency. In this edition, the objective surpassed the mere celebration of science. It aimed to strengthen the connection with the community, thereby transforming science into a shared language co-created with those who live and shape the territory.
The event was led by ARMA-Sci — a non-profit association dedicated to democratizing access to science and fostering public engagement in rural Portugal — in partnership with the Municipality of Armamar and the Armamar School Cluster (Agrupamento de Escolas Gomes Teixeira). RERN-Armamar brought together over 500 participants and 52 researchers from 18 disciplines. Most researchers came from academia (approximately 70%) — 55.8% from universities, 13.5% from polytechnics — with NGOs and scientific associations (17%), health (8%), local administration (4%), and non-formal education (2%), which together shaped a community-driven program.
The Ribbon of Time: A Collective Experiment in Heritage-Science
From this collaborative ethos emerged The Ribbon of Time: Heritage and Memories of the Volunteer Firefighters of Armamar (A Fita do Tempo: Património e Memórias dos Bombeiros Voluntários de Armamar), a participatory heritage-science project that transformed archives, photographs and oral testimonies into an immersive timeline. Conceived as a way to reconnect science with local identity and community development, the initiative was co-created by scientists, communication professionals, firefighters, teachers, and students from the local school cluster, creating a collective experiment in how knowledge and memory can shape each other. The portable exhibition unfolded across six thematic panels and a central timeline tracing the history of the Armamar Fire Brigade from its inception in 1931 to the present day. The panels traced the brigade’s story — from its creation to its defining moments and identity — complemented by eight interactive and educational modules that expanded the experience through historical materials, digital archives, and an installation where visitors could leave their own stories. A dedicated space featured drawings and reflections from students. In addition, the exhibition was supported by a printed guide for adults, a children’s comic book, a digitized archive A Voz do Bombeiro, and a short documentary, extending the project beyond the physical space and across generations. The Ribbon of Time demonstrates how scientific culture can serve as a form of enduring social infrastructure in rural settings, strengthening trust, dialogue and a shared sense of identity while empowering communities to see science as part of their own story.
Image credit
Photos by ARMA-Sci (João Lourenço and Sara Carrulo). CC BY 4.0
Understanding Impact
To assess the global event’s impact, short on-site surveys, following a mixed-methods framework, were administered to participants (Branquinho et al., 2024, JCOM). Respondents rated statements on a 1–5 Likert scale and provided open-ended comments. Of 205 surveys collected, 192 valid responses were analyzed. Half of the respondents (50.6%) were attending the RERN–Armamar for the first time, while 21.9% had attended once before and 27.5% had participated in all three editions. Perceptions of impact were remarkably high: 92.2% of participants agreed that the event improved their understanding of science, and 93.4% expressed their intention to return in future editions. Almost nine in ten respondents (89.6%) considered the continuity of the RERN-Armamar essential for valuing their territory. These results suggest that RERN–Armamar is fostering scientific literacy while nurturing a social ecosystem of mutual trust between science and community. In rural contexts, such continuity signals the emergence of science as a shared cultural practice that reinforces belonging, cohesion, and territorial identity. The qualitative feedback offers a valuable contextual perspective to these findings. Participants described the event as “inspiring,” “beautiful,” “well organised,” and “a celebration that brings us together.” On the interactive boards, visitors wrote messages of gratitude to scientists and volunteers — “Thank you for bringing science to our village” and “Armamar is proof that small places can do big things.” Others connected science to the town’s future, imagining “a more sustainable and innovative Armamar.” Several comments highlighted pride and belonging: “We are part of this,” wrote one participant, “science here feels like home”. A short documentary capturing the third edition of RERN-Armamar is available here.
Projects like The Ribbon of Time remind us that science, at its heart, is about connection — between data and discovery, but also between people, stories, and place. When science grows within a community, it becomes more than a method for understanding the world; it becomes a way of belonging to it, acting as a form of social infrastructure that fosters trust, dialogue and shared identity. Armamar demonstrates that these spaces matter and that the future of science may be built on the shared moments where knowledge, curiosity, and belonging grow side by side.
Reference:
Branquinho, R., Duarte, M. I., Sarabando, C., Ambrósio, S., Damião, C., Teixeira, E., Duarte, J. and Sá-Pinto, X. (2025). Seedling science communication in rural areas through European researchers’ night JCOM 24(04), N01. https://doi.org/10.22323/147420250710100026.
Support and Funding:
The Ribbon of Time: Heritage and Memories of the Volunteer Firefighters of Armamar (A Fita do Tempo: Património e Memórias dos Bombeiros Voluntários de Armamar) was developed with the collaboration and financial support of the Associação Humanitária dos Bombeiros Voluntários de Armamar. The authors express their deep gratitude to all firefighters and volunteers of the Armamar Fire Brigade for their generosity, availability, and commitment throughout the project — and, in particular, to President Fernando Branquinho and Commander Nuno Fonseca for their trust, guidance, and active participation. The project was co-funded by the Portuguese Institute for Sports and Youth (IPDJ) under the Ocupação dos Tempos Livres (OTL) programme “+Cultura: Bombeiros de Armamar – Património e Memória.”
The 2025 edition of the European Researchers’ Night in Rural Settings – Armamar (RERN–Armamar) received financial support from the Programa Intermunicipal de Promoção do Sucesso Escolar (PIPSE) through the project “Promoção do Sucesso Escolar – Armamar,” ARMA-Sci, the Municipality of Armamar, and the Armamar School Cluster (Agrupamento de Escolas Gomes Teixeira), with additional collaboration from the SCIGLO – Science for Global Challenges consortium (Grant Agreement ID: 101162576) and other local and national partners. ARMA-Sci also secured funding from the IPDJ Geração Z programme (“É Ciência! + Cultura Científica em Armamar”), which enabled former students of the Armamar School Cluster to take part in the organisation of the event, reinforcing youth empowerment, inclusion, and community participation.
Raquel Branquinho was funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under contract CEECINST/00130/2018/CP1525/CT0002. Inês Duarte was funded by FCT grant 2024.01055.BD.
Authors
Raquel Branquinho is a researcher at the University of Porto – Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Portugal, and co-founder and president of ARMA-Sci, a non-governmental organization promoting science culture in rural territories. Within the RERN–Armamar 2025 initiative, she served as president of the coordination committee and co-led The Ribbon of Time: Heritage and Memories of the Volunteer Firefighters of Armamar exhibition project.
Vanda Marques holds a Master’s degree in Communication Sciences, specializing in Audiovisual and Multimedia, from the University of Minho, Portugal. In RERN-Armamar 2025, she served as an active volunteer for ARMA-Sci in The Ribbon of Time: Heritage and Memories of the Volunteer Firefighters of Armamar exhibition project.
Sara Carrulo is a PhD student at the University of Porto – Faculty of Arts and Humanities (Communication and Information Sciences), Portugal. In the RERN-Armamar 2025, she served as an active volunteer for ARMA-Sci in The Ribbon of Time: Heritage and Memories of the Volunteer Firefighters of Armamar exhibition project.
Inês Duarte is a PhD student at the Center for Research in Didactics and Technology at the University of Aveiro, Portugal and board member of the non-governmental organization ARMA-Sci. In the RERN-Armamar 2025 initiative, she served as a member of the organization board.
Sofia Friães is a researcher and board member of the non-governmental organization ARMA-Sci. In the RERN-Armamar 2025 initiative, she served as a member of the organization board.