Vision
SciFest Dubai™ aims to be a major regional festival of the Arts and Sciences. Through partnerships with educational organisations, private enterprises, and government bodies SciFest Dubai™ seeks to be an integral part of Dubai’s Expo 2020.
Mission
To celebrate science through the arts and popular culture and to promote STEAM Education.
Objectives
Core Values
Intelligent Optimism
Intelligent Optimism is about being thrilled, excited, and optimistic about the future in an informed and rational way based on what science and technology have to offer.
Cosmic Citizenship
Cosmic citizenship is about moving beyond being merely a global citizen and thinking of oneself as a citizen of the universe. It involves seeking knowledge about the cosmos and being future ambassadors for planet earth.
Collaboration
The 21st century calls for collaboration over competition. "We" is the new "me" - especially in the fields of science and education.
Scientific Literacy
Science is more than a collection of facts. It’s a way of thinking. When one looks at the world through a scientifically literate lens, the world becomes a place full of answers and explanations – a world free from pseudoscience and superstition.
Background
Dubai has a literary festival, jazz festival, food festival, and film festival. There are music concerts, art exhibitions, and big-budget sporting events. This is what makes Dubai a vibrant and exciting city. However, Dubai has had very little on the science front.
SciFest Dubai™ is an attempt to address this limited public participation in science by highlighting the magic and awe associated with science. Many wonderful science-based events are already happening at the moment, but they are in isolated pockets. SciFest Dubai™ aims to bring all these events together in one exciting series of events.
Festival History
SciFest Dubai™ was launched in February 2014. It was a four-day festival of the sciences – a celebration of the sciences through the arts and popular culture. The venue sponsor was Meydan Theatre and the main sponsor was GEMS Education. Additional sponsors were Emax and Fitness First. The media partner was Khaleej Times with support from Dubai Eye 103.8 radio. The festival had coverage in all national print media and radio and television. It was also covered by BBC World. It had 25 events attended by 13,000 visitors and participants. The chief guest at the opening ceremony was Director General of KHDA (Knowledge and Human Development Authority), Dr. Abdulla Al Karam. SciFest Dubai™ currently has 45,000+ followers on Facebook.
SciFest Dubai™ has three major community initiatives under its umbrella:
Intelligent Optimism™ (110,000+ followers on Facebook)
Café Scientifique Dubai and its Astronomy Group (13,000+ followers on Facebook)
Project Tesseract™ (Promoting Third Culture conversations)
SciFest Dubai™ aims to be a major regional festival of the Arts and Sciences. Through partnerships with educational organisations, private enterprises, and government bodies SciFest Dubai™ seeks to be an integral part of Dubai’s Expo 2020.
Mission
To celebrate science through the arts and popular culture and to promote STEAM Education.
Objectives
- To bring culture back into science and make science fun and exciting through music, dance, poetry, theatre, debates, conferences, movie screenings and science fiction writing.
- To develop a sense of wonder about science.
- To bring science out of the narrow confines of classroom curriculum and academic circles and into mainstream culture.
- To serve as the main platform for research centres, science museums, universities, and schools to showcase their scientific talents and achievements.
- To encourage scientific literacy among the general public.
- To collaborate with other festivals, events, and organizations with similar goals.
- To create networking platforms for science enthusiasts.
- To exhibit the latest technologies and innovations within the field.
- To reach out to recognized scientists and authors from around the world.
- To curate and aggregate science news and memes, and promote online science discussions on social media.
- To maintain SciFest Dubai™ as an ongoing enterprise through events, workshops, and thinktanks in the build-up to the annual science festival.
Core Values
Intelligent Optimism
Intelligent Optimism is about being thrilled, excited, and optimistic about the future in an informed and rational way based on what science and technology have to offer.
Cosmic Citizenship
Cosmic citizenship is about moving beyond being merely a global citizen and thinking of oneself as a citizen of the universe. It involves seeking knowledge about the cosmos and being future ambassadors for planet earth.
Collaboration
The 21st century calls for collaboration over competition. "We" is the new "me" - especially in the fields of science and education.
Scientific Literacy
Science is more than a collection of facts. It’s a way of thinking. When one looks at the world through a scientifically literate lens, the world becomes a place full of answers and explanations – a world free from pseudoscience and superstition.
Background
Dubai has a literary festival, jazz festival, food festival, and film festival. There are music concerts, art exhibitions, and big-budget sporting events. This is what makes Dubai a vibrant and exciting city. However, Dubai has had very little on the science front.
SciFest Dubai™ is an attempt to address this limited public participation in science by highlighting the magic and awe associated with science. Many wonderful science-based events are already happening at the moment, but they are in isolated pockets. SciFest Dubai™ aims to bring all these events together in one exciting series of events.
Festival History
SciFest Dubai™ was launched in February 2014. It was a four-day festival of the sciences – a celebration of the sciences through the arts and popular culture. The venue sponsor was Meydan Theatre and the main sponsor was GEMS Education. Additional sponsors were Emax and Fitness First. The media partner was Khaleej Times with support from Dubai Eye 103.8 radio. The festival had coverage in all national print media and radio and television. It was also covered by BBC World. It had 25 events attended by 13,000 visitors and participants. The chief guest at the opening ceremony was Director General of KHDA (Knowledge and Human Development Authority), Dr. Abdulla Al Karam. SciFest Dubai™ currently has 45,000+ followers on Facebook.
SciFest Dubai™ has three major community initiatives under its umbrella:
Intelligent Optimism™ (110,000+ followers on Facebook)
Café Scientifique Dubai and its Astronomy Group (13,000+ followers on Facebook)
Project Tesseract™ (Promoting Third Culture conversations)
