'I want to contribute to social awareness within physics'

Creating social involvement in an exact science, isn't that difficult? Not according to Elisa Chisari, associate professor at the Institute of Theoretical Physics. 'A topic like light pollution concerns us all'.

As a teenager, Elisa Chisari was already observing the night sky over Buenos Aires with a telescope. As she started travelling more, she discovered that there was much more to see in dark areas. That is where her interest in the effects of light pollution arose: the increased brightness of the night sky due to the use of artificial light. Meanwhile, Chisari is committed to integrating Community Engaged Learning (CEL) into her teaching. "You can make a topic like light pollution very concrete for people by relating it to the negative impact on biodiversity. Moreover, scientific curiosity also comes into play. Because how do you create interest in the universe if you can barely see the stars?"

Turn on the stars

In 2021, Chisari received a CEL grant with which she launched the 'Turn on the stars' project. Within this project, an interdisciplinary team designed educational public activities to create awareness about the negative effects of light pollution. "This also involved two master's students and their role was crucial in developing the content." One of the activities took place during the 'Night of the Night' festival, organised at Sonneborgh Museum and Observatory. "We challenged children and their parents to take part in an experiment where they had to count stars in completely dark conditions and in a polluted sky. We also gave them a leaflet on the effects of light pollution and what you yourself can do to minimise it, for example when it comes to Christmas lights."

Training secondary school teachers

Besides this project, Chisari was also active for U-Talent, which bridges secondary and higher education. Together with her research group, the U-Talent team and several other PhD and master students at the Institute for Theoretical Physics, Chisari organised a training for secondary school physics teachers. Among other things, they were given tools to teach their students about light pollution and enable them to read scientific news articles."

Surprising results

For a second-year course at the Physics course, Chisari, together with colleague Peter van Capel and two master students, developed a new practical on light pollution. "With the help of the CEL grant, a first version of the practical was developed. The Julius Institute funded the second version, which we took to the classroom." That students are also enthusiastic about the practical is evident from the evaluation in which students indicated that the practical helped them better understand the literature. They also found the overlap of different disciplines interesting, as they were not only involved in physics but also biology in this practical. Ultimately, Chisari hopes her efforts will contribute to less light pollution. "It would be nice if people start using light sources that they really need," she says.

'Start small'

Finally, Chisari has one last tip for her colleagues: "You can start small. A project with a student or an outreach activity can be the trigger for something bigger, and therefore very worthwhile."