October 2-5, 2019
Within the project of the Croatian Microbiological Society entitled “In the Society of Microbes”, carried out in cooperation with partners from the academic community and NGOs BIOTEKA and BIUS the series of popular scientific lectures on microbiology for the general public were organised. Popular-scientific lectures were given by students under the mentorship of Prof. Ivana Gobin and Prof. Maja Abram, in Rijeka, on October 2, 2019, at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka. In Zagreb, on October 3 and 5, 2019, at the Bogdan Ogrizović Library, students of the Catholic University of Croatia presented their lectures under the mentorship of Prof. Suzana Bukovski, the students of the University of Zagreb Faculty of Science, under the mentorship of Assist. Prof. Silvija Černi, students of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, under the mentorship of Prof. Liljana Pinter and students of the Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology under the mentorship of Prof. Blaženka Kos, Assist. Prof. Ana Bielen, Assist. Prof. Andreja Leboš Pavunc and Deni Kostelac, mag. ing. presented lectures on their selected topics. The moderators of the lectures were the project coordinator Prof. Dijana Škorić, Assist. Prof. Andreja Leboš Pavunc and Prof. Jasna Novak. Considering that this project is the first service learning project in the field of microbiology in the Republic of Croatia with the main goal to contribute to the introduction, development and sustainability of service learning, as a part of the academical learning, the concept of service learning was introduced to the audience. The popular scientific lectures were given by students, who successfully presented nine different topics in the field of microbiology, and explained to the audience in a picturesque and attractive way the concepts of microbiology and the importance of microbes in our everyday lives. The lectures were interactive and engaging, which was evident from the lively discussions prompted by inquiries from the audience and even from the youngest listeners, elementary school children.