GIMNAZIJA FRANCA MIKLOSICA LJUTOMER

Their core work

Gimnazija Franca Miklošiča Ljutomer is a Slovenian secondary school (grammar school) that has participated in EU-funded science communication and public outreach projects aimed at young audiences. Their H2020 work focuses on bringing researcher careers, EU-funded science, and MSCA fellowship opportunities closer to secondary school students and the general public through engaging, experience-based formats — events, experiments, and edutainment activities. They function as an educational venue and delivery partner for awareness campaigns, contributing classroom access, student audiences, and local community reach rather than scientific research capacity. Their value in a consortium is as a credible conduit between the research world and pre-university youth in a smaller Slovenian town setting.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first project (SciFe, 2016–2017), the school focused on correcting stereotypes about researchers, explaining EU funding to the public, and positioning science as a viable profession for young people — essentially a messaging and awareness campaign. By the second project (SAWE, 2018–2019), the emphasis shifted from passive awareness to active engagement: MSCA fellows presenting directly to audiences, hands-on experiments, and festive community events designed to make science tangibly fun rather than abstractly important. The trajectory is short but clear — moving from informing toward experiencing, with a tighter focus on the MSCA brand specifically.

If they continue on this trajectory, they are likely candidates for future MSCA outreach and citizen science dissemination projects that need a secondary school venue with an engaged local youth audience in Slovenia.

How they like to work

GFML has participated exclusively as a consortium member — never as coordinator — across both projects, which is consistent with a secondary school's limited administrative and grant management capacity. Their consortia are small (4 unique partners, all domestic), suggesting they work within tight national networks rather than broad European alliances. They are a reliable local delivery point, not a project driver.

GFML has worked with just 4 unique consortium partners, all located within Slovenia, suggesting a deliberately local or nationally scoped collaboration footprint. There is no evidence of cross-border partnership experience within their H2020 record.

What sets them apart

GFML offers something most research partners cannot: direct, trusted access to a captive secondary school audience in a smaller Slovenian town — the kind of community that large university outreach programs rarely reach. For any MSCA or Horizon project that needs to demonstrate genuine public engagement beyond capital cities and university towns, a partner like GFML provides credible grassroots reach. Their limitation is equally clear: they bring no research capacity, no IP, and no cross-border network.

Highlights from their portfolio

• SAWE
  Largest of the two projects (EUR 20,500) and the more mature one — directly promoting MSCA fellows and multiple research career paths through hands-on experiments and community events, making it the clearest expression of what this school can deliver.
• SciFe
  Their debut EU project, addressing researcher stereotypes and EU funding literacy among young people — an early signal of the school's willingness to engage with science identity and communication themes beyond the standard curriculum.