SLOVENSKA ORGANIZACIA PRE VYSKUMNEA VYVOJOVE AKTIVITY ZDRUZENIE

Their core work

SOVVA is a Slovak NGO that organizes the European Researchers' Night (ERN) festival across Slovakia, bringing science directly to the public through interactive shows, school programs, and community events. They have been the national coordinator of this flagship EU science engagement initiative since 2014, running it continuously through five consecutive funding cycles. Their core work is making research visible and attractive to non-scientific audiences — schoolchildren, families, and the general public — while promoting research careers in Slovakia.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the 2014–2017 period, SOVVA focused heavily on experiential, hands-on science engagement — science shows, adventures, and storytelling aimed at students and children. From 2018 onward, their focus broadened significantly toward science communication as a discipline, science policy, public recognition of researchers, and promotion of research careers. The shift suggests a maturation from event organizing toward strategic science-society dialogue and policy-level engagement.

SOVVA is moving from pure event delivery toward science policy communication and researcher career promotion, making them increasingly relevant for projects needing structured public engagement strategies rather than just festival logistics.

How they like to work

SOVVA operates exclusively as a project coordinator — all five of their H2020 projects were led by them, which is unusual for a small NGO. They work in very small consortia (only 3 unique partners across all projects, all within Slovakia), suggesting a tight, trusted local network rather than broad European partnerships. This makes them a reliable national anchor for science engagement activities, but prospective partners should note they have limited experience in large multi-country consortia.

SOVVA's network is compact and entirely domestic — 3 unique partners, all based in Slovakia. They function as the central node of Slovak Researchers' Night delivery rather than as a European networking hub.

What sets them apart

SOVVA is the go-to organization for European Researchers' Night in Slovakia, having coordinated every edition from 2014 to 2021 without interruption. This unbroken track record gives them deep institutional knowledge of ERN logistics, audience engagement, and MSCA-CSA reporting. For any consortium needing a Slovak public engagement partner with proven delivery capacity and MSCA experience, SOVVA is the obvious choice.

Highlights from their portfolio

• ERN18-19 SVK
  Largest budget (EUR 223,000) and introduced cultural heritage and design themes — the most ambitious and thematically diverse edition.
• ERN 2020 SVK
  Pivoted to science policy and innovation communication during the pandemic period, demonstrating adaptability under difficult conditions.