Bringing Ethnography to the Public: MEMPOP at the Prague Science Fair 2026

In June 2026, MEMPOP researchers took part in the Prague Science Fair (Veletrh vědy), where the Institute of Ethnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences was represented by our host, the Department of Mobility and Migration. Held annually by the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Science Fair is the largest science-popularisation event in the Czech Republic, creating a space where researchers and institutions can present their work to tens of thousands of visitors.

Our team members, Laura Mafizzoli and Astrea Nikolovska, were part of the organizational team that developed the Institute’s contribution to the fair. Together with colleagues from the department, they worked on the exhibition from its initial conceptualization to its final execution, developing an interactive game that invited visitors to experience migration from the perspective of a migrant, navigating situations and choices inspired by the real-life trajectories encountered by researchers during ethnographic fieldwork.

The wider MEMPOP team contributed experiences and methodological examples from their own research, which were incorporated into the exhibition. Drawing on different ethnographic encounters and research practices within the project, these contributions helped translate the often less visible process of producing anthropological knowledge into a format accessible to visitors of different ages and backgrounds.

Participation in the Science Fair provided an opportunity to move ethnographic research beyond its usual academic settings. Rather than simply presenting research findings, the interactive format invited visitors to engage with how anthropologists ask questions, navigate fieldwork situations, and produce knowledge through encounters with others.

For MEMPOP, the event formed part of the project’s commitment to public engagement and to opening the research process itself to wider audiences.