16th Science Picnic will be held on 12th May 2012 in Marszałek Rydz-Śmigły Square (Park Marszałka Rydza-Śmigłego) in Warsaw. The leading theme of the Picnic will be: "Energy”.

We invite entities that propose some interesting popular science, educational or artistic shows related to the thematic scope of the Picnic provided they are approved and included into the programme by the Organiser.

The condition to participate in the Picnic is completing and sending back to organizers by the deadline of 2ed January 2012 “Declaration on participation” and “Application form”.

***
The Science Picnic of Polish Radio and the Copernicus Science Centre is Europe's largest outdoor event dedicated to science.

It has been held every year since 1997 in Warsaw, each time attracting crowds of visitors – more than 100,000 in the course of a single day! The Science Picnic was commended by the European Commission in 2005 as one of 10 model European projects in the "Science and Society" field. The event has served as the inspiration for many other popular science initiatives, including the Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw.

Every year, about 250 institutions from Poland and abroad take part in the Science Picnic (including representatives of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Morocco, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, the US and UK). Institutions of higher education and scholarship, research institutes, museums and cultural bodies, science-related foundations and interest groups - all present their achievements and reveal behind-the-scenes aspects of their work. They illustrate the very stuff of science in ways accessible to visitors of various ages, using hands-on experiments, demonstrations and interactive exhibits. A wide range of research fields is presented at the Picnic, including the natural, and social sciences plus the humanities.

The Science Picnic was established thanks to the initiative and ideas of Prof. Łukasz Turski from the Centre for Theoretical Physics of Polish Academy of Sciences and Robert Firmhofer and Krystyna Kępska-Michalska from Polish Radio. The first Science Picnic (then as the "Science Picnic of Polish Radio BIS") was organized on 14 June 1997 at Warsaw's New Town Square. Starting in 2008, the event is now organized jointly by Polish Radio and the Copernicus Science Centre.