Thousands of people visited AU's tent at Naturmødet in Hirtshals

Naturmødet (The Nature Meeting) in Hirtshals celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, but the first nine years were without an official tent from Aarhus University.

This year was the first time that AU was able to invite the many guests at Naturmødet to lectures, debates, small experimental setups, quizzes, creative workshops – and a stuffed musk ox.

Naturmødet in Hirtshals is a public meeting similar to Folkemødet on Bornholm and Kulturmødet on Mors – the only difference being that all debates, lectures, activities, and stands are focused on how to protect our nature. The organizers estimate that around 30,000 guests visited Naturmødet this year.

Many of those visitors also found their way into AU's tent, which was often so packed that people had to stand outside and try to catch a glimpse of the researchers from Nat and Tech talking about their research.

People had to stand outside because of the vast interest in the presentations in AU's tent. Photo: Jeppe Kyhne Knudsen

Many participated in the competition to guess the age of a cod by counting the annual rings in its otolith. Photo: Jeppe Kyhne Knudsen

Otoliths from cod were also used to make necklaces, earrings, and other jewelry. Photo: Jeppe Kyhne Knudsen

33 lectures, debates, talks, and activities took place over the three days. Here's a talk about what actually remains of untouched nature in Denmark. Photo: Jeppe Kyhne Knudsen

Researchers dissected fish from the local fish auction, to the great delight of the children at the nature meeting. Photo: Jeppe Kyhne Knudsen

All three days at Naturmødet, there was a full program in the AU tent. Among those who gave lectures to full houses were Professor Rasmus Ejrnæs, who spoke about biodiversity, Professor Peter Sunde with the latest figures of the wolf population in Denmark, as well as a large number of younger researchers and PhD students.

- I was positively surprised. At first, I was a little skeptical when I was invited to give a presentation in AU's own tent. I was afraid that we would spend a lot of effort on something where no one would show up. But when I was to open the tent at 9:00 AM on Friday morning, it was full house, says Rasmus Ejrnæs and continues:

- I think we won the university competition, if you can talk about such a thing. AU's tent had the strongest academic program, and people had realized that. It was great. Well-planned, well-organized, and definitely worth the investment.

In total, 33 lectures, debates, activities, and events were held in the AU tent.

The Department of Ecoscience, in collaboration with people from the Department of Biology at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, planned AU's participation in Naturmødet, assisted by representatives from several other Tech departments.

It was a highly satisfied steering group that estimated that around 2100 people visited AU's tent in the space of three days.

- It was a bit of a gamble for us this year. We wanted to test if we can use Naturmødet to get our research disseminated to a broader audience. Not only to collaborators, foundations, agencies, and ministries, but also to the ordinary Dane. And it was a great success, I think, says Mikkel Tamstorf, Head of Department at the Department of Ecoscience, and continues:

- There were many people in our tent – and I saw great interest and good interaction. It was very positive. I’m pretty sure we’ll come back next year at the same level.

Naturmødet in Hirtshals took place from May 22-24. In addition to the presentations at AU's own stand, a number of AU researchers participated on the main stages. Professor Jens-Christian Svenning from the Department of Biology, for example, gave Naturmødet's 'Keynote speech'.