The 1st Prize in the category “Digital Literacy in Science Education” at the 11th Science on Stage Europe 2019 Festival was awarded, to members of the Biophotonics and Molecular Imaging Group of the Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser of FORTH. This year’s festival was entitled “Skills for the future” and was held in Cascais Portugal from 31 October – 3 November 2019.

FORTH Members Michalis Orfanakis, Physicist and science teacher at the General Lyceum of Makry Gialos Ierapetra - PhD Student of the Department of Medicine of the Univ. of Crete, and Mikis Mylonakis, Physicist, PhD Student of the Materials Science and Technology Department of the Univ. of Crete, won the 1^st Prize for their project entitled "Optical Tweezers. The Nobel Prize in Physics 2018 at your school.”

It is noteworthy that Mr. Orfanakis, was awarded again with the 1st Prize at the Science on Stage Europe 2017 Festival in Hungary, for his work "Optical Computed Tomography with LEGO and Arduino". The project was the simplified transfer to Secondary Education of an Optical Tomography Experiment of the Biophotonic and Molecular Imaging Group of IESL directed by Dr. Giannis Zacharakis, Principal Researcher.

The Science on Stage Europe network is the largest international Science Education network with participations from 34 countries, mainly from Europe and beyond. Science on Stage Europe Festivals represent the largest international STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) competition. Every two years, the national competitions are first held in each country, followed by the European Competition, involving approximately 450 teachers and the best 250 experiments and projects as they have emerged from the national competitions.

The 12 members of Greek national delegation consisted of the award winners of the 10th National Science on Stage STEM competition that was held at EKFE Aigaleo on 15-16 of February 2019 with Mrs Tsitopoulou - Christodoulidi Eugenia, Physicist and Head of Science on Stage Greece Network being the leader.

The two award winning projects, constitute an excellent example of how modern science can be simplified and transferred to the secondary education, providing the opportunity to students to encounter and be inspired by research methodology, and become the next generation of scientists.