Society is a consolidated partnership that, since 2016, have organized until 2023, the European Researcher’s Night (ERN), in the Italian Region Emilia-Romagna. The partnership includes the local branches of the main National Italian Research Institutes (the National Research Council - CNR, the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics - INFN, The Italian National Institute for Astrophysics -INAF and the Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology - INGV), together with the University of Bologna, the oldest university in the Western World, CINECA, the largest Italian center for scientific computing, the communication and management agencies ComunicaMente and Naxta, and the University of Ferrara. 

In 2024-2025 Society has been an associated event, and since 2026 it is an autonomous event, inspired by the European Night.

Every year, Society, together with numerous stakeholders, "The friends of the Night", animates many activities in Bologna, and in all the cities hosting the University of Bologna’s campuses (Cesena and Cesenatico, Forlì and Predappio, Ravenna, Rimini) and since 2021 also in Ferrara.

The proposed activities are based on the assumption that this is a good opportunity for citizens to meet researchers. Through the years the public interest has been constantly growing. The most important feedback that the public gave us is that participating in the activities means being able to discover, in an engaging and fun way, how researchers, active in all sectors of knowledge, work to face and solve the challenges for a sustainable future.

With Society we propose to promote the understanding of the world we are living in, deepening the knowledge to fight misconceptions, misinterpretations, and false solutions, and promote a shared common knowledge and perspective towards real actions and public engagement. 

Society wants to promote a renewed relationship between the general public and researchers, fostering shared knowledge, the unexpected connection between different disciplines, and through the exchange of opinions, generating positive reactions. 

The main activities that will be animated by researchers working in a wide range of disciplines from science, technology and humanities are: guided tours, games like treasure hunts and quizzes, science cafés and scientific aperitifs, philosophical conversations open to the public, lectures and demonstrations held by international experts and by young researchers and many more. Furthermore, virtual contents will be uploaded on Society's social media channels, such as videos, tutorials, demonstrations, short presentations.

The partnership will create opportunities  to let the public interact with the researchers, such as speed dates, speed pitches or TED talk-syle presentations. For the schools, the researchers will propose a list of disciplines and topics on which they are willing to give lectures or interact with students within classes or online. Moreover, students and teachers will be directly involved in the organization of the activities proposed to the general public, making them protagonists of the Night. The engagement of the younger generation - not only within schools’ context - will be favored also thanks to activities such as quizzes, team games like treasure hunts, online gaming.