Written by Jörg Weiss – Managing Director of EUSEA & con gressa
Wow, 25 years of EUSEA! And double wow: 25 years of con gressa, too!
What a coincidence that these two organisations share not only a birthday year, but also so much of their history. Just last week, we celebrated con gressa’s 25th anniversary with our team, friends and partners. And it made me reflect on how much has changed over these years – both for con gressa and for EUSEA, and for the field of science communication as a whole.
It is a great honour for con gressa to serve as the EUSEA office and for me personally to be its Director. Almost a year and a half into this role, I can say that it has been a wonderful experience. Getting to know so many dedicated people from across Europe, seeing the diversity of approaches to science engagement, and helping to strengthen this community has been both rewarding and inspiring.
But back to our birthdays.
What’s in a name?
Twenty-five years is a long time. Both organisations have changed considerably over these years. Interestingly, both started out under different names.
con gressa was founded as con gressa – Agentur für Veranstaltungsdienstleistungen (Agency for Event Services). Today, we call ourselves an agency for science communication. EUSEA, meanwhile, started as the European Science Events Association before becoming the European Science Engagement Association.
These changes are more than just new labels. They reflect a transformation in our field. What started with a strong emphasis on events and one-way communication of scientific knowledge has developed into a much wider understanding of science communication and engagement. Dialogue, participation, mutual learning, and research with and for society have become increasingly important.
And both organisations have been part of this journey.
The con gressa team, partners and friends celebrating con gressa’s 25th anniversary on Oct 30th, 2026. Photo: Studio Limo
From big stages to meaningful encounters – and back again
Both EUSEA and con gressa have their roots in science festivals as very large public events. These were often impressive occasions, bringing thousands of people together to discover and experience science.
For 17 years, until 2019, con gressa organised Berlin’s Lange Nacht der Wissenschaften (Long Night of the Sciences), which attracted more than 30,000 visitors in its peak years. We also organised science festivals in Hamburg and Magdeburg. These events brought science into the heart of cities, with science slams, science shows, open doors, and tours through laboratories and research facilities usually inaccessible to the public. For a day or a night, science became a shared experience for thousands of people.
Of course, there were always workshops, discussions and participatory elements, too. But much of the excitement came from the big stage, the crowds, the spectacle, and the opportunity to get a glimpse behind the scenes of research.
Since then, our work has become much more diverse. Today, rather than concentrating on large events in major cities, we increasingly focus on smaller towns and rural communities. We design formats that bring science to people who may live far from universities and research institutions, work with local partners, and create opportunities for dialogue that are rooted in the everyday lives and concerns of those communities. Often, this means working on a much smaller scale, building relationships over time, and creating space for genuine exchange rather than simply presenting scientific knowledge.
But I think we should be careful not to see this as a simple progression from old to new, or from less meaningful to more meaningful science communication.
Team con gressa team at their 25th anniversary celebrations. Photo: con gressa
Science engagement is not a hierarchy of formats.
A large science festival with tens of thousands of visitors is not necessarily less valuable than a small, intensive workshop with ten participants. And the workshop is not automatically better just because it allows for deeper dialogue.
We need both.
Jörg Weiss at the opening of the EUSEA Conference 2026 in Luxembourg in May.
We need big events that create excitement, spark curiosity, and remind large audiences of science’s fascination and relevance. And we need smaller, sustained engagement processes that reach people who might never attend a science festival, are rooted in communities, address their specific questions and concerns, and let them learn from each other.
These formats serve different purposes. They reach different people and create different kinds of value. What matters is not whether a format is new or fashionable, but whether it fits the people we want to engage and the goals we want to achieve.
Staying curious –about others and about ourselves
There is another lesson I take from these 25 years.
If we want science communication to remain relevant, we must be willing to question our own approaches. We need to reflect on what works, what doesn’t, whom we reach, whom we leave out, and whether the assumptions behind our work still hold.
This applies to us as individual science communicators and engagement professionals, but also to our organisations.
Both EUSEA and con gressa have changed over the years. They have broadened their perspectives, taken on new challenges and developed new ways of working. I think this willingness to change, without forgetting where we came from, is one reason both organisations are still here after 25 years.
It is also something I particularly appreciate about EUSEA: a European community where we can share experiences, learn from different perspectives, challenge our assumptions, and think together about where our field needs to go next.
Especially at a time when science communication faces growing expectations, political polarisation, and rapidly changing public spheres, this cross-border exchange is more important than ever.
EUSEA office team at the conference in Luxembourg.
Here’s to the next 25 years!
So, what do I wish for these two birthday organisations?
Above all, that they remain curious. That they keep questioning themselves, experimenting, adapting, and occasionally reinventing what they do. That they stay open to new ideas and new people, without losing sight of what has made them valuable in the first place.
And, of course, I hope that con gressa and EUSEA will continue their collaboration for many years to come.
Happy 25th birthday to both of us – and to everyone who has helped shape these two organisations over the years!
Cheers to us all!
Author:
Jörg Weiss
Managing Director of EUSEA & con gressa
