Outreach and science communication
Science is part of our shared culture: a way to ask questions, challenge assumptions and imagine what might be possible. My outreach work brings researchers into conversation with audiences through public events, film, education and collaborations with artists. I am interested in encounters where people can engage directly with scientific ideas—and where those encounters can inspire new questions for researchers, too.
Since founding Science & Cocktails in 2010, I have helped develop projects across countries and disciplines, from school events to dance, theatre and music. Below are selected examples of this work, recognised with the Danish science journalists’ Genius Prize in 2014 and the European Physical Society’s High Energy and Particle Physics Outreach Prize in 2023.
Science & Cocktails
I founded Science & Cocktails in Copenhagen in 2010 with a simple idea: an evening of science can be as compelling as a concert or a night at the cinema. The series brings public lectures together with live music, art and cocktail craftsmanship, creating an informal setting where audiences can meet researchers and explore their ideas.
The platform has grown to include Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Brussels and Johannesburg, with events attracting hundreds of guests and around 1000 per evening in Copenhagen. As founder, main organiser and chairman of the non-profit Science & Cocktails Foundation, I work with a team of staff, volunteers and partners to make research part of cultural life—and to reach people who might not otherwise attend a science lecture.
New projects and collaborations
From classrooms to concert halls, I work with scientists, educators and artists to make research part of a shared cultural experience.
Science & Mocktails
I founded and organise Science & Mocktails to bring scientists into Danish high schools. More than ten events have created an informal setting for students to ask questions, explore research and find inspiration for their own futures.
Emergence Festival
I am developing a large-scale science festival for Emergence at All Scales. Planned for June 2027 at Tolhuistuin, it will bring research into conversation with the public through lectures, debate, film, exhibitions, music and performance.
Emergence Art+Science Fellowships
I initiated and organise fellowships that bring artists and researchers together to create work inspired by emergence. I also contribute to the selection process and information sessions. The commissioned works are being developed for the Emergence Festival in 2027.
Emergence, Cosmic Origins and Collective Patterns
I co-organised, moderated and narrated this public panel for an audience of around 800, connecting questions about cosmic origins with collective behaviour across scales. I also scripted its introductory film. The evening interwove scientific discussion with a live audiovisual performance.
From the Foam
As science consultant, I worked with artist Mark IJzerman on a live audiovisual performance inspired by emergence. Fluid simulations, reaction–diffusion patterns, filmed material and sound bring the formation of complex structures from simple interactions into a shared sensory experience.
Black Hole Mysteries
I organised, moderated and narrated a panel on black holes for around 1,000 guests, bringing leading researchers together to discuss observations, unresolved puzzles and the nature of spacetime. I also scripted the introductory video. The full discussion is available to watch.
FUNDAMENT — Eske Kath
I contributed to two distinct artworks by Eske Kath, both entitled FUNDAMENT: one presented in Copenhagen in 2025, and a different piece presented at Gammelgaard in Herlev in 2026. Each brought artistic practice into conversation with ideas from physics.
String theory through music and visuals
I contributed with scientific input to a music and video performance inspired by string theory, created with the DJ collective Den Sorte Skole and visual artist Signe Emma. Presented at Science & Cocktails, it brought abstract physical ideas into dialogue with live sound and imagery.
The case of the (still) mysterious universe
How much of the universe do we understand—and what remains a mystery? In June 2024 I moderated, narrated and spoke at The case of the (still) mysterious universe, a public event celebrating CERN’s 70th anniversary during Strings 2024. Eight physicists explored fundamental questions alongside music from the UN Orchestra.
I also co-scripted the introductory film and contributed short interviews about particle colliders and Science & Cocktails. Watch the full event.
TEDx Talk
What can science gain from a closer relationship with society—and what can society gain from science? In From science to society and back, my TEDxAUCollege talk in Amsterdam in March 2024, I reflect on the experiences that led me to create spaces where research meets public and cultural life. Watch the talk.
Outreach Prize
In 2023 I received the European Physical Society’s High Energy and Particle Physics Outreach Prize. The award recognised my science communication activities, particularly Science & Cocktails and its combination of public lectures, music, art and nightlife. It honours an approach built around bringing researchers and audiences together in a shared cultural setting.
Act of Gravity
How can a dance performance make gravity tangible? I initiated this collaboration with Recoil Performance Group in 2020, working as scientific consultant and coordinator with choreographer Tina Tarpgaard and physicists Alejandra Castro, Thomas Hertog and Marianne Vestergaard. Using a large trampoline, the performers explored how bodies move through space and respond to gravity. Presented in Copenhagen and Aarhus in 2022, the work drew inspiration from general relativity, black holes, holography and cosmology.
Talks on gravity
Alongside Act of Gravity, I invited audiences to explore the physics behind the performance. In four public talks in Copenhagen and Aarhus in June and September 2022, including at CPH Stage, I traced ideas about gravity from Newton and Einstein to string theory. Watch Gravity: a physics perspective.
DATA DATA: the history of the computer
From analogue machines to quantum computing, the history of the computer is also a story about how we represent and understand the world. I initiated a collaboration with Teater Fantast in 2021 and served as scientific consultant and coordinator for DATA DATA, bringing ideas from physics, mathematics, computer science and history into theatre for children and adults.
I also gave the accompanying public talk From 10101010 to the whole universe in November 2022 and February 2023, exploring the physics of information.
Black hole documentary series
Black holes bring some of the deepest questions in physics into sharp focus: what happens beyond a horizon, how gravity shapes spacetime, and where our current theories reach their limits. In three short videos for Science & Cocktails, I explore these questions for a broad audience, including an explanation of how a Penrose diagram captures the structure of a Schwarzschild black hole.
The importance of black holes
What is inside a black hole?
Explanation of a Penrose diagram for a Schwarzschild black hole solution
Moderator for world premiere of The Most Unknown at CPH:DOX
At the world premiere of The Most Unknown, which opened the CPH:DOX Science programme in March 2018, I co-moderated a discussion with BBC journalist Britt Wray. Together with the film’s director and four participating scientists, we explored the questions, uncertainties and encounters that drive scientific discovery.
ProSucesso
From 2015 to 2022 I contributed to ProSucesso, the Azorean Government’s campaign to reduce high-school dropout rates. Through inspirational videos and school talks, I shared experiences of working in science and encouraged students to explore the possibilities that education can open up.
Genius Prize
In 2014 the Danish Association of Science Journalists awarded me the Genius Prize for establishing Science & Cocktails. Presented in connection with the first European Conference of Science Journalists at ESOF in Copenhagen, the award recognised the initiative’s approach to bringing science into public and cultural life.
Reviewer for COSMOS+
I contributed as a script reviewer to Hotel Pro Forma’s COSMOS+ in 2013. Premiering in 2014, the production used theatre, music and visual storytelling to explore astrophysics and the mysteries of the universe. My role was to help connect the scientific ideas with the work’s artistic imagination.
Cultural and Scientific newspaper Fazendo
In 2008 I co-founded Fazendo, a cultural and scientific newspaper on Faial in the Azores. As director and vice-president of the associated NGO until 2012, I helped create a local forum for science, ideas and artistic expression. Published twice a month and later distributed across the archipelago, the newspaper was an early expression of my interest in bringing research and cultural life into conversation.
Further activities
Public talks, educational initiatives and collaborations.
Education and public talks
PAL teaching pilot
I co-initiated a pilot within Emergence at All Scales to offer PhD researchers and postdocs training and experience in high-school teaching, with the aim of helping address teacher shortages in the Netherlands.
Student visit to the Niels Bohr Institute
Facilitated a visit by 30 students from Stichting Paul Erdős Netherlands.
Emergence at InScience
Public talk at the InScience Festival in Nijmegen, alongside exchanges with professionals from film and the arts.
String theory at Science Café Wageningen
A public introduction to string theory and its questions about the fundamental structure of nature.
On Emergence: from cells to black holes
Public talk for the Biology Department’s Science Club at the University of Copenhagen.
The Physics of the Didgeridoo
A half-concert, half-lecture presentation at the Thomas Bolander 50-year Symposium at DTU.
Inspiration for students in the Azores
Two talks at Manuel de Arriaga High School in Horta.
Building science communication
Developing large-scale science cultural events
Talk at NEMO Science Museum in Amsterdam for a science communication workshop organised by NIKHEF.
Developing large-scale science communication platforms
Focus-session talk at Physics@Veldhoven.
Sharing the Science & Cocktails model
Talks at the University of Amsterdam’s Institute of Physics symposium and lunch-talk series.
Strings conference outreach
Co-organised public outreach events for Strings 2019 in Brussels.
European Conference of Science Journalists
International advisory member and co-organiser of the fourth conference in Copenhagen.
Science & Cocktails at FENS
Talk invited by videnskab.dk during the neuroscience conference, and a separate talk at Kulturtårnet on creating scientific cultural events.
Science beyond the café scientifique
Talks at the Copenhagen science communication meet-up and the first European Conference of Science Journalists at ESOF.
Science-policy and outreach advice
Scientific adviser to the Azorean Government’s Rede Prestige (2013–2018), consultant to the Danish Ministry of Science (2016–2018), and adviser to the Danish Embassy’s NORDtalks in South Korea (2018).
Writing and artistic exchange
Conversations on Quantum Gravity
An edited collection of conversations with leading theoretical physicists about the search for quantum gravity. Further details are in the Books section.
Gravity in the dance studio
Talk with Thomas Hertog at Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s studio, contributing to the development of a dance performance.
Fabrikken Lighthouse
Permanent light installation in Christiania based on sinusoidal light waves.
Orb Habitat
Interactive installation combining Arduino technology and light design to imagine communication with otherworldly creatures.
Building a night culture around scientific knowledge
Invited article for The Conversation, co-written with K. Zoubos and K. Goldstein.
Live Art Installations
Member of an art collective creating installations inspired by scientific ideas. In 2012 I designed and live-controlled the light patterns for The Battle of Copenhagen, a large-scale multimedia performance.
Making public engagement possible
Since 2010 I have organised more than 350 public science lectures and more than 100 cultural events. Alongside the programme itself, this work involves building partnerships, securing support and coordinating teams. I founded the Science & Cocktails Foundation in 2014 and continue as its chairman.
Major support includes Novo Nordisk Foundation grants for Science & Cocktails in 2019 and 2023, and Lundbeck Foundation grants for Bringing neuroscience closer to the public in 2021, 2023 and 2025. I was also a co-applicant on the grants supporting Act of Gravity and DATA DATA. Further support from universities, public bodies and partner organisations has helped develop activities in Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium and South Africa.