DFG Science TV lives on

DFG Science TV, the online television channel provided by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, the German Research Foundation), is to be continued following its successful launch last year.

In 2009, once again, scientists and researchers will face the camera to document and explain the work they do, and there will be more filmed research diaries.

 “The pilot phase of DFG Science TV has shown that the films are a great success with our audience,” said Matthias Kleiner, President of the DFG. “Most of all, we want to spark young people’s enthusiasm for science. They are increasingly using the Internet as their source of information, so science also needs to be adequately represented there. DFG Science TV allows them to take a look over the scientists’ and researchers’ shoulders as they work and thus be grabbed by the fascinating world of research.”

DFG Science TV presents exceptional research projects on the Internet using video shorts. The films are filmed by the scientists and researchers involved in the projects themselves, after being given training by professional camera operators. The raw film footage is then compressed into three-minute shorts by a professional production company and put online.

In the next few weeks, ten new research projects from a wide variety of research areas will be selected for the continuation of the DFG’s Internet TV project, with the first films are expected to go online in May. Because of the great interest shown by scientists and researchers in participating in DFG Science TV in recent months, there will be a competition to select the projects this time.

Science TV has also become international and more user-friendly. The films from the pilot phase are now also available in English, in line with the international nature of the research funded by the DFG. The new series of films and the new, expanded, Internet portal will be bilingual right from the start. Also, a number of additional interactive functions will be added. For example, it will be possible to download the new film shorts, and users will be able to subscribe to an RSS feed so that they are notified of updates.

The English version of DFG Science TV is at www.dfg-science-tv.com.