Soapbox Science 2025: female scientists take the floor at the heart of Brussels
On Saturday 28 June 2025, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., twelve female researchers from all over Belgium will be sharing their passion and knowledge in a fun and accessible way at the Carrefour de l’Europe/Europakruispunt.
In a public square, women in white coats, perched on small podiums, address their impromptu audiences. All around them are people in the same white T-shirts with a purple logo, some of them hailing passers-by. A political demonstration? A marketing stunt? No, not at all. It’s a Soapbox Science event.
Illustrations of the Soapbox Science event in Brussels in 2024. Credit: Soapbox Science Brussels.
Soapbox Science is a science outreach initiative that aims to promote the visibility of women and non-binary scientists and their research by bringing them on the streets to reach the public. Soapbox Science events transform public areas in discussion forums based on Hyde Park’s Speaker’s Corner where scientists, on their soapboxes, talk about their research to the people passing by.
Why female scientists? Even today, they are a minority in the research field, and their relative number dwindles as the seniority in the field increases, as shown by the figures in the European Commission’s She Figures 2024 In the European Union, women make up 37% of PhDs in science and engineering, but only 20% of full professors or equivalent. Recent research shows that women and non-binaries face a lot of obstacles from a very young age, notably due to strongly held stereotypes and biases related to the image of the scientist.
For those reasons, Soapbox Science aims at tackling stereotypes and shows the public that science is not a stereotypically smart and socially awkward man’s business and that anyone has the opportunity to enjoy science in an interactive way.
This year will be the sixth edition in Brussels, after a first online event in 2020 that was broadcast live on social media, and four real-life events in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
During the event, four soapboxes will be placed on the Carrefour de l’Europe/Europakruispunt. On each soapbox, a speaker will talk about their research and interact with the public passing by, for the duration of an hour. Talks will be in French, Dutch and English, the most commonly used languages in Brussels. This year, we will notably explore mail delivery in plant cells, microplastics, city accessibility for wheelchairs and tracking water contamination.
Come to the Carrefour de l’Europe/Europakruispunt to hear them talk and discover their fascinating cutting-edge research!
Details and programme of the event: https://soapboxsciencebrussels.be/agenda/
Meet the 2025 Soapbox Science Brussels Speakers: https://soapboxsciencebrussels.be/speakers/
Soapbox Science Brussels 2025 is supported by the Royal Observatory of Belgium, the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, the Flemish Institute of Biotechnology (VIB) and Europlanet Benelux. The Royal Observatory of Belgium is the host institute for Soapbox Science Brussels.
Website of Soapbox Science Brussels: https://soapboxsciencebrussels.be/
Social Media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoapboxScienceBrussels
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/soapbox-science-brussels/
YouTube: bit.ly/SoapboxScienceYouTube
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soapboxsciencebrussels
Blue Sky: https://bsky.app/profile/soapboxbrussels.bsky.social
Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@SoapboxScienceBrussels
