On 25 September, UTM is opening its research to everyone for European Researchers’ Night. The labs are moving outdoors to the Technology Museum Park on the UTM campus, where visitors can drop in, try out the exhibits, program robots or even step into the shoes of a veterinary surgeon for a few minutes.
This year, the event takes place in two cities at once: in Chișinău, at the Technology Museum Park, and in Bălți, on the square outside Alecu Russo State University on Aleksandr Pușkin Street.
In Chișinău, the programme features experiments, science shows, games, competitions and exhibitions, along with summer schools for pupils and training sessions for researchers.
Highlights include:
- DJI Goggles, for an immersive flying experience
- the UTM astronomical observatory, with projections of planetary motion, constellations and other cosmic phenomena
- NAO, a humanoid robot that recognises commands and performs programmed movements
- an exoskeleton, controlled by muscle signals and AI, that helps people move their legs
- the String Art Machine, which recreates portraits using thread
- a robotic arm that translates hand gestures into speech and back again
- HiDuc, the first electric car built in Moldova, and UTM’s Formula Student race car
- food products developed in UTM’s labs: processed cheese with sea buckthorn, muffins made with oleogel and an encapsulated jostaberry extract
At the Cyber Challenge, visitors can find out how easily they’d fall for a phishing message and how good they are at spotting AI-generated text.
The event starts at 16:00 at the Technology Museum Park, 9 Studenților Street. Admission is free.
European Researchers’ Night is a European Union initiative, supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, that brings researchers closer to the public and showcases the wide range of fields they work in. The 2026 edition is part of the Sci-TRUST project, “Building Trust in Science: European Researchers’ Night,” funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101305415.
