by: Ariunzaya Munkhbat
On September 29, 2025, Level Two at The Loop Lund was transformed into something rare: a room where 14-16-year-olds sat shoulder to shoulder with the engineers and researchers behind some of Europe’s most ambitious science facilities. The occasion was the Youth Event, held during AIMday 2025 and organized by Wonderfund together with co-organizers Big Science Sweden and Altitude Meetings.
AIMDAY
AIMday itself is normally a meeting ground for industry and academia. It is a day built around matching Europe’s largest research infrastructures with the companies and institutions that can help solve their technical challenges. Big Science Sweden uses it to connect facilities like CERN and the European Spallation Source (ESS) with Swedish expertise. Last year, that same energy was channeled into something new: a dedicated session designed entirely around young people.
MEETING THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE SCIENCE
The Youth Event was designed to move beyond traditional classroom learning, immersing students directly into the real-world impact of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math). Attendees explored cutting-edge developments from premier research facilities like the European Spallation Source (ESS), CERN, and the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research.
- European Spallation Source ERIC (ESS): The neutron research facility being built in Lund
- CERN: The world’s leading particle physics laboratory
- GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research: A hub for heavy-ion and accelerator science in Germany
An exceptional lineup of speakers, including Nikodem Leik, Ernest Zejnic, Sandra Muhr, Martina Bauer, Sara Thuresson, and Dr. Pradeep Ghosh, transcended standard presentations. They shared personal stories alongside technical expertise, offering deep dives into real-world challenges: how big science technology gets designed and built, how green tech solutions are shaping the next generation of research infrastructure, and how STEAM shows up in the actual, messy work of solving problems that matter to society. By framing science as a tool to solve pressing societal challenges, the speakers gave students a tangible look at how today’s curiosity shapes tomorrow’s breakthroughs.
CURIOSITY TURNED INTO AMBITION
The Youth Event was filled with questions about scientific discovery, technology, sustainability, and the pathways that lead into STEM and STEAM careers. The clearest sign the event worked came from the students themselves. In the days that followed, many expressed a specific and pointed interest: they wanted to know how to pursue learning opportunities at CERN.
That’s the outcome organizers are proudest of. A student who leaves an event with a concrete question “How do I get there from here?” It is a student who has moved from passive interest to active ambition. Wonderfund and its partners keep exploring how to help translate that interest into real pathways: internships, mentorships, and continued connections with the researchers students met that day.
WHAT’S NEXT
The STREAM IT x Big Science Sweden Special Youth Event showed what can happen when young people are brought into the conversation and given access to the people and institutions shaping the future of science and technology. The enthusiasm, questions, and ambitions we saw in Lund reaffirmed the importance of continuing to create these bridges.
And perhaps, somewhere in that room in Lund, a future scientist or engineer discovered that Big Science has a place for them.
