Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
sciencely
A long-term collaboration that brings science out of the university into the city, campus, and exhibitions in a playful, public, and accessible way.
With sciencely, Humboldt University uses Mein Objekt not for a classic museum, but as a digital format between research and the public. Over the years it has grown into a layered discovery space: from the main building on Unter den Linden to the Adlershof campus, the Unter den Linden subway station, the Humboldt Laboratory in the Humboldt Forum, and Japanese sites in Berlin.
What makes this project special
- sciencely shows how Mein Objekt also works beyond the museum: as a public interpretation format for university, research, and society.
- The app connects multiple places within one system: the main building, Adlershof campus, the U5 station Unter den Linden, the Humboldt Laboratory, and the Mori Ogai Memorial Site.
- Through image recognition or manual selection, conversations start directly at a monument, object, architectural detail, or even at a subway sign.
- The content ranges from Lise Meitner, Max Planck, and the Humboldt brothers to the ginkgo tree and one of 29,000 shipwrecked rubber ducks.
- At the subway station and in the Humboldt Laboratory, a digital layer emerges for topics such as water, the Anthropocene, carbon, and social environmental questions.
- The student project on Japanese places in Berlin also makes sciencely a collaborative teaching and research format.
Voice from practice
Science in dialogue instead of behind walls
“With sciencely, we create a playful bridge between science and society. The insight that science, despite all its seriousness, can also be enjoyable and relevant to everyday life opens the door for us to reach people who may never have set foot inside a university.”
Opening up
sciencely brings the university into the everyday lives of people who might otherwise have little contact with science.
Accessibility
Social and scientific questions can be revisited quickly, accessibly, and again and again.
Dialog
The format creates a multidirectional dialogue instead of one-way knowledge transfer.
“With sciencely, we gain the opportunity to bring important social and scientific questions into a multidirectional dialogue again and again, quickly and with a low barrier to entry.”