The first edition of the Euro-Mediterranean and Middle East Summer School for Science Communication, EMME 2013, was hosted by Parque de las Ciencias, Granada, Spain, 22-27 September. For five days, Parque de las Ciencias was the capital of scientific communication and the center of development for joint projects between museums and science centers in the Middle East and Europe. More than 50 experts from 14 countries participated in EMME 2013.

Algeria, Belgium, Egypt, France, Italy, Kuwait, Palestine, Portugal, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States were represented in the summer school where experts—such as: the Exhibition Director of The Exploratorium, San Francisco, Tom Rockwell; the Head of the Science Unit of UNESCO, Mario Scalet; and the Director of the Planetarium Science Center at the Library of Alexandria, Hoda Elmitaky—tackled sience communication in a professional way that integrated areas such as: education, exhibition development, new technologies, and marketing.

All partners highlighted the value of the summer school and its importance to create connections between Europe and the countries of the Mediterranean and Middle East. In this sense, Mr. Mijbil Almutawa, NAMES President, announced that he predicted this summer school will be the first in a long history that will always have Granada and the Parque de las Ciencias as reference.

Special Thanks

NAMES is immensely grateful for the continual support of
the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS)
for funding the first four EMME editions.

We also thank Universcience Partenaires, one of EMME's Active Partners, for their continuous support in the form of 5 grants to 5 aspiring science center professionals from the NAMES region to benefit from EMME in each of its first three editions.