Research at CERN´s Large Hadron Collider, new findings on the Higgs particle or results on neutrinos are attracting great interest from the general public. To let them participate in our research, we are active in outreach and science communication. At the IKTP, we lead the nationwide program Netzwerk Teilchenwelt and the worldwide program International Masterclasses. Through these programmes, young people and teachers can experience particle and astroparticle physics, analysing data from the LHC experiments or carrying out their own measurements with detectors for cosmic rays.

Our BMBF-funded project KONTAKT (since 07/24 KLET³) aims to communicate findings from research with the smallest particles in a way that can be understood by everyone, and to develop and test new communication channels and participation formats. Scientists from 34 universitites and research labs are participating in the nationwide project.

Furthermore, we organize advanced training courses for teachers and produce teaching material on particle physics. In Dresden, we organize a regular get-together for interested teachers and offer topics for theses of student teachers.

We are also participating in the EU project ChETEC-INFRA, which aims to make research infrastructure in nuclear astrophysics - including telescopes, supercomputers and laboratories such as the Dresden Felsenkellerlabor - available to a wide range of users. In Masterclasses on nuclear astrophysics, high school students gain insight into how the chemical elements in stars are formed.