The Science Communicators Meeting agrees that the University has to continue working on dissemination

Marga Becerra presented a report of all dissemination activities that were carried out over the last year.
Marga Becerra presented a report of all dissemination activities that were carried out over the last year.
Research
(20/07/2016)

Yesterday the Aula Magna of the Historical Building held the 5th Science Communicators Meeting, organized by the Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit (UCC+i) of the University of Barcelona. Like each year, the aim of the meeting is very specific: creating a place for the exchange of disseminating experiences and building a network to improve the University disseminating competencies.

With more than thirty disseminators attending the meeting, Marga Becerra, responsible of the UCC+i and the University, presented a report of the dissemination activities carried out over the last year and presented one of the new projects to be carried out next year: Toc Toc. Afterwards, seven researchers from different knowledge areas talked about the projects they are working on, and then Xavier Luri and M. Carme Llasat, lecturers at the Faculty of Physics, talked about the past, present and future goals of the directing plan for dissemination of the University of Barcelona. In the afternoon, Sonia Arnés, from the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) gave ten tips to follow when presenting a project at the annual call for support aids.

 

Marga Becerra presented a report of all dissemination activities that were carried out over the last year.
Marga Becerra presented a report of all dissemination activities that were carried out over the last year.
Research
20/07/2016

Yesterday the Aula Magna of the Historical Building held the 5th Science Communicators Meeting, organized by the Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit (UCC+i) of the University of Barcelona. Like each year, the aim of the meeting is very specific: creating a place for the exchange of disseminating experiences and building a network to improve the University disseminating competencies.

With more than thirty disseminators attending the meeting, Marga Becerra, responsible of the UCC+i and the University, presented a report of the dissemination activities carried out over the last year and presented one of the new projects to be carried out next year: Toc Toc. Afterwards, seven researchers from different knowledge areas talked about the projects they are working on, and then Xavier Luri and M. Carme Llasat, lecturers at the Faculty of Physics, talked about the past, present and future goals of the directing plan for dissemination of the University of Barcelona. In the afternoon, Sonia Arnés, from the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) gave ten tips to follow when presenting a project at the annual call for support aids.

 

Medical caricature, sound sculpture, statistics for everyone or astronomy exhibitions in a prison are some of the examples of dissemination

Begonya Torres, from the Human Anatomy Unity of the Faculty of Medicine and expert in history of medicine, talked about the research she carried out on the importance of doctors by analysing more than two thousand caricatures published in Catalan satirical magazines over the first quart of the 20th century. She made exhibitions about these topics in several cultural centres and collected the results in her book És greu, doctor?

Jaume Llopis, from the Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics of the Faculty of Biology described himself as a “communicative animal” and told that he launched his blog La estadística: una orquestra hecha instrumento three years ago -it has now more than a million visits- aiming to share a discipline that, according to him, “is everywhere”.

Surinye Olarte, from the Institute of Cosmos Sciences (ICCUB) of the Faculty of Physics, told about the five astronomy exhibitions that are offered, successfully, in education centres and cultural entities from around the country. He also highlighted than on one occasion they brought samples to the Centre Penitenciari Ponent (prison) in Lleida.

Josep M. Cortés, from the Department of Sociology at the Faculty of Economy and Business talked about the research task that he has been carrying out for more than two decades on the Catalan technopolis. In his speech, “La tecnòpolis catalana. Anàlisi del Pensament organitzatiu a Catalunya”, he talked about the study he made, focused on the periods 1900-1936 and 1940-1980.

The project Agenda Pública was the topic of Argelia Queralt intervention, lecturer at the Department of Constitutional Law and Political Science of the Faculty of Law. This initiative aims to connect the academic knowledge in social sciences to public opinion. With the clear aim of sharing social sciences, each day thereʼs an article published about current affairs and they already have more than 750 collaborators, 1.750 written articles, 100.000 month online visits and around 9.000 followers on Twitter.

Martí Ruiz, from the Consolidated Research Group in Barcelona: Research, Art and Creation (BRAC) of the Faculty of Fine Arts, talked about the sound sculpture as an interdisciplinary and interactive way of dissemination, awareness and participation. He talked about the dissemination task of the work by the Baschet brothers from more than sixty years ago and told that, apart from the exhibition organized in the Park of Humanities and Social Sciences, BRAC carries out other activities, both in schools and cultural centres. The goal is clear: reaching the participantsʼ enthusiasm through the senses.

At the end, Ricardo Graciani, from ICCUB, showed the initiative Collaborative Education (CODE), which aims to modify the way of teaching, getting close to reality, where all knowledge can be fit in a device, and what is really necessary to learn is learning itself. Learning where and how to find knowledge and combine it to get problem-solving.


Present, past and future of the University of Barcelona directing plan of dissemination

The lecturers of the Faculty of Physics Xavier Luri and M. Carme Llasat talked about the University of Barcelona directing plan of dissemination, launched in 2013 together with the constitution of the Commission of Disseminators of the UB. They showed what goals have been reached during this time and highlighted the main short-term objectives to promote dissemination from the University of Barcelona. They noted that the commission sent a letter to all Rectorate candidates where they ask for a commitment in betting on dissemination in their electoral programs and for the necessary resources given to the UCC+i.

 

Ten tips to be successful in the FECYT aid call

In the afternoon there was a practical workshop on learning how to present a dissemination project in an aid call. The activity was divided in two parts. Firstly, Sonia Arnés from FECYT gave some basic tips on how to present projects, with ten useful tips. After that, with the supervision of the experts from the UCC+i of the UB, the second part of the workshop went on, which consisted in working on a project that had been previously created by the attendants of the meeting.
 

More disseminators in the Made in UB collection

In this meeting too, and like last yearʼs meeting, the researchers who wished so could film a short video to talk about their research. These films will be part of the Divulgadors Made in UB collection.


This activity has the support of the Spanish Foundation for Knowledge and Technology (FECYT) - Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.