More than five thousand people participated this year in the activities of UB Divulga

UB Divulga has dates for the next event, which will be on May 12, 2017.
UB Divulga has dates for the next event, which will be on May 12, 2017.
Research
(15/08/2016)

The Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit (UCC+i) of the University of Barcelona organizes and promotes more and more scientific dissemination activities from all knowledge areas. Since its creation in 2008, the form and themes of the events have changed but all activities share the fact that are aimed at non-specialized audience and want to promote social interest in science and knowledge, increasing peopleʼs scientific culture and contributing to increase the scientific vocation among youngsters and children.

In the academic year 2015-2016, the UCC+i consolidated a lot of last yearʼs activities: Camins infinits, NanoDivulga or ArqueUB are some of the examples. Moreover, there is a new episode of Ciència animada (animated science), Ombres (shadows), and the 2nd UB Science Festival was held, among other activities. There has been a new show within the project, already consolidated, Theatrum Sapientiae: Pius Font i Quer, passion for botany; a new title for the project Pintaʼm un conte: Flebotín, un mosquit del cretaci and the project Freqüències: Un viatge pluridiscinlinari a lʼespectre electromagnètic has also been carried out. Moreover, the UCC+i supported initiatives such as the Crystallization Contest, Comas i Solà Contest or Espai Ciència in the Saló de lʼEnsenyament (Education Conference).

 

UB Divulga has dates for the next event, which will be on May 12, 2017.
UB Divulga has dates for the next event, which will be on May 12, 2017.
Research
15/08/2016

The Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit (UCC+i) of the University of Barcelona organizes and promotes more and more scientific dissemination activities from all knowledge areas. Since its creation in 2008, the form and themes of the events have changed but all activities share the fact that are aimed at non-specialized audience and want to promote social interest in science and knowledge, increasing peopleʼs scientific culture and contributing to increase the scientific vocation among youngsters and children.

In the academic year 2015-2016, the UCC+i consolidated a lot of last yearʼs activities: Camins infinits, NanoDivulga or ArqueUB are some of the examples. Moreover, there is a new episode of Ciència animada (animated science), Ombres (shadows), and the 2nd UB Science Festival was held, among other activities. There has been a new show within the project, already consolidated, Theatrum Sapientiae: Pius Font i Quer, passion for botany; a new title for the project Pintaʼm un conte: Flebotín, un mosquit del cretaci and the project Freqüències: Un viatge pluridiscinlinari a lʼespectre electromagnètic has also been carried out. Moreover, the UCC+i supported initiatives such as the Crystallization Contest, Comas i Solà Contest or Espai Ciència in the Saló de lʼEnsenyament (Education Conference).

 

Camins infinits increases its number of collaborating PhD students

One of the most requested activities is Camins infinits, a project jointly organized with the Doctorate School of the University of Barcelona that was launched last year. There was a promotion campaign to increase the number of collaborating researchers -which grew up to 20- due to the increase in applications for this yearʼs version of the activity. During this academic year there have been 36 visits in 30 primary and secondary schools all around Catalonia with more than 1.000 students, and the obtained results in the satisfaction surveys are positive, from both teachers and students in the centres that training researchers visited.

Nanotechnology secrets

The project NanoDivulga which started last year, involved a set of activities aimed to promote the world of nanotechnology around people to show the rare properties of the nano-materials. The initiative comes from the collaboration between the Scientific and Technologic Centers of the UB (CCiTUB), the Institute of Education Sciences (ICE) and UCC+i.

Ciència animada releases an episode about shadows

During this academic year the second episode for Ciència animada was released. The first episode showed each step of the scientific method, and in the second one, entitled Ombres (shadows), it is explained how the sunʼs position makes an influence on shadow directions. Now the evaluation of this proposal is very positive regarding the display data both episodes had. In the first chapter the number of displays was around 180.000. The second episode overpasses the 10.000 displays.


A mosquito from the Cretaceous, main character of a new Pintaʼm un conte

UB Divulga released a new show from the project Pintaʼm un conte: Flebotín, un mosquit del Cretaci, aimed at children aged from 5 to 9. Around five hundred children attended some of the sessions. With a speaker who gives voice to the characters and an illustrator who draws the different stories, the tale tells the adventures of a small mosquito who lived in a forest and, during the Cretaceous era -65 million years ago- got stuck in resin on a tree from the monkey puzzle family.

The figure of Pius Font i Quer, in a new edition of Theatrum Sapientiae

The Theatrum Sapientiae of this year has been dedicated to Pius Font i Quer, a vocational botanist that, in spite of being a chemist, when he was only twenty, and thanks to a course taught by Doctor Manuel Llenas, discovered his true passion: studying plants and sharing this knowledge. Almost three hundred people have seen the play in the programmed events.

ArqueUB consolidation

One of the activities that was driven by the UB Divulga and was very successful was ArqueUB, an initiative that uses the work of the students of Archaeology in the University of Barcelona, in the ground of the same centre where they study. The main aim of the activity is to show how archaeologists get historical traces in this area of Barcelona, and invite people to discover how past life was in this area of the city. This year, six students from secondary school participated in the activity; they were given real tasks in the archaeological site, and were guided by archaeology students of the University of Barcelona. They have also created a journal in a digital format which will be revised and published in the project website.

The Science Festival comes back with more activities and workshops

The success of the 2nd UB Science Festival shows that people get closer to university when they have the chance to participate in a dynamic and innovative way, regarding research within the institution. The event took place at the Historical Building of the University of Barcelona on April 29 and it lasted all day. It was useful to promote and value the work done by researchers from all knowledge areas, and to tell how research makes a difference on society. The dates for the next Science Festival are already accepted and it will be held on May 17, 2017.

UB research at Saló de lʼEnsenyament

Once more, UB Divulga attended Espai Ciència in Saló de lʼEnsenyament with its own stall. The visitors discovered the tasks of research and innovation that are carried out by some research teams at the University of Barcelona, from different knowledge areas. Several researchers shared their studies with the attendants through workshops and activities such as exhibitions of scientific experiments.

Secondary school students learn how to make crystal

Around 2.500 students from fifty Catalan centres participated in the fifth edition of the Crystallization at School Contest, organized by the Department of Mineralogy, Petrology and Applied Geology, which aims to promote the importance of crystals in society and wants to promote its study, systematic work, scientific thinking and communication among youngsters through crystallization experiments.

PhD studentsʼ research told through short films

This year the second edition of the Comas i Solà Contest has been set. It is a series of short films that promote researchers telling their research to the general public. The amount of published videos overpassed the ones in the first edition and the jury highlighted the level and scientific accuracy of all presented works. This year there has been the participation of ten PhD students and the short films gather around 9.000 views already.

UB disseminators gather in the Meeting

Last July 19, the Science Communicators Meeting took place with the objective of creating a place to exchange scientific dissemination experiences, both for activities organized by the UCC+i and other projects promoted by researchers of the University. The meeting has the presentation of several dissemination projects that are carried out by several researchers of the UB, as well as the exhibition on the past, present and future directing plan of dissemination of the University of Barcelona, and the speech of a FECYT expert who gave the attendants ten tips to follow when presenting a project to the financial aid call.

UB Divulga impact

Further from the consolidation of their projects, the UB Divulga increased the impact on social networks. For instance, the Twitter account has already 960 followers and has almost 1.000 likes in the Facebook page. Also, the website gathered around 19.000 views and has around 200 members in the UB Divulga Club.

The activity program of UB Divulga has the support of the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology and the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (FECYT-MINECO).