The UCC+i of the UB organises new science dissemination activities and consolidates some of its best proposals
The Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit (UCC+i) of the University of Barcelona organises and promotes more and more science dissemination activities every year. Since its creation in 2008, its activities have been focused on different subject areas, analysed very different topics and present varied formats. However, they have all been addressed to the general public.
The Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit (UCC+i) of the University of Barcelona organises and promotes more and more science dissemination activities every year. Since its creation in 2008, its activities have been focused on different subject areas, analysed very different topics and present varied formats. However, they have all been addressed to the general public.
Throughout the academic year 2014-2015, La UB divulga has set up many new projects and activities: Camins Infinits, Animated Science, Nanodivulga, the UB Science Festival, guided tours to Universityʼs gardens and the theatre performance Jordi Rubió i lʼesperit el llibre, within the consolidated project Theatrum Sapientiae. Furthermore, the release of the portal La UB divulga constitutes another example of the initiatives carried out to promote social interest in science and knowledge, increase scientific culture among citizens and contribute to increase the number of scientific vocations among children and young students. Moreover, the UCC+i has supported the continuation of some initiatives like the contest Cristal·lització a lʼEscola and the participation in the Espai Ciència of the Saló de lʼEnsenyament (Education Fair).
New activities
Camins Infinits
This is one of the most popular activities set up during the last academic year. Camins Infinits is a project organised together with the Doctoral School of the UB that brings primary and secondary schools closer to PhD students as it enables children and teenagers to know the daily life of a researcher at first hand. The main goals of the activity are to bring research activity closer to young students and to improve communication skills among young researchers. The activity is divided into two parts: first, the young researcher describes his/her work and why did he/she decided to devote him/herself to research on a 30 minute speech, and then young students can make questions to the visitor. PhD students have done a total of ten visits to schools around Catalonia and there are two new visits scheduled for the next academic year.
Animated Science
The project Animated Science aims at creating a collection of audiovisual resources to bring children closer to scientific concepts in an amusing way. The first episode, available on the site of the project, describes the scientific method and each of the phases that compose it. To date, the project has been assessed in a very positive way as the video has been watched more than 1,000 times in English and Catalan, nearly 13,000 in Spanish, and about 5,000 on Facebook.
Jordi Rubió i lʼesperit del llibre
This yearʼs performance of the project Theatrum Sapientiae has been dedicated to one of the greatest Catalan humanists of the 20th century: Jordi Rubió i Balaguer, who outstood in the fields of philology, library science and Catalan literature historiography. The play Jordi Rubió i lʼesperit del llibre is written and directed by Gastón Gilabert, researcher at the Consolidated Research Group Aula Música Poètica of the Faculty of Philology of the UB. The story is set on the last night that Rubió stayed at the National Library of Catalonia, just before Francoʼs troops takes the control of the city of Barcelona. The play remembers some of the events that have most marked the history of Catalonia, its institutions and research on the field of humanities. The audience is surprised by the validity of the story and the parallelisms that can be easily made with current situation. Sessions took place at the Aula Capella of the Historic Building and the Institute of Catalan Studies requested the UCC+I to do a performance at its headquarters.
Nanodivulga
The project NanoDivulga is a series of activities aimed at bringing citizens closer to nanotechnology and nanoscience and demonstrating the unique properties of nanomaterials and nanotechnologies. It is a project that promotes discussion, debate and knowledge of nanotechnogy and its applications. The initiative emerges from the collaboration among the Science and Technology Centres of the UB (CCiTUB), the Institute of Education Sciences (ICE) and the UCC+i.
Guided tours to UB gardens
This year, the UCC+i has organised some guided tours to the Finca Agustí Pedro i Pons in order to bring botany closer to citizens and promote the most important aspects of this subject area, which remains quite unknown. The activity was conducted by three botanists of the Department of Plant Biology of the UB.
ArqueUB
In order to organise the activity ArqueUB, La UB divulga has profited the fieldwork that students of the degree in Archaeology of the UB carry out at the site of the Faculty of Geography and History, located at the Raval neighbourhood in Barcelona. Students have found archaeological finds dated at the 14th century. With ArqueUB, the UCC+i sets up a new line of work in the field of humanities and social sciences. The activity has allowed opening the excavations to the general public and citizens have been invited to discover how Barcelona inhabitants live many years ago.
The first UB Science Festival
The successful participation in the first UB Science Festival stresses the fact that citizens come to the University when its doors are opened. The Festival brings citizens closer to the research activity developed at the University in an amusing and innovative way. The first edition took place at the Historic Building of the UB on 22 May. Different science dissemination activities described the studies developed by UB researchers in every subject area.
Consolidated activities
EspaiCiència
This year, La UB divulga has participated again in the Espai Ciència of the Saló de lʼEnsenyament with its own stand. Visitors were able to discover research and innovation activities carried out by some UB research groups on different subject areas. Researchers shared their activities with visitors by mans of workshops, experiments, demos, etc.
Contest Cristal·lització a lʼEscola
One of the most consolidated activities of La UB divulga is the Contest Cristal·lització a lʼEscola (Crystallization at the school). About 1,500 student from fifty schools across Catalonia have participated in the 4th Contest Cristal·lització a lʼEscola. The main objective of the project is to promote the important role that crystals play in our society and encourage skills related to systematic study, scientific thinking and communication among young students by means of experiments with crystals.
Meeting of UB Science Communicators
The Meeting of UB Science Communicators has become an annual event. Like previous edition, the main goal of the fourth edition was to exchange ideas and experiences on science communication concerning activities organized by the UCC+i of the UB as well as other projects developed by UB researchers. The 4th Meeting was closed with the lecture pronounced by José Manuel López Nicolás, professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of the University of Murcia and author of the blog Scientia.
The activities organised by La UB divulga are supported by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology - Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (FECYT-MINECO).