La UB divulga sets up a short film contest addressed to PhD students
The Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit (UCC+i) and the Doctoral School of the University of Barcelona (UB) co-organise the 1st Comas i Solà Video Contest. The main objective of the competition, addressed to UB PhD students, is to allow them describing the scientific studies they are developing to the general public by using audio-visual means. The deadline for applications is 31 October 2015. Three prizes will be given (best film, most original film and most popular film). Winners will be announced in November.
The Scientific Culture and Innovation Unit (UCC+i) and the Doctoral School of the University of Barcelona (UB) co-organise the 1st Comas i Solà Video Contest. The main objective of the competition, addressed to UB PhD students, is to allow them describing the scientific studies they are developing to the general public by using audio-visual means. The deadline for applications is 31 October 2015. Three prizes will be given (best film, most original film and most popular film). Winners will be announced in November.
Films cannot be more than three-minutes long (credits included).There is not a fixed genre: documentary, fiction, animation, experimental, or any other that fits contestʼs terms and conditions. Films must be recorded in Catalan, Spanish or English. Videos in other languages will be accepted if they include subtitles in any of the former three languages. Films can illustrate research on any subject area.
Videos must be published on YouTube before 31 October 2015. Participants must fill an online form for each film they submit. After having passed a validation process that ensures requirement fulfilment, participating films will be reproduced on UBʼs YouTube channel.
The jury will particularly consider the following criteria: originality, scientific rigour, message clarity, and the ability to summarize scientific concepts. The aim is to achieve that non-specialized people understand the scientific concepts described in films. In November, winnersʼ names will be announced on the website of the project and those concerned will be informed via e-mail.
The competition is named after Josep Comas i Solà (1868-1937), a prestigious astronomer from Barcelona. Besides his research career, Comas i Solà was an important science communicator. When he was fifteen, he studied a meteorite that fell near Tarragona and published his results in the journal Astronomie. He excelled in asteroid studies; he discovered eleven of them and developed a method to calculate orbits. Besides the research he developed on astronomy, he worked on photography and cinema applied to astronomical observation and developed some seismology studies. He directed the Fabra Observatory of the Royal Academy of Science and Arts of Barcelona since its creation. He also contributed to found the Spanish Astronomical Society and he was its first president.
The 1st Comas i Solà Video Contest is supported by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT) - Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO).