The short film Brain Mapping wins the 2nd Comas i Solà Contest

During the award ceremony, which took place in the hall of the Historical Building, the attendants could watch the ten films that were submitted to the contest. The event was held by Xavier Luri, Professor at the Department of Astronomy and Meteorology and Member of the scientific monologuists group Big Van. In the event there were the members of the jury Enric I. Canela, vice-Rector of Scientific Policy, Estrella Montolío, representing the Doctoral School; Olga Giralt, representing the Audiovisual Services of the University of Barcelona and Marga Becerra, representing the Scientific Culture and Research Unit (UCC+i) of the UB.

When deciding who the winners were, the jury assessed the originality of the films as well as their scientific rigour and the synthesis capability when explaining concepts and the clarity of the message so as to make the audiovisual work understandable for a non-specialized nor used to scientific language -audience.
 

Awarded films

In Brain Mapping, Joanna Sierpowska, student of PhD program in Biomedicine, shows her doctoral thesis proposal on brain mapping and its applications to neurosurgery patients. Sierpowska tells us how she researches new ways of intrasurgical monitoring on neurosurgery patientsʼ speech and how brain mapping can help decreasing postsurgical deficiencies on these patients. Also, she mentions the theory of the dual language route, in which she lays her projectsʼ methodology.

Elisabet Tintó, also a student of the PhD program in Biomedicine, in her short film ap2-hs, un gen important en el paràsit de la malària?, talks about malaria, and gives answers to questions such as how it is transmitted, which countries are most affected by this disease, which microorganism is provoking it (what we know and what is still unknown), and how can genetics and epigenetics studies be useful, as well as in what ways the fever affects malaria parasites.

Silvana de Souza Pinheiro, student of the program in Drug research, development and control, with her audiovisual work Un microscopio virtual, talks about experimental techniques limitations when depicting molecular details and she explains her doctoral proposal, which aims to design a virtual microscope based on the technical simulation of fluorescence, aiming to improve drugsʼ design.

The awards

The author of the best film, Joanna Sierpowska, has been awarded with a 2.000-euro financial aid which have to be earmarked for a trip to focus on her doctoral studies, while the author of the most original film, Elisabet Tintó, and the author of the most popular film, Silvana de Souza Pinheiro, have received an iPad Air2, each. In addition, the three winners have received a free registration for any of the intensive language courses organized by the School of Modern Languages (EIM) in their summer offer for 2016, and a set of merchandising products of the University of Barcelona, which include an embroidered sweatshirt, a t-shirt and a 8GB USB.
 

The contest

The 2nd Comas i Solà Contest is jointly organized by the Doctoral School and the UCC+I and it aims to being people closer to the research carried out in the UB through visual and flexible means, as well as making Doctoral students seen as the engine of the University.
The contest is named after the astronomer Josep Comas i Solà (1868-1937) from Barcelona, who was interested in astronomy and became a great scientific disseminator. When he as 15 he studied a meteorite which had fallen near Tarragona and its results were published on the magazine Astronomie. He was known for his studies on asteroids; he found eleven and developed a new research method to calculate their orbit. Apart from his scientific research on astronomy, he also experimented with photography and cinema applied to astronomy observation and also developed studies on seismology. He was Director of the Fabra Observatory of the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences of Barcelona since its creation. He also contributed to the founding of the Spanish Society of Astronomy and was its first President.

All the audiovisual works that were submitted in the contest can be seen in the University of Barcelonaʼs Youtube channel.

Further information on the Comas i Solà contest