Events Aimed at a Young Public

Dissabtes de la Física is an initiative to popularise physics promoted by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). It consists of a series of conferences held on 5 consecutive Saturdays, followed by visits to laboratories or other kinds of activity. The ICN2 participated in this programme providing interactive contents for one of those events.

Over 120 students participated in the event. They were divided into groups of 12-15 people and each group focused for a few minutes on a different activity. The group had to read a sheet with the basic information on what to do, and then answer a brief online test using their mobile phones. After 5 minutes, they moved to the next activity, and they continued with this dynamic until they completed the 9 proposed modules. During this journey, they could observe and experiment with ferrofluid, lab-on-a-chip, encapsulation, nitinol, superhydrophobic surfaces, brain-computer interfaces, etc. The event closed with a discussion led by the ICN2 Marketing and Communication Department.

The ICMAB and the ICN2 received for two days two young journalists in the framework of the Journalist-in-the-Lab programme. The participants learned about two projects being developed at each institution: E-Magic and CARBAT at ICMAB, and BrainCom and TOCHA at the ICN2. The FETFX project, which promotes the Journalist-in-the-Lab programme, a few weeks after the visit released the dissemination materials the fresh reporters produced. The pieces included a story describing the TOCHA project and a video on the BrainCom project.

The 6th edition of the 10alamenos9 Scientific Festival was planned to take place between the end of April and the beginning of May 2020. It had to be rescheduled because of the mobility restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, the team behind this lively event decided to organize a special series of virtual seminars to bring science, and specifically nanotechnology, closer to people during confinement. Called “Vermú de Nanociencia”, the webinar series started on March 23 offering three appointments per week. The lectures, involving four ICN2 researchers, were available live and are now stored on the Youtube channel of the 10alamenos9 Festival.

The virtual version of the Festival also included a competition of nanostories aimed at secondary school students, with the goal of disseminating nanoscience and nanotechnology among the young public. The competition, held statewide, received a total of 131 works, of which 85 (65%) corresponded to students from Catalonia. The nanostories were evaluated in three phases, the first two to choose the winners at the Catalan level, and the third to select the winners at the Spanish level.

The ICN2 participated in the 25th Science Week offering an online talk to students from the Claret Institute (high-school). The activity began with an interactive introduction to the nanoscale by members of the ICN2 Marketing and Communication Department and the active participation of students in a quiz contest. Through their mobile phone, students learnt about facts, wonders and applications of nanoscience, and played a game with microscopy images from the nanoscale.

Two scientists of the ICN2 led a "live" tour to their labs, including a virtual tour to the NanoBiosensors and Bioanalytical Applications Group laboratories and the Electron Microscopy Unit facilities. During the event, there was time to talk about ground breaking research and different career paths that can lead to a science-related job.