Other Outreach

https://icn2.cat/en/news/4450-bist-gathers-over-150-female-researchers-for-100tifiques

The ICN2 was involved in a series of initiatives to support the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Among last year’s activities stands out an inter-institutional action named 100tífiques, an initiative by the Catalan Foundation for Research and innovation and BIST consisting in bringing female researchers to 100 schools in Catalonia. More than 15,000 eleven- to twelve-year-old students had the opportunity to interact with real scientists who could explain their work and experience, break some stereotypes and act as role models for them. Seven ICN2 female researchers participated in the 2020 edition: María de la Cruz Cardeñosa, Neus Domingo, María José Esplandiu, Adriana Figueroa, Regina Galceran, Lourdes Rivas and Marianna Sledzinska.

Twenty successful female scientists, active in different fields, are portrayed in the traveling exhibit “Cientifiques Catalanes 2.0”, which was inaugurated in February 2020 at the Museu de l’Aigua in Salt (Girona) with the collaboration of the Girona Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBGI) and organized by the Gender Perspective Group of the Catalan Association for Science Communication (ACCC). Among them was Prof. Laura Lechuga, leader of the ICN2 NanoBiosensors and Bioanalytical Applications Group.

The aim of this initiative is to highlight and make people aware of the excellent work carried out and led by women in Catalonia, both in research and science communication, across a wide range of disciplines and fields. The professional trajectory of the protagonists and the motivations for their choice are described in a series of exhibition panels. These women, outstanding in their field, are also role models from which students interested in science and technology can get inspired.

In April, the ICN2 held two webinars on why and how scientific research and its results should be shared both with peers and society at large. Science communicators Dr. Brynley Pearlstone and Sarah Cosgriff and science journalist Dr Michele Catanzaro provided their perspective and advice to more than one hundred attendees, mainly researchers. The event was coordinated by the ICN2 Human Resources Department in the context of the ICN2 Training Plan and organized by Dr Justin Sperling, of the ICN2 Advanced Medical Electronics group, and Àlex Argemí, Head of the ICN2 Marketing and Communication Department.

The European Researchers’ Night is a Europe-wide effort to boosts public awareness of the positive role of research in society. The ICN2 was involved in this online edition offering a series of talks and a workshop about the nanoscale and how the knowledge generated at centres like the ICN2 can have a positive impact on our everyday life. The ICN2 researchers involved were Prof. Laura Lechuga, Dr Sara Goberna Ferrón, Dr Adriana Figueroa García, Dr Regina Galceran Vercher. The ICN2 Marketing and Communication Department participated in the event as well, offering an interactive workshop, followed by a discussion on applications of nanotechnologies.