Events Aimed at a Young Public

Dissabtes per la Física is a programme organised by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) oriented to high school students who are passionate about science. It is an initiative to popularise physics and research consisting of a series of conferences, followed by more interactive activities, which take place on Saturdays. In 2021, in its 21st edition, it was being celebrated between the 6th of February and the 6th March.

Àlex Argemí and Joana Pi-Suñer, from the ICN2 Marketing and Communication group, took the virtual stage to persuade over 200 young students about the importance of nanoscience and nanotechnology in our day-to-day life. After some interactive game quizzes to check the knowledge of the participants, the speakers presented some nanotechnology applications developed by different ICN2 groups.

Organised within the framework of the 6th edition of the Scientific Festival "10alamenos9 " (10tominus9), "Vermú de Nanociència" was a series of webinars where experts in nanoscience and nanotechnology share their knowledge with a non-expert public in 20–30-minute online presentations. The idea for these informal talks came up on 2020, when the Festival had to be cancelled due to the COVID situation. Promptly, the organization team adapted the content to be held virtually and had a very positive response. More than 40 webinars were scheduled, streamed 3 days a week, between the end of March and the beginning of June.

The 2021 edition of 10alamenos9 Festival, an international dissemination event, included activities in many different cities from Spain and Latin America (in countries such as México, Costa Rica, Argentina and Guatemala). Among the local activities was a nanostories contest with a lot of young students posting their texts.

Prof. Laura Lechuga, leader of the Nanobiosensors and Bioanalytical Applications Group at the ICN2, participated with a video interview in the IX Feria de la Ciencia en la Calle de Jerez, “Science in the Street” Fair in Jerez (Spain). In the video, available on the virtual platform of the event, she talked about her career path and what pushed her towards science and research; then she discussed the European project CoNVat that she is currently leading. The aim of the project was to design a new system for fast, reliable and cheap diagnosis of COVID-19 and similar viruses, by using a nanotechnology-based biosensor.

This Fair has the purpose to create scientific vocation amongst schoolchildren, to promote citizen participation in science and to foster the development of new teaching models based on experimentation. This year’s Fair was held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it offered various talks related to this topic, such as Prof. Lechuga’s and one about vaccinations given by Dr Isabel Sola, virologist at the National Centre for Biotechnology (CNB-CSIC).

The European Researchers’ Night (Nit Europea de la Recerca) is an European public event organized by the European Commission within the Marie Sklodowsca-Curie framework of the Horizon 2020 program. It is celebrated in more than 300 cities from 30 European countries. More than 50 scientific institutions in Catalunya participated on Friday 24th of September in different locations from the main Catalan nodes: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, Tarragona, and Vic.

In the 2021 edition ICN2 members offered talks at schools to explain their science to young students, such as Dr Jordi Fraxedas, CISC Scientific Researcher of the ICN2 Thermal properties of nanoscale Materials Group, and Dr Regina Galceran, member of the ICN2 Physics and Engineering of Nanodevices Group. After a long time of presenting talks online due to the COVID pandemic, they had the opportunity to return to face-to-face talks and workshops.

The Catalan Science Communication Association (ACCC) organized an entire week of fun scientific activities for curious people, from all ages. Members of the Marketing and Communication department, such as Joana Pi-Suñer and Ana de la Osa, gave an in-person workshop on Art and Nanoscience. This event was held in the Barradas Auditori of l’Hospitalet, on Thursday 23rd of September.

Also this year, the ICN2 participated in a larger event organized at the Cosmocaixa Science interactive Museum in Barcelona. Along with other institutions as the ICMAB, the CRAG, and the IBEC, the ICN2 had a stand to discuss with attendees about nanoscience and nanotechnology, the education program Nanoeduca and the European project Braincom. Side by side with Dr Amador Pérez Tomás, Senior postdoctoral researcher of the ICN2 Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices Group,the ICN2 Marketing and Communication Department, represented by Àlex Argemí and Joana Pi-Sunyer, launched a virtual reality experience about the European project BrainCom. It is a new way of communicating science to society, in an immersive and attractive format, that was the star of the fair.