Other Outreach

The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST) and the Fundació Catalana per a la Recerca i la Innovació (FCRi, Catalan Foundation for Research & Innovation), with the support of the Education Department of the Catalan Government, organized the 3rd edition of the #100tífiques program. It celebrated the International Day of Women and Girls in Science on February 11th, 2021 by coordinating over 300 online talks by female scientists all over Catalonia.

The Programme main goals are to promote STEAM disciplines among young students and also recognizing women’s contribution to science. Due to the global health situation, this event was held exclusively online. This fact tripled the participation of the speakers, thus promoting the program with more workshops and more talks in schools among all Catalonia. Thanks to the digital format, this edition was able to count on the assistance of a dozen Catalan researchers who work abroad, in centres in England, Germany, or even the United States.

The Biennal Ciutat i Ciència isscience festival held in Barcelona every other year offering a week packed with scientific activities and talks dedicated to citizens. The ICN2 participated in several events, with the aim of bringing nanoscience closer to society.

Dr Maria Soler, of the Nanobiosensors and Bioapplications Group, offered a talk oriented to primary school students, about her research on COVID fast diagnostic. On June 10th, ICREA Prof. José A. Garrido, leader of the Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices Group, participated in a debate entitled “Nanotecnology: illuminating the mind and the disease”, involving journalist and TV anchor-man Pere Estupinyà and Dr. Vicky Puig. Prof. Pedro Gómez, leader of the Novel Energy-Oriented Materials Group, gave a Pecha Kucha talk: a quick and informal talk about his research.

Members of the Marketing and Communication Department also offered two workshops. The first, called “Art and Nanoscience: Stained glass with nanoparticles, soap bubbles and iridescent colours of butterflies”, was designed for children aged 6-12 and aimed at conveying nanotechnology concepts through art and entertainment. It was led by Joana Pi-Suñer and Oriol Roig. In the second workshop, titled “VRainCom: Discover through virtual reality the graphene sensors that interact with the brain to restore speech”, Prof. José A. Garrido explained how modern neural implants based on graphene can be used to retrieve functionalities, such as the speech, in patients who have lost the control of some organs involved in them. The activity was coordinated by Àlex Argemí and Joana Pi-Suñer, with the collaboration of Dr Virginia Greco.

On 3 November 2021 the second session of the NanoEduca training for secondary and high school teachers was held at the ICN2. Organized by the Institute for Professional Development (IDP-ICE) of the University of Barcelona (UB), the course is meant to help teachers bring nanoscience and nanotechnology closer to young students and provide them with tools to understand these disciplines, which now have a huge impact on our lives.

During the three-hour training, the participants had the opportunity to play with the experimental material included in the NanoKit, discover different online resources to use in the classroom and learn about the new virtual education proposal of NanoEduca 2.0, a digital adaptation of the original NanoEduca experience. The event was dynamic, cheerful, and —finally!— in person. This year, about 20 teachers had the possibility to participate in this four-session-long hybrid course, whereas last year it had to be cancelled, due to the pandemic. Àlex Argemí, Ana de la Osa and Joana Pi-suñer, from the ICN2 Marketing and Communication Department, Dr Gemma García from the UAB and Fina Guitart from CESIRE organised and hosted the teacher training course.

GEFES, the Condensed Matter Physics Division of the Spanish Royal Physics Society, launched the second edition of a series of online talks, titled “Condensed Matter: a universe in your hands”, aimed at undergraduate students. Members of GEFES who carry out theoretical or applied research in Condensed Matter Physics provided lectures about specific topics of this vast field and introduce the students to cutting-edge science.

The programme included a talk on metal oxides having perovskite structure by ICREA Prof. Gustau Catalan, leader of the ICN2 Oxide Nanophysics Group. He introduced this class of materials and discusses their numerous outstanding properties.