Sciences Outreach Actions

Scientific coffee mornings

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This is a cycle of scientific coffee mornings that we have called “A Sea of Science”, which we organize in collaboration of the network of libraries of the Barcelona Provincial Government, thanks to a cooperation agreement, which has made it possible for us to hold regular coffee mornings in different libraries in the Barcelona area.

We approach important and current health topics in the format of a scientific coffee morning, by means of science outreach talks. Each coffee morning has a specific topic and two or three speakers from different areas, who contribute their experience and vision. The coffee mornings are guided by a moderato and the number of participants at each coffee morning is expected to be between 40 and 50, to provide proximity between the speakers and the audience and create the right climate so that everyone can share their experiences and have their questions answered.

The coffee mornings are free and open to the public. Patient associations, institutions from the region and other audiences interested in taking part in a debate on the specific topic are invited. To create a more relaxed atmosphere, coffee is provided before beginning the talk, as is usual in this type of event. In 2016, we organized the first coffee morning with the title “Depression and its warning signs” in the Fondo library in Santa Coloma de Gramenet.

Project: Apropem la Ciència als Centres d’Educació Secundària (Bringing Science to Secondary Schools - ACCÉS)

Continuing with the ACCÉS project, we have received visits from 7 schools in Catalonia, with more than 140 students taking part in the program. This year the ACCÉS project visits were included in the Escolab project, an initiative of the Barcelona Science program of the Culture Institute and of the Scientific Culture program of the Education Institute of Barcelona City Council, which brings together the activities of the research centers, thus providing them with greater visibility.

Biojunior

This is an activity aimed at young people in the final year of compulsory secondary education (4th year) and first year of the Spanish baccalaureate (5th year), organized by PRBB, with the aim of showing the day-to-day reality of research and sparking scientific vocations among the students. The initiative arose from the need detected during the open days for an activity that would answer the questions of secondary-school students.

It is open to 300 students, who can visit the laboratories and facilities, hear first-hand about what goes on and enjoy a scientific talk. In this second edition, IMIM took part with three stations: the laboratory of the research group on Integrated Pharmacology and Systems Neuroscience, the laboratory of the research group on Childhood and the Environment, and the Biobank service; the researcher Neus Martínez of the research group on molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis also took part in the round table and participatory session on science studies.

BioJúnior is organized in conjunction with the awarding of the  11th PRBB Awards for research in health and life sciences. In the 2016 edition, 224 students submitted a total of 194 studies.

Open Day

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The open day is held annually at PRBB with the participation of professionals from all the centers that make up PRBB. This seventh edition was held on 1 October and involved the collaboration of 300 volunteers, and more than 4000 people were able to enjoy activities and workshops, guided visits of the laboratories, scientific talks, and activities for children.

In this latest edition, more than 2000 people entered the building on one of the twelve parallel routes. Every half hour, between 15 and 20 visitors passed through two different laboratories or scientific and technical facilities where the researchers themselves explained their work. While the parents were enjoying the visit, children between the ages of 3 and 8 years were able to experiment with color chromatography in the children’s area. There were queues in the experiments area to carry out the six experiments relating to the adventure of researching cancer. Between 11:00 am and 7:00 pm, a total of 12 scientific talks were given, each lasting 45 minutes and, this year, with the participation of notable researchers. There was no room to spare in the six workshops on different topics related to biomedicine.

This year, the participants were able to visit 8 IMIM stations, attend 2 workshops organized by IMIM and listen to the scientific talks “Healthy cities and environmental justice” by Isabelle Anguelovski, coordinator of the research group of the same name, and “True and false numbers... When medicine is not exact”, by Andrea Buron of the Clinical Epidemiology department of Hospital del Mar and researcher at IMIM.

In Plaça Darwin, attendees were able to discover their cardiovascular risk in the tent that was set up by the research groups on Epidemiology and Cardiovascular Genetics and on Cardiovascular Risk and Nutrition, and were able to learn about how to protect themselves in a laboratory, in the next-door tent set up by the prevention services of the different PRBB centers.

“Viu la recerca de La Marató” (experience the “Marató” telethon research)

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This is a project of Fundació la Marató de TV3 to publicize some of the projects sponsored by the telethon in research centers. The project started in 2015 and a project on lung cancer coordinated by Dr. Beatriz Bellosillo and funded by the 2012 call for grant applications was chosen for the visit.

During the visit, donors were able to see first-hand the current state of the project and were able to visit the pathology department of Hospital del Mar and the IMIM laboratories - the two places where this research is carried out. They were also able to listen and talk to the pathologist Lara Pijuan, the oncologist Alvaro Taus, the biologists Sergi Clavé and Marda Bódalo, and the project coordinator, Beatriz Bellosillo. The visit was highly rated by the visitors, especially the explanations given by the researchers.

The aim of this initiative, which the Fundació la Marató calls “Visita la recerca de La Marató” (telethon research visit) is to explain to anyone who is interested the advances sponsored by the solidarity of a project that, since 1992, has raised 150 million euros and sponsored 723 research projects on a wide range of serious and chronic diseases.

Research with RecerCaixa

This is a program of Obra Social La Caixa and the Catalan Association of Public Universities (ACUP), which has an annual participation of nearly 1000 students aged between 10 and 12 years; it promotes the design and execution of a research project in school. Its most notable characteristic is that it has the support of real researchers who receive grants from RecerCaixa and “luxury” consultants, as well as teaching support and a big final meeting where the results are exhibited. Each group of researchers is assigned a group of 2 to 3 schools that, during the academic year, design and execute a real science project and have the opportunity to learn about the science first-hand through contact with and visits to the researchers.

The project “Analysis of the link between socioeconomic status and cardiovascular disease” of the IMIM research group on Epidemiology and Cardiovascular Genetics takes part in the program. As well as supervision of the project, this involves visits by the schools to IMIM.

Interview a Scientist

This is an activity organized by PRBB, aimed at children in the second cycle of primary school (9-12 years of age), which was begun in 2014.  The activity consists of the children preparing a set of questions at school, which are sent to the researcher before the day of the visit. At the center, the children are shown a simple interactive presentation that explains what PRBB is and the centers of which it is composed; they then interview the researcher. After the interview, the children visit the center and see a laboratory.  At school, the children work on the concepts covered and submit a report on what they have learned at the center.  It is scheduled as part of the educational activities provided to primary schools and 4-5 are carried out each academic year. IMIM is participating with 2 researchers each season.

Science Talks for Students (4th year secondary students)

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PRBB provides a series of scientific conferences in secondary schools in collaboration with Scientific Culture of the Barcelona Municipal Institute of Education. The conferences last one hour and there are approximately 180 places per conference. This year, IMIM took part with a talk titled “The third reality” by Oscar Vilarroya, coordinator of the research group on Neuroimaging in Mental Disorders (16/2/2016), another on “Bipolar disorder” by Dr. Francesc Colom, a researcher of the research group on Mental Health (24/11/2016) and a third talk on the Mediterranean diet, with the title “Bread with tomato for your body”, by Álvaro Hernáez, a researcher of the research group on Cardiovascular Risk and Nutrition (13/12/2016).