During 2019-20, the DCEXS organized the following outreach activities:

 

  • UPF Campus Mar Open Day. The UPF Mar Campus opens its doors to invite everyone to find out about its teaching and research activity. Professionals and students organise workshops related to the degrees in Human Biology, Biomedical Engineering, Bioinformatics, Medicine, Physiotherapy and Nursing. Children and adults are abe able to visit the laboratories and classrooms and, through games and activities, learn about the teaching and applications of health and life sciences.
  • PRBB-UPF Awards. The UPF Faculty of Health and Life Sciences and the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB) jointly organise this award for research in the health and life sciences for upper secondary school students. It is the perfect moment to address scientific concerns and plant the seeds that will grow into future scientists.
  • The cycle of Science Cafes “Avancem amb tu i per tu”, that bring together patients, relatives, researchers and physicians in a warm and friendly environment in which to share their knowledge and experiences on a specific illness.
  • “La Facultat al Barri”. The UPF Faculty of Health and Life Sciences aims to take university research and teaching to the general public. Therefore, each year we open up several classes to anyone who wanted to attend. Opening up the Faculty for people to come and see what is done here is very important in creating a local bond with the local people from the neighborhood.

 

Moreover, the Department participated in the following yearly activities:

  • OpenDay of the PRBB. Every first Saturday of October the PRBB opens its doors to the public to show off the research done by the scientists working there. Each year some 3,000 people do experiments in the square, listen to scientific talks, participate in workshops, and enter the building and visit the laboratories, where researchers give entertaining explanations of their daily work.
  • BioJunior is an event organized by the PRBB centers for students in the last year of secondary school and the1rst year of baccalaureate. About 300 students and teachers have the opportunity to do a guided tour to the park, visit a lab and a core facility, listen to a scientific conference and participate in several outreach activities. The DCEXS offers a round table with biomedical engineering students of the UPF, visits and micro talks in laboratories.
  • Science Week, since its creation the DCEXS has participated in this scientific initiative held regularly across Europe and promoted locally by the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation (FCRi). This event brings science closer to society and makes it available to everyone and consists of workshops, talks, exhibitions, games, and more.
  • World Brain Week, researchers from the Department who work on Neurosciences offer several talks in schools in the framework of this initiative.
  • Escolab is an initiative promoted by the Scientific Culture Commissionate (ICUB) from the Barcelona City Hall, its aim being making research closer to secondary school students. Each year the Department offers about ten different activities, which consist of workshops and tours that offer the chance of direct contact with scientists and lines of research. Students gain first-hand experience of their new discoveries and enrich the contents of their studies by linking the curriculum and the latest scientific developments.
  • UPF Humanistic Dialogues. DCEXS researchers have participated in this initiative, in which the University opens its doors to the whole society to disseminate and debate, in a series of dialogues, current affairs. The activity proposes the humanistic field as the backbone of a series of lectures that deal with issues of general culture as well as politics, history, biomedicine, ethics, philosophy, psychology or economics, always in dialogue format between two experts who belong to different fields of knowledge.
  • Junior Campus the University organizes a program of summer courses aimed at secondary school students. It aims to help young people decide what they want to study in the future, offering courses in various disciplines that combine teaching and experimental and playful practice.
  • Science Festival consists of activities which bring knowledge related to science and technology closer to the public through an immense two-day encounter. It is coordinated by the Science Barcelona program, which involves more than one hundred research centers, universities, companies, associations and teaching professionals every year. The results of this great mutual effort of all those involved are passed on to the thousands of citizens who visit the Festival each year who are interested in the advancement of scientific and technological knowledge, attracted by the wide range of activities for all types of audiences. Each year DCEXS researchers offer talks, workshops and participate in debates.
  • ”Entrevista a un científic”, jointly organized with the PRBB, gives high school students the opportunity to visit the DCEXS laboratories and facilities and interact with scientists.
  • Scientific talks for high school students in the PRBB Auditorium. More than 350 students per year attend scientific talks about topics such as genomics, evolution or neuropharmacology.